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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/7086-8.txt b/7086-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7901116 --- /dev/null +++ b/7086-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10860 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the +Queen, Vol II, (Vicotoria) by Sarah Tytler +#2 in our series 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, (Victoria) Vol II + +Author: Sarah Tytler + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7086] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 8, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN VICTORIA V2 *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Tricia Gilbert, 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, FSA. + + +IN TWO VOLUMES + +Vol II + + + * * * * * + + +CONTENTS. + +VOL. II. + + +CHAP. + +I. ROYAL PROGRESSES TO BURGHLEY, STOWE, AND STRATHFIELDSAYE + +II. THE QUEEN'S POWDER BALL + +III. THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO GERMANY + +IV. RAILWAY SPECULATION--FAILURE OF THE POTATO CROP--SIR ROBERT PEEL'S +RESOLUTIONS--BIRTH OF PRINCESS HELENA--VISIT OF IBRAHIM PASHA + +V. AUTUMN YACHTING EXCURSIONS--THE SPANISH MARRIAGES--WINTER VISITS + +VI. INSTALLATION OF PRINCE ALBERT AS CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE + +VII. THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO THE WESTERN ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND AND STAY AT +ARDVERIKIE + +VIII. THE FRENCH FUGITIVES--THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER + +IX. THE QUEEN'S FIRST STAY AT BALMORAL + +X. PUBLIC AND DOMESTIC INTERESTS--FRESH ATTACK UPON THE QUEEN + +XI. THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND + +XII. SCOTLAND AGAIN--GLASGOW AND DEE-SIDE + +XIII. THE OPENING OF THE NEW COAL EXCHANGE--THE DEATH OF QUEEN +ADELAIDE + +XIV. PREPARATION FOR THE EXHIBITION--BIRTH OF THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT + +XV. THE DEATHS OF SIR ROBERT PEEL, THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, AND LOUIS +PHILIPPE + +XVI. THE QUEEN'S FIRST STAY AT HOLYROOD--THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN OF +THE BELGIANS + +XVII. THE PAPAL BULL--THE GREAT EXHIBITION + +XVII. THE QUEEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION + +XIX. THE QUEEN'S "RESTORATION BALL" AND THE "GUILDHALL BALL." + +XX. ROYAL VISITS TO LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER--CLOSE OF THE EXHIBITION + +XXI. DISASTERS--YACHTING TRIPS--THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON + +XXII. THE IRON DUKE'S FUNERAL + +XXIII. THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON III. AND THE EMPRESS EUGÉNIE--FIRE AT +WINDSOR + +XXIV. THE EASTERN QUESTION--APPROACHING WAR--GROSS INJUSTICE TO PRINCE +ALBERT + +XXV. THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN--FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE--THE DEATH OF THE +EMPEROR NICHOLAS + +XXVI. INSPECTION OF THE HOSPITAL AT CHATHAM--DISTRIBUTION OF WAR +MEDALS + +XXVII. DEATH OF LORD RAGLAN--VISIT OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT TO +THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH--FALL OF SEBASTOPOL + +XXVIII. BETROTHAL OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL--QUEEN'S SPEECH TO THE +SOLDIERS RETURNED FROM THE CRIMEA--BALMORAL + +XXIX. DEATH OF THE PRINCE OF LEININGEN--BIRTH OF PRINCESS BEATRICE-- +BESTOWAL OF THE VICTORIA CROSS--INDIAN MUTINY + +XXX. THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL + +XXXI. DEATH OF THE DUCHESSE D'ORLEANS--THE PRINCE CONSORT'S VISIT TO +GERMANY--THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT'S VISIT TO PRINCE AND PRINCESS +FREDERICK WILLIAM AT BABELSBERG + +XXXII. BIRTH OF PRINCE WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA--DEATH OP PRINCE HOHENLOHE + +XXXIII. DEATH OF THE DUCHESS OF KENT + +XXXIV. LAST VISIT TO IRELAND--MEETING OF THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE +PRINCESS ALEXANDRA OF DENMARK--DEATH OF THE KING OF PORTUGAL AND HIS +BROTHERS. + +XXXV. THE DEATH OF THE PRINCE CONSORT + +XXXVI. THE WITHDRAWAL TO OSBORNE--THE PRINCE CONSORT'S FUNERAL + +XXXVII. THE FIRST MONTHS OF WIDOWHOOD--MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF +WALES, ETC., ETC. + +XXXVIII. DEATHS OF LORD PALMERSTON AND THE KING OF THE BELGIANS + +XXXIX. STAY AT HOLYROOD--DEATHS OF PRINCESS HOHENLOHE AND OF PRINCE +FREDERICK OF DARMSTADT--MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH + +XL. BIRTH OF THE FIRST GREAT-GRANDCHILD--MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF +ALBANY--CONCLUSION + + + * * * * * + + +LIST OF STEEL PLATES. + +H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES +OSBORNE HOUSE +THE PASTURE, OSBORNE +THE AMAZON (PORTRAIT OF H.R.H. THE PRINCESS HELENA) +THE ROYAL YACHT OFF MOUNT ST. MICHAEL +THE PRINCESS LOUISE +THE PRINCESS HELENA +PRINCESSES HELENA AND LOUISE +THE HUNTER (H.R.H. PRINCE ARTHUR) +HYDE PARK IN 1851 +THE FISHER (H.R.H. PRINCE LEOPOLD) +H.R.H. THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, K.G., ETC. +THE CRADLE (H.R.H. PRINCESS BEATRICE) +H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES (BUST) +H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES +THE ALBERT MEMORIAL +MONUMENT TO THE PRINCESS ALICE OF HESSE + + + * * * * * + + +QUEEN VICTORIA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +ROYAL PROGRESSES TO BURGHLEY, STOWE, AND STRATHFIELDSAYE. + +On the 29th of November the Queen went on one of her visits to her +nobility. We are told, and we can easily believe, these visits were +very popular and eagerly contested for. In her Majesty's choice of +localities it would seem as if she loved sometimes to retrace her +early footsteps by going again with her husband to the places where +she had been, as the young Princess, with the Duchess of Kent. The +Queen went at this time to Burghley, the seat of the Marquis of +Exeter. The tenantry of the different noblemen whose lands she passed +through lined the roads, the mayors of the various towns presented +addresses, the school children sang the National Anthem. + +At Burghley, too, Queen Elizabeth had been before Queen Victoria. She +also had visited a Cecil. The Maiden Queen had travelled under +difficulties. The country roads of her day had been so nearly +impassable that her only means of transit had been to use a pillion +behind her Lord Steward. Her seat in the chapel was pointed out to the +Queen and Prince Albert when they went there for morning prayers. +Whether or not both queens whiled away a rainy day by going over the +whole manor-house, down to the kitchen, we cannot say; but it is not +likely that her Majesty's predecessor underwent the ordeal to her +gravity of passing through a gentleman's bedroom and finding his best +wig and whiskers displayed upon a block on a chest of drawers. And we +are not aware that Queen Elizabeth witnessed such an interesting +family rite as that which her Majesty graced by her presence. The +youngest daughter of the Marquis and Marchioness of Exeter was +christened in the chapel, at six o'clock in the evening, before the +Queen, and was named for her "Lady Victoria Cecil," while Prince +Albert stood as godfather to the child. After the baptism the Queen +kissed her little namesake, and Prince Albert presented her with a +gold cup bearing the inscription, "To Lady Victoria Cecil, from her +godfather Albert." At dinner the newly-named child was duly toasted by +the Queen's command. + +The next day the royal party visited "Stamford town," from which the +Mayor afterwards sent Prince Albert the gift of a pair of Wellington +boots, as a sample of the trade of the place. The drive extended to +the ruins of another manor-house which, Lady Bloomfield heard, was +built by the Cecils for a temporary resort when their house of +Burghley was swept. The Queen and the Prince planted an oak and a +lime, not far from Queen Elizabeth's lime. The festivities ended with +a great dinner and ball, at which the Queen did not dance. Most of the +company passed before her chair of State on the dais, as they do at a +drawing-room. + +On the 29th of December an aged English kinswoman of the Queen's died +at the Ranger's House, Blackheath, where she held the somewhat +anomalous office of Ranger of Greenwich Park. This was Princess Sophia +Matilda, daughter of the Duke of Gloucester, George III.'s brother, +and sister of the late Duke of Gloucester, the husband of his cousin, +Princess Mary. + +Her mother's history was a romance. She was the beautiful niece of +Horace Walpole, the illegitimate daughter of his brother, the Earl of +Oxford. She married first the Earl of Waldegrave, and became the +mother of the three lovely sisters whom Sir Joshua Reynolds's brush +immortalised. The widowed countess caught the fancy of the royal Duke, +just as it was said, in contemporary letters, that another fair young +widow turned the head of another brother of the King's. George III. +refused at first to acknowledge the Duke of Gloucester's marriage, but +finally withdrew his opposition. If, as was reported, the Duke of York +married Lady Mary Coke, the marriage was never ratified. The risk of +such marriages caused the passing of the Royal Marriage Act, which +rendered the marriage of any member of the royal family without the +consent of the reigning sovereign illegal. The children of the Duke of +Gloucester and his Duchess were two--Prince William and Princess +Sophia Matilda. They held the somewhat doubtful position, perhaps more +marked in those days, of a family royal on one side of the house only. +The brother, if not a very brilliant, an inoffensive and not an +illiberal prince, though wicked wags called him "Silly Billy," +improved the situation by his marriage with the amiable and popular +Princess Mary, to whom a private gentleman, enamoured by hearsay with +her virtues, left a considerable fortune. We get a passing glimpse of +the sister, Princess Sophia Matilda, in Fanny Burney's diary. She was +then a pretty, sprightly girl, having apparently inherited some of her +beautiful mother's and half-sisters' attractions. She was admitted to +terms of considerable familiarity and intimacy with her royal cousins; +and yet she was not of the circle of Queen Charlotte, neither could +she descend gracefully to a lower rank. No husband, royal or noble, +was found for her. One cannot think of her without attaching a sense +of loneliness to her princely estate. She survived her brother, the +Duke of Gloucester, ten years, and died at the age of seventy-two at +the Ranger's House, Blackheath, from which she had dispensed many +kindly charities. At her funeral the royal standard was hoisted half- +mast high on Greenwich Hospital, the Observatory, the churches of St. +Mary and St. Alphege, and on Blackheath. She was laid, with nearly all +her royal race for the last two generations, in the burial-place of +kings, St. George's Chapel, Windsor. Prince Albert occupied his stall +as a Knight of the Garter, with a mourning scarf across his field- +marshal's uniform. + +In the middle of January, 1845, the Queen and Prince Albert went on a +visit to the Duke of Buckingham at Stowe, which was still unstripped +of its splendid possessions and interesting antiquarian relics. The +huge gathering of neighbours and tenants included waggons full of +labourers, admitted into the park to see the Queen's arrival and the +illumination of the great house at night. + +The amusements of the next two days, the ordinary length of a royal +visit, began with _battues_ for the Prince, when the accumulation +of game was so enormous that, in place of the fact being remarkable +that "he hit almost everything he fired at," it would have been +singular if a good shot could have avoided doing so. Fifty beaters, so +near each other that their sticks almost touched, entered a thick +cover and drove the game past the place where the sportsmen were +stationed, into the open space of the park. Out the hares rushed from +every quarter, "so many of them, that it was often impossible to stop +more than one out of half-a-dozen. The ground immediately in front of +the shooters became strewn with dead and dying.... It was curious to +behold the evident reluctance with which the hares left their retreat, +and then their perplexity at finding themselves so beset without. Many +actually made for the canal, and swam like dogs across a piece of +water nearly a hundred yards wide, shaking themselves upon landing, +and making off without any apparent distress. The pheasants were +still more averse 'to come and be killed.' For some time not one +appeared above the trees. The cocks were heard crowing like domestic +fowls, as the numerous tribe retreated before the sticks of the +advancing army of beaters. Upon arriving, however, at the edge of the +wood, quite a cloud ascended, and the slaughter was proportionately +great." + +"Slaughter," not sport, is the appropriate word. One cannot help +thinking that so it must have struck the Prince; nor are we surprised +that, on the next opportunity he had of exercising a sportsman's +legitimate vocation, with the good qualities of patience, endurance, +and skill, which it is calculated to call forth, emphatic mention is +made of his keen enjoyment. + +Besides shooting there was walking for both ladies and gentlemen, to +the number of twenty guests, "in the mild, clear weather," in the +beautiful park. There was the usual county gathering, in order to +confer on the upper ten thousand, within a radius of many miles, the +much-prized honour of "meeting" the Queen at a dinner or a ball. +Lastly, her Majesty and the Prince planted the oak and the cedar which +were to rank like heirlooms, and be handed down as trophies of a royal +visit and princely favour, to future generations. + +The Queen and Prince Albert returned to Windsor on the evening of +Saturday, the 18th of January, and on the afternoon of Monday, the +20th, they started again to pay a long-projected visit to her old +friend the Duke of Wellington at Strathfieldsaye. It was known that +the Duke had set his heart on entertaining his sovereign in his own +house, and she not only granted him the boon, but in consideration of +his age, his laurels, and the long and intimate connection between +them, she let the visit have more of a private and friendly character +than the visits of sovereigns to subjects were wont to have. However, +the country did not lose its gala. Arches of winter evergreens instead +of summer flowers, festive banners, loyal inscriptions, yeoman corps, +holiday faces, met her on all sides. At Swallowfield--a name which +Mary Russell Mitford has made pleasant to English ears--"no less a +person than the Speaker of the House of Commons," the representative +of an old Huguenot refugee, the Right Honourable John Shaw Lefevre, +commanded the troop of yeomanry. + +The Iron Duke met his honoured guests in the hall and conducted them +to the library. Every day the same formula was gone through. "The Duke +takes the Queen in to dinner, sits by her Majesty, and after dinner +gets up and says, 'With your Majesty's permission I give the health of +her Majesty,' and then the same to the Prince. They then adjourn to +the library, and the Duke sits on the sofa by the Queen (almost as a +father would sit by a daughter) for the rest of the evening until +eleven o'clock, the Prince and the gentlemen being scattered about in +the library or the billiard-room, which opens into it. In a large +conservatory beyond, the band of the Duke's grenadier regiment plays +through the evening." + +There was much that was unique and kindly in the relations between the +Queen and the greatest soldier of his day. He had stood by her +baptismal font; she had been his guest, when she was the girl- +Princess, at Walmer. He had sat in her first Council; he had witnessed +her marriage; she was to give his name to one of her sons; in fact, he +had taken part in every event of her life. The present arrangements +were a graceful, well-nigh filial, tribute of affectionate regard for +the old man who had served his country both on the battle-field and in +the senate, who had watched his Queen's career with the keenest +interest, and rejoiced in her success as something with which he had +to do. + +The old soldier also gave the Prince shooting, but it was the "fine +wild sport" which might have been expected from the host, and which +seemed more to the taste of the guest. And in the party of gentlemen +who walked for miles over the ploughed land and through the brushwood, +none kept up the pace better than the veteran. + +The weather was broken and partly wet during the Queen's stay at +Strathfieldsaye, and in lieu of out-of-door exercise, the tennis-court +came into request. Lord Charles Wellesley, the Duke's younger son, +played against professional players, and Prince Albert engaged Lord +Charles and one of the professional players, the Queen looking on. + +When the visit was over, the Duke punctiliously performed his part of +riding on horseback by her Majesty's carriage for the first stage of +her journey. + +Comical illustrations are given of the old nobleman and soldier's dry +rebuffs, administered to the members of the press and the public +generally, who haunted Strathfieldsaye on this occasion. + +The first was in reply to a request for admission to the house on the +plea that the writer was one of the staff of a popular journal +commissioned to give the details of the visit. "Field-Marshal the Duke +of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. ---, and begs to say +he does not see what his house at Strathfieldsaye has to do with the +public press." The other was in the form of a still more ironical +notice put up in the grounds, "desiring that people who wish to see +the house may drive up to the hall-door and ring the bell, but that +they are to abstain from walking on the flagstones and looking in at +the windows." + +In February the Queen opened Parliament in person for what was +destined to be a stormy session, particularly in relation to Sir +Robert Peel's measure proposing an increased annual grant of money to +the Irish Roman Catholic priests' college of Maynooth. In the +Premier's speech, in introducing the Budget, he was able to pay a +well-merited compliment on the wise and judicious economy shown in +the management of her Majesty's income, so that it was equal to meet +the heavy calls made upon it by the visits of foreign sovereigns, who +were entertained in a manner becoming the dignity of the sovereign, +"without adding one tittle to the burdens of the country. And I am not +required, on the part of her Majesty," went on Sir Robert Peel, "to +press for the extra expenditure of one single shilling on account of +these unforeseen causes of increased expenditure. I think, to state +this is only due to the personal credit of her Majesty, who insists +upon it that there shall be every magnificence required by her +station, but without incurring a single debt." In order to show how +the additional cost of such royal hospitality taxed the resources even +of the Queen of England, it may be well to give an idea of the +ordinary scale of housekeeping at Windsor Castle. Lady Bloomfield +likens the kitchen-fire to Nebuchadnezzar's burning fiery furnace. +Even when there was no company, from fifteen to twenty joints hung +roasting there. In one year the number of people fed at dinner in the +Castle amounted to a hundred and thirteen thousand! + +Shall we be accused of small moralities and petty lessons in thrift if +we say that this passage in Sir Robert Peel's speech recalls the +stories of the child-Princess's training, in a wholesome horror of +debt, and the exercise of such little acts of self-denial as can alone +come in a child's way; that it brings to mind the Tunbridge anecdote +of the tiny purchaser on her donkey, bidden to look at her empty purse +when a little box in the bazaar caught her eye, and prohibited from +going further in obtaining the treasure, till the next quarter's +allowance was due? Well might the nation that had read the report of +Sir Robert Peel's speech listen complacently when it heard in the +following month, of the Queen's acquisition of a private property +which should be all her own and her husband's, to do with, as they +chose. Another country bestowed, upon quite different grounds, on one +of its sovereigns the honourable title of King Honest Man. Here was +Queen Honest Woman, who would not buy what she could not afford, or +ask her people to pay for fancies in which she indulged, regardless of +her means. A different example had been presented by poor Louis XVI. +and Marie Antoinette, who, after a course of what their most faithful +servants admitted to be grievous misrule and misappropriation of +public dignities and funds--to satisfy the ambition and greed of +favourites or their friends--in the face of national bankruptcy, +private ruin, and widespread disaffection, in the very death-throes of +the Revolution, chose that time of all others to buy--under whatever +specious pretext of exchange and indemnification--for him who had +already so many hunting-seats, the fresh one of Rambouillet; for her, +who had Little Trianon in its perfection, the new suburban country +house of St. Cloud. + +Osborne abounded in the advantages which the royal couple sought. It +was in the Isle of Wight, which her Majesty had loved in her girlhood, +with the girdle of sea that gave such assurance of the much-courted, +much-needed seclusion, as could hardly be procured elsewhere-- +certainly not within a reasonable distance of London. It was a lovely +place by nature, with no end of capabilities for the practice of the +Prince's pleasant faculty of landscape-gardening, with which he had +already done wonders in the circumscribed grounds of Buckingham Palace +and the larger field of Windsor. There were not only woods and valleys +and charming points of view--among them a fine look at Spithead; the +woods went down to the sea, and the beach belonged to the estate. Such +a quiet country home for a country and home-loving Queen and Prince, +and for the little children, to whom tranquillity, freedom, the woods, +the fields, and the sea-sands were of such vital and lasting +consequence, was inestimable. + +In addition to other outlets for an active, beneficent nature, +Osborne, with its works of building, planting, and improving going on +for years to come, had also its farms, like the Home Farm at Windsor. +And the Prince was fond of farming no less than of landscape-gardening +--proud of his practical success in making it pay, deeply interested +in all questions of agriculture and their treatment, so as to secure +permanent employment and ample provision for the labourers. Prince +Albert's love of animals, too, found scope in these farming +operations. When the Queen and the Prince visited the Home Farm the +tame pigeons would settle on his hat and her shoulders. The +accompanying engraving represents the pasture and part of the Home +Farm at Osborne. "The cow in the group was presented to her Majesty by +the Corporation of Guernsey, when the Queen visited the Channel +Islands; the animal is a beautiful specimen of the Alderney breed, and +is a great favourite ... on the forehead of the cow is a V +distinctly marked; a peculiarity, it may be presumed, which led to the +presentation; the other animals are her calves." + +In the course of this session of Parliament, the Queen sought more +than once to mark her acknowledgment of the services of Sir Robert +Peel, round whose political career troubles were gathering. She acted +as sponsor to his grandchild--the heir of the Jersey family--and she +offered Sir Robert, through Lord Aberdeen, the Order of the Garter, an +offer which the Prime Minister respectfully declined in words that +deserve to be remembered. He sprang from the people, he said, and was +essentially of the people, and such an honour, in his case, would be +misapplied. His heart was not set upon titles of honour or social +distinction. His reward lay in her Majesty's confidence, of which, by +many indications, she had given him the fullest assurance; and when he +left her service the only distinction he courted was that she should +say to him, "You have been a faithful servant, and have done your duty +to your country and to myself." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +THE QUEEN'S POWDER BALL. + +On the evening of the 6th of June, 1845, her Majesty, who was at +Buckingham Palace for the season, gave another great costume ball, +still remembered as her Powder Ball--a name bestowed on it because of +the universally-worn powder on hair and periwigs. It was not such a +novelty as the Plantagenet Ball had been, neither was it so splendidly +fantastic nor apparently so costly a performance; not that the +materials used in the dresses were less valuable, but several of them +--notably the old lace which was so marked a feature in the spectacle +that it might as well have been called "The Lace Ball"--existed in +many of the great houses in store, like the family diamonds, and had +only to be brought out with the other heirlooms, and properly disposed +of, to constitute the wearer _en grande tenue_. No doubt trade +was still to be encouraged, and Spitalfields, in its chronic +adversity, to be brought a little nearer to prosperity by the +manufacture of sumptuous stuffs, in imitation of gorgeous old +brocades, for a portion of the twelve hundred guests. But these +motives were neither so urgent nor so ostensible, and perhaps the ball +originated as much in a wish to keep up a good custom once begun, and +to show some cherished guests a choice example of princely +hospitality, as in an elaborate calculation of forced gain to an +exotic trade. + +The period chosen for the representation was much nearer the present. +It was only a hundred years back, from 1740 to 1750. It may be that +this comparative nearness fettered rather than emancipated the players +in the game, and that, though civil wars and clan feuds had long died +out, and the memory of the Scotch rebellion was no more than a +picturesque tragic romance, a trifle of awkwardness survived in the +encounter, face to face once more, in the very guise of the past, of +the descendants of the men and women who had won at Prestonpans and +lost at Culloden. It was said that a grave and stately formality +distinguished this ball--a tone attributed to dignified, troublesome +fashions--stranger then, but which since these days have become more +familiar to us. + +No two more attractive figures presented themselves that night than +the sisters-in-law, the Duchess of Kent and the Duchess of +Gloucester, the one in her sixtieth the other in her seventieth year. +The third royal duchess in the worthy trio, who represented long and +well the royal matronhood of England, the Duchess of Cambridge, was, +along with her Duke, prevented from being present at the Queen's ball +in consequence of a recent death in her family. The Duchess of Kent +wore a striped and "flowered" brocade, with quantities of black lace +relieving the white satin of her train. The Duchess of Gloucester, +sweet pretty Princess Mary of more than fifty years before, came in +the character of a much less happy woman, Marie Leczinska, the queen +of Louis XV. She must have looked charming in her rich black brocade, +and some of the hoards of superb lace--which she is said to have +inherited from her mother, Queen Charlotte--edged with strings of +diamonds and agraffes of diamonds, while over her powdered hair was +tied a fichu capuchin of Chantilly. + +Among the multitude of guests assembled at Buckingham Palace, the +privileged few who danced in the Queen's minuets, as well as the +members of the royal family, arrived by the Garden Gate and were +received in the Yellow Drawing-room. Included in this select company +was a German princess who had lately married an English subject-- +Princess Marie of Baden, wife of the Marquis of Douglas, not the first +princess who had wedded into the noble Scotch house of Hamilton, +though it was many a long century since Earl Walter received-- + + all Arran's isle + To dower his royal bride + +The Queen had special guests with her on this occasion--her brother +the Prince of Leiningen, the much-loved uncle of the royal children; +and the favourite cousin of the circle, the young Duchesse de Nemours, +with her husband. The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by their +visitors, the various members of the English royal family present at +the ball, and the different suites, passed into the ball-room at half- +past ten. The first dance, the graceful march of the German +_polonaise_, was danced by all, young and old, the bands striking +up simultaneously, and the dance extending through the whole of the +State apartments, the Queen leading the way, preceded by the Vice- +Chamberlain, the Comptroller and Treasurer of the Household, and two +gentlemen ushers to clear a space for her. After the _polonaise_ +the company passed slowly before the Queen. A comical incident +occurred in this part of the programme through the innocent mistake of +an old infantry officer, who in his progress lifted his peaked hat and +gave the Queen a military salute, as he walked by. + +Then her Majesty left the ball-room and repaired to the throne-room, +where the first minuet was formed. It is only necessary to recall that +most courtly of slow and graceful dances to judge how well suited it +was for this ball. The Queen danced with her cousin, Prince George of +Cambridge. Her Majesty wore a wonderful dress of cloth of gold and +cloth of silver, with daisies and poppies worked in silks, and shaded +the natural colours; trimmings and ruffles of exquisite old lace, +stomacher covered with old lace and jewels, the sacque set off with +scarlet ribands, the fair hair powdered under a tiara and crown of +diamonds, dainty white satin shoes with scarlet rosettes--a diamond in +each rosette, the Order of the Garter on the arm, the Star and Riband +of the Order. + +Prince George was less fortunate in the regimentals of a cavalry +officer a century back; for, as it happened, while the costume of +1740-50 was favourable to women and to civilians, it was trying to +military men. + +Prince Albert danced with the Duchesse de Nemours. These two had been +early playmates who never, even in later and sadder days, got together +without growing merry over the stories and jokes of their childhood in +Coburg. The Prince must have been one of the most graceful figures +there, in a crimson velvet coat edged with gold and lined with white +satin, on the left breast the splendid Star of the Order of the +Garter, shoulder-strap and sword inlaid with diamonds, white satin +waistcoat brocaded with gold, breeches of crimson velvet with gold +buttons, shoes of black kid with red heels and diamond buckles, three- +cornered hat trimmed with gold lace, edged with white ostrich +feathers, a magnificent loop of diamonds, and the black cockade of the +Georges, not the white cockade of the Jameses. + +His golden-haired partner was in a tastefully gay and fantastic as +well as splendid costume of rose-coloured Chinese damask, with gold +blonde and pearls, over a petticoat of point d'Alençon, with a deep +border of silver and silver rosettes. The stomacher of brilliants and +pearls, on the left shoulder a nosegay with diamond wheat-ears +interspersed, shoes of purple satin with fleurs-de-lys embroidered in +gold and diamonds, as became a daughter of France, and gloves +embroidered with similar fleurs-de-lys. + +There were many gay and gallant figures and fair faces in that minuet +of minuets. Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar was meant to dance with the +young Marchioness of Douro, but she by some strange chance came too +late for the honour, and her place was supplied by another young +matron and beauty, Lady Jocelyn, formerly Lady Fanny Cowper. Prince +Leiningen, who wore a white suit faced with blue and a buff waistcoat +edged with silver lace, danced with Lady Mount-Edgcumbe. The Duke of +Beaufort once more disputed with the Earl of Wilton the distinction of +being the finest gentleman present. + +The Queen danced in four minuets, standing up in the second with +Prince Albert. This minuet also included several of the most beautiful +women of the time and of the Court; notably Lady Seymour, one of the +Sheridan sisters, the Queen of Beauty at the Eglinton tournament; and +Lady Canning. + +After the second minuet the Queen and all the company returned to the +ball-room, where two other minuets, those of Lady Jersey and Lady +Chesterfield, were danced, and between them was given Lady +Breadalbane's strathspey. There was such crowding to see these dances +that the Lord Chamberlain had difficulty in making room for them. +While Musard furnished special music for the minuets and quadrilles, +adapting it in one case from airs of the '45, the Queen's piper, +Mackay, gave forth, for the benefit of the strathspey and reel- +dancers, the stirring strains of "Miss Drummond of Perth," +"Tullochgorum," and "The Marquis of Huntly's Highland Fling," which +must have rung with wild glee through the halls of kings. + +Lady Chesterfield's minuet was the last dance before supper, served +with royal splendour in the dining-room, to which the Queen passed at +twelve o'clock. After supper the Queen danced in a quadrille and in +the two next minuets. Her first partner was the Duc de Nemours, who +wore an old French infantry general's uniform--a coat of white cloth, +the front covered with gold embroidery, sleeves turned up with crimson +velvet, waistcoat and breeches of crimson velvet, stockings of crimson +silk, and red-heeled shoes with diamond buckles. In the second minuet +her Majesty had her brother, the Prince of Leiningen, for her partner. +The ball was ended, according to a good old English fashion, by the +quaint changing measure of "Sir Roger de Coverley," known in Scotland +as "The Haymakers," in which the Queen had her husband for her +partner. This country-dance was danced in the picture gallery. + +Let who would be the beauty at the Queen's ball, there was at least +one poetess there in piquant black and cerise, with cerise roses and +priceless point à l'aiguille, Lady John Scott, who had been the witty +heiress, Miss Spottiswoode of Spottiswoode. She wrote to an old +refrain one of the most pathetic of modern Scotch ballads-- + + Douglas, Douglas, tender and true + +The beauty of the ball was the Marchioness of Douro, who not so long +ago had been the beauty of the season as Lady Elizabeth Hay, daughter +of the Marquis of Tweeddale, when she caught the fancy of the elder, +son and heir of the Duke of Wellington. In this case beauty was not +unadorned, for the lovely Marchioness, [Footnote: Her likeness is +familiar to many people in an engraving from a well-known picture of +the Duke of Wellington showing his daughter-in-law the field of +Waterloo] the Greek mould of whose head attracted the admiration of +all judges, was said to wear jewels to the value of sixty thousand +pounds, while the superb point-lace flounce to her white brocade must +have been a source of pious horror to good Roman Catholics, since it +was believed to have belonged to the sacred vestments of a pope. + +We have said that lace and jewels gave the distinguishing stamp to the +ball--such lace!--point d'Alençon, point de Bayeux, point de Venise, +point a l'aiguille, Mechlin, Guipure, Valenciennes, Chantilly, enough +to have turned green with envy the soul of a cultured _petit- +maître_, an aesthetic fop of the present day. + +Some of the jewels, no less than the lace, were historical. The +Marchioness of Westminster, besides displaying _sabots_ of point- +lace, which had belonged to Caroline, queen of George II., wore the +Nassuk and Arcot diamonds. + +Miss Burdett-Coutts wore a lustrous diadem and necklace that had once +graced the brow and throat of poor Marie Antoinette, and had found +their way at last into jewel-cases no longer royal, owing their +glittering contents to the wealth of a great city banker. + +A word about the antiquated finery of the Iron Duke, with which the +old soldier sought to please his young mistress. It provoked a smile +or two from the more frivolous as the grey, gaunt, spindle-shanked old +man stalked by, yet it was not without its pathetic side. The Duke +wore a scarlet coat, a tight fit, laced with gold, with splendid gold +buttons and frogs, the brilliant star of the Order of the Garter, and +the Order of the Golden Fleece, a waistcoat of scarlet cashmere +covered with gold lace, breeches of scarlet kerseymere trimmed with +gold lace; gold buckles, white silk stockings, cocked hat laced with +gold, sword studded with rose diamonds and emeralds. + +It is nearly forty years since these resplendent masquers trod the +floors of Buckingham Palace, and if the changes which time has brought +about had been foreseen, if the veil which shrouds the future had been +lifted, what emotions would have been called forth! + +Who could have borne to hear that the bright Queen and giver of the +fete would pass the years of her prime in the mournful shade of +disconsolate widowhood? That the pale crown of a premature death was +hovering over the head of him who was the life of her life, the active +promoter and sustainer of all that was good and joyous in that great +household, all that was great and happy in the kingdom over which she +ruled? + +Who would have ventured to prophesy that of the royal kindred and +cherished guests, the Prince of Leiningen was to die a landless man, +the Duc de Nemours to spend long years in exile, the Duchesse to be +cut down in the flower of her womanhood? Who would have guessed that +this great nobleman, the head of an ancient house, was to perish by a +miserable accident in a foreign hotel; that his sister, the wife of an +unfortunate statesman, was to be dragged through the mire of a divorce +court; that the treasures of a princely home were to pass away from +the race that had accumulated them, under the strokes of an +auctioneer's hammer? Who could have dreamt that this fine intellect +and loving heart would follow the lord of their destiny to Hades, and +wander there for evermore distracted, in the land of shadows, where +there is no light of the sun to show the way, no firm ground to stay +the tottering feet and groping hands? As for these two fair sisters in +Watteau style of blue and pink, and green and pink taffetas, lace, and +pearls, and roses--surely the daintiest, most aristocratic +shepherdesses ever beheld--one of them would have lost her graceful +equanimity, reddened with affront, and tingled to the finger-tips +with angry unbelief if she had been warned beforehand that she would +be amongst the last of the high-born, high-bred brides who would +forfeit her birthright and her presence at a Queen's Court by agreeing +to be married at the hands of a blacksmith instead of a bishop, before +the rude hymeneal altar at Gretna. + +But to-night there was no alarming interlude, like a herald of evil, +to shake the nerves of the company--nothing more unpropitious than the +_contretemps_ to an unlucky lady of being overcome by the heat +and seized with a fainting-fit, which caused her over-zealous +supporters to remove her luxuriant powdered wig in order to give her +greater air and coolness, so that she was fain, the moment she +recovered, to hide her diminished head by a rapid discomfited retreat +from what remained of the revelry. + +On the 21st of June the Queen and the Prince, with the Lords of the +Admiralty, inspected the fleet off Spithead. The royal yacht was +attended by a crowd of yachts belonging to the various squadrons, a +throng of steamboats and countless small boats. The Queen visited and +went over the flagship--which was the _St. Vincent_--the +_Trafalgar_, and the _Albion_. On her return to the yacht +she held a levee of all the captains of the fleet. A few days +afterwards she reviewed her fleet in brilliant, breezy weather. The +royal yacht took up its position at Spithead, and successive signals +were given to the squadron to "Lower sail," "Make sail," "Shorten sail +and reef," and "Furl topgallant sails," all the manoeuvres--including +the getting under way and sailing in line to St. Helen's--being +performed with the very perfection of nautical accuracy. The review +ended with the order, "Furl sails, put the life-lines on, and man +yards," which was done as only English sailors can accomplish the +feat, while the royal yacht on its return passed through the squadron +amidst ringing cheers. + +During the earlier part of the summer Sir John Franklin sailed with +his ships, the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, in search of that +North Pole which, since the days of Sir Hugh Montgomery, "a captain +tall," has been at once the goal and snare of many a gallant English +sailor. The good ships disappeared under the horizon, never to reach +their haven. By slow degrees oblivion, more or less profound, closed +over the fate of officers and men, while, for lack of knowledge of +their life or death, the light of many a hearth was darkened, and +faithful hearts sickened with hope deferred and broke under the +strain. As one instance, out of many, of the desolation which the +silent loss of the gallant expedition occasioned, sorrow descended +heavily on one of the happy Highland homes among which the Queen had +dwelt the previous summer. Captain, afterwards Lord James, Murray, +brother of Lord Glenlyon, was married to Miss Fairholme, sister of one +of the picked men of whom the explorers were composed. When no tidings +of him came, year after year, from the land of mist and darkness, +pining melancholy seized upon her and made her its prey. + +In the month of July the King of the Netherlands, who, as Prince of +Orange, had served on the Duke of Wellington's staff at the close of +the Peninsular War, came to England and took up his quarters at +Mivart's Hotel, the Queen being in the Isle of Wight, where he joined +her. Prince Albert met the King at Gosport and escorted him to +Osborne. On his return to London the King, who was already a general +in the English army, received his appointment as field-marshal, and +reviewed the Household troops in Hyde Park. He paid a second visit to +the Queen at Osborne before he left Woolwich for Holland. + +A curious accident happened when the Queen prorogued Parliament on the +9th of August. The Duke of Argyle, an elderly man, was carrying the +crown on a velvet cushion, when, in walking backwards before the +Queen, he appeared to forget the two steps, leading from the platform +on which the throne stands to the floor, and stumbled, the crown +slipping from the cushion and falling to the ground, with the loss of +some diamonds. The Queen expressed her concern for the Duke instead of +for the crown; but on her departure the keeper of the House of Lords +appeared in front of the throne, and prevented too near an approach to +it, with the chance of further damage to the dropped jewels. The +misadventure was naturally the subject of a good deal of private +conversation in the House. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO GERMANY. + +On the evening of the day that she prorogued Parliament, the Queen and +the Prince with the Earl of Aberdeen as the minister in attendance, +started from Buckingham Palace that she might pay her first visit to +Germany. Surely none of all the new places she had visited within the +last few years could have been of such surpassing interest to the +traveller. It was her mother's country as well as her husband's, the +home of her brother and sister, the place of which she must have +heard, with which she must have had the kindliest associations from +her earliest years. + +The first stage of the journey--in stormy weather, unfortunately--was +to Antwerp, where the party did not land till the following day, when +they proceeded to Malines, where they were met by King Leopold and +Queen Louise, who parted from their royal niece at Verviers. On the +Prussian frontier Lord Westmoreland, the English ambassador, and Baron +Bunsen met her Majesty. "To hear the people speak German," she wrote +in her Journal, "to see the German soldiers, seemed to me so singular. +I overheard people saying that I looked very English." + +At Aix-la-Chapelle the King and Prince of Prussia received the +visitors and accompanied them to Cologne. The ancient dirty town of +the Three Kings gave the strangers an enthusiastic reception. The +burghers even did their best to get rid of the unsavoury odours which +distinguish the town of sweet essences, by pouring eau-de-Cologne on +the roadways. + +At Bruhl the Queen and the Prince were taken to the palace, where they +found the Queen of Prussia, whose hostility to English and devotion to +Russian interests when Lord Bloomfield represented the English +Government at Berlin, are recorded by Lady Bloomfield. With the Queen +was her sister-in-law, the Princess of Prussia, and the Court. The +party went into one of the _salons_ to hear the famous tatoo +played by four hundred musicians, in the middle of an illumination by +means of torches and coloured lamps. The Queen was reminded that she +was in a land of music by hearing at a concert, in which sixty +regimental bands assisted, "God save the Queen" better played than she +had ever heard it before. "We felt so strange to be in Germany at +last," repeats her Majesty, dwelling on the pleasant sensation, "at +Bruhl, which Albert said he used to go and visit from Bonn." + +The next day the visitors went to Bonn, accompanied by the King and +Queen of Prussia. At the house of Prince Furstenberg many professors +who had known Prince Albert were presented to the Queen, "which +interested me very much," the happy wife says simply. "They were +greatly delighted to see Albert and pleased to see me.... I felt as +if I knew them all from Albert having told me so much about them." The +experience is known to many a bride whose husband takes her proudly to +his old _alma mater_. + +The day was made yet more memorable by the unveiling of a statue to +Beethoven. But, by an unlucky _contretemps_, the royal party on +the balcony found the back of the statue presented to their gaze. The +_Freischutzen_ fired a _feu-de-joie_. A chorale was sung. +The people cheered and the band played a _Dusch_--such a flourish +of trumpets as is given in Germany when a health is drunk. + +The travellers then went to the Prince's "former little house." The +Queen writes, "It was such a pleasure for me to be able to see this +house. We went all over it, and it is just as it was, in no way +altered.... We went into the little bower in the garden, from which +you have a beautiful view of the _Kreuzberg_--a convent situated +on the top of a hill. The _Siebengebirge_ (seven mountains) you +also see, but the view of them is a good deal built up." + +This visiting together the ground once so familiar to the Prince +formed an era in two lives. It was the fulfilment of a beautiful, +brilliant expectation which had been half dim and vague when the +ardent lad was a quiet, diligent student, living simply, almost +frugally, like the other students at the university on the Rhine, and +his little cousin across the German Ocean, from whom he had parted in +the homely red-brick palace of Kensington, had been proclaimed Queen +of a great country. The prospect of their union was still very +uncertain in those days, and yet it must sometimes have crossed his +mind as he built air-castles in the middle of his reading; or strolled +with a comrade along those old-fashioned streets, among their +population of "wild-looking students," with long fair hair, pipes +between their lips, and the scars of many a sword-duel on forehead and +cheek; or penetrated into the country, where the brown peasant women, +"with curious caps and handkerchiefs," came bearing their burden of +sticks from the forest, like figures in old fairy tales. He must have +told himself that the time might come when something like the +transformation of a fairy-tale would be effected on his account; the +plain living and high-thinking and college discipline of Bonn be +exchanged for the dignity and influence of an English sovereign's +consort. Then, perhaps, he would bring his bride to the dear old +"fatherland," and show her where he had dreamt about her among his +books. + +At the banquet in the afternoon the accomplished King gave the Queen's +health in a speech fit for a poet. He referred to a word sweet alike +to British and German hearts. Thirty years before it had echoed on the +heights of Waterloo from British and German tongues, after days of hot +and desperate fighting, to mark the glorious triumph of their +brotherhood in arms. "Now it resounds on the banks of our fair Rhine, +amidst the blessings of that peace which was the hallowed fruit of the +great conflict. That word is 'Victoria.' Gentlemen, drink to the +health of her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain +and Ireland, and to that of her august consort." + +"The Queen," remarked Bunsen, "bowed at the first word, but much lower +at the second. Her eyes brightened through tears, and as the King was +taking his seat again, she rose and bent towards him and kissed his +cheek, then took her seat again with a beaming countenance." + +After the four-o'clock dinner, the royal party returned to Cologne, +and from a steamer on the Rhine saw, through a drizzle of rain which +did not greatly mar the spectacle, a splendid display of fireworks and +illumination of the town, in which the great cathedral "seemed to glow +with fire." + +We quote a picturesque description of the striking scene. "The Rhine +was made one vast _feu-de-joie_. As darkness closed in, the dim +city began to put forth buds of light. Lines of twinkling brightness +darted like liquid gold or silver from pile to pile, then by the +bridge of boats across the river, up the masts of the shipping, and +along the road on the opposite bank. Rockets now shot from all parts +of the horizon. The royal party embarked in a steamer at St. Tremond +and glided down by the river. As they passed the banks blazed with +fireworks and musketry. At their approach the bridge glowed with +redoubled light, and, opening, let the vessel pass to Cologne, whose +cathedral burst forth a building of light, every detail of the +architecture being made out in delicately-coloured lamps--pinkish, +with an underglow of orange. Traversing in carriages the illuminated +and vociferous city, the King and his companions returned by the +railroad to Bruhl." + +Next morning there was a great concert at Bonn--part of the Beethoven +festival, in which much fine music was given, but, oddly enough, not +much of Beethoven's, to her Majesty's regret. The Queen drove to the +University--in the classrooms of which the Prince had sat as a +student--and saw more of the professors who had taught him, and of +students similar to those who had been his class-fellows. Then she +went once more to Cologne, and visited its glory, the cathedral, at +that time unfinished, returning to Bruhl to hail with delight the +arrival of the King and Queen of the Belgians. "It seems like a dream +to them and to me to see each other in Germany," the Queen wrote once +more. The passages from her Majesty's Journal read as if she were +pleased to congratulate herself on being at last with Prince Albert in +his native country. + +The last day at Cologne ended in another great concert, conducted by +Meyerbeer, for which he had composed a cantata in honour of the Queen. +Jenny Lind sang in the concert. It was her Majesty's first opportunity +of hearing the great singer, who, of all her sister singers, has most +identified herself with England, and from her noble, womanly character +and domestic virtues, endeared herself to English hearts. + +The tutelary genius of the river which is the Germans' watchword was +not able to procure the Queen her weather for her sail on its green +waters. Rain fell or threatened for both of the days. Not even the +presence of three queens--of England, Prussia, and Belgium--two kings, +a prince consort, an archduke, and a future emperor and empress, could +propitiate the adverse barometer, or change the sulky face of the sky. +Between showers the Queen had a glimpse of the romantic scenery, and +perhaps Ehrenbreitstein was most in character when the smoke from the +firing of twenty thousand troops "brought home to the imagination the +din and lurid splendours of a battle." + +The halt was made at Schlossenfels, which included among its +distinguished guests Humboldt and Prince Metternich. Next day the King +and Queen of Prussia took leave of their visitors, still under heavy +rain. The weather cleared afterwards for a time, however, and +beautiful Bingen, with the rest of the Rhenish country, was seen in +sunshine. The only inconvenience remaining was the thunder of cannons +and rattle of muskets which every loyal village kept up. + +At Mayence the Queen was received by the Governor, Prince William of +Prussia, and the Austrian commander, while the Prussian and Austrian +troops, with their bands, gave a torchlight serenade before the hotel +windows. On the rest-day which Sunday secured, the Queen saw the good +nurse who had brought the royal pair into the world. Her Majesty had +also her first introduction to one of her future sons-in-law--an +unforeseen kinsman then--Prince Louis of Hesse, whom she noticed as "a +very fine boy of eight, nice, and full of intelligence." + +There were still long leagues to drive, posting, before Coburg could +be reached, and the party started from Mayence in two travelling +carriages as early as seven o'clock next morning. They went by +Frankfort to Aschaffenburg, where they were met by Bavarian troops and +a representative of the King on their entrance into Bavaria. Through +woodland scenery, and fields full of the stir of harvest, where a +queenly woman did not relish the spectacle of her sister-women +treated as beasts of burden, the travellers journeyed to Wurzburg. +There Prince Luitpold of Bavaria met and welcomed them to a +magnificent palace, where the luggage, which ought to have preceded +the wearied travellers, was not forthcoming. Another long day's +driving, beginning at a little after six in the morning, would bring +the party to Coburg. By one o'clock they were at the old prince- +bishop's stately town of Bamberg. In the course of the afternoon the +Queen had changed horses for the last time in Franconia. "I began," +she wrote, "to feel greatly moved, agitated indeed, in coming near the +Coburg frontier. At length we saw flags and people drawn up in lines, +and in a few minutes more were welcomed by Ernest (the Duke of Coburg) +in full uniform.... We got into an open carriage of Ernest's with six +horses, Ernest sitting opposite to us." + +The rest of the scene was very German, quaintly picturesque and warm- +hearted. "The good people were all dressed in their best, the women in +pointed caps, with many petticoats, and the men in leather breeches. +Many girls were there with wreaths of flowers." A triumphal arch, a +Vice-Land-Director, to whose words of greeting the Queen replied, his +fellow-officials on either side, the people welcoming their prince and +his queen in "a really hearty and friendly way." + +The couple drove to what had been the pretty little country house of +their common grandmother, the late Dowager-Duchess of Coburg, and +found King Leopold and Queen Louise awaiting them there. He also was +an honoured son of Coburg, pleased to be present on such a proud day +for the little State. He and his queen took their places beside Queen +Victoria and Prince Albert--Ernest Duke of Coburg mounting on +horseback and riding beside the carriage as its chief escort. In this +order the procession, "which looked extremely pretty," was formed. At +the entrance to the town there was another triumphal arch, beneath +which the Burgomaster addressed the royal couple. "On the other side +stood a number of young girls dressed in white, with green wreaths and +scarfs, who presented us with bouquets and verses." + +Oh! what anxious, exciting, girlish rehearsals must have been gone +through beforehand. + +"I cannot say how much I felt moved on entering this dear old place, +and with difficulty I restrained my emotion. The beautifully- +ornamented town, all bright with wreaths and flowers, the numbers of +good affectionate people, the many recollections connected with the +place--all was so affecting. In the Platz, where the _Rathhaus_ +and _Rigierungshaus_ are, which are fine and curious old houses, +the clergy were assembled, and Ober-Superintendent Genzler addressed +us very kindly--a very young-looking man for his age, for he married +mamma to my father, and christened and confirmed Albert and Ernest." +Neither was the motherly presence of her whose marriage vow the Ober- +Superintendent had blessed, who had done so much to contribute to the +triumph of this day, wanting to its complete realization of all that +such a day should have been. The Duchess of Kent was already on a +visit to her nephew, standing on the old threshold--once so well known +to her--ready to help to welcome her daughter, prepared to show her +the home and cherished haunts of her mother's youth. As the carriage +drew up, young girls threw wreaths into it. Beside the Duchess of Kent +were the Duchess and Dowager-Duchess of Coburg, Prince Albert's +sister-in-law and stepmother. The staircase was full of cousins. "It +was an affecting but exquisite moment, which I shall never forget," +declared the Queen. + +But in the middle of the gratification of the son of the house who +thus brought his true wife under its roof-tree, and of his +satisfaction of being with her there, the faithful hearts did not +forget the late sovereign and house-father who had hoped so eagerly to +welcome them to the ancestral home. They were there, but his place was +filled by another. At Coburg and at Rosenau, which had been one of the +old Duke's favourite resorts, his memory haunted his children. "Every +sound, every view, every step we take makes us think of him and feel +an indescribable hopeless longing for him." + +By an affectionate, thoughtful provision for their perfect freedom and +enjoyment, Rosenau, Prince Albert's birthplace, was set apart for the +Queen and the Prince's occupation on this very happy occasion when +they visited Coburg, and still it is the widowed Queen's residence +when she is dwelling in the neighbourhood. Beautiful in itself among +its woods and hills, it was doubly beautiful to both from its +associations. The room in which the Queen slept was that in which the +Prince had been born. "How happy, how joyful we were," the Queen +wrote, "on awaking to find ourselves here, at the dear Rosenau, my +Albert's birthplace, the place he most loves.... He was so happy to be +here with me. It is like a beautiful dream." + +Fine chorales were sung below the window by some of the singers in the +Coburg theatre. Before breakfast the Prince carried off the Queen to +see the upper part of the house, which he and his brother had occupied +when children. "It is quite in the roof, with a tiny little bedroom on +each side, in one of which they both used to sleep with Florschutz, +their tutor. [Footnote: The Prince was then such a mere child that the +tutor used to carry him in his arms up and down stairs. One is +reminded of the old custom of appointing noble governors for royal +children of the tenderest years, and of the gracious pathetic +relations which sometimes existed between bearded knights and infant +kings. Such was the case where Sir David Lindsay of the Mount and +little King James V. were concerned, when the pupil would entreat the +master for a song on the lute with childish peremptoriness, "P'ay, +Davie Lindsay, p'ay!"] The view is beautiful, and the paper is still +full of holes from their fencing; and the very same table is there on +which they were dressed when little." + +The days were too short for all that was to be seen and done. The +first day there was a visit to the fortress overhanging the town, +which looks as far away as the sea of trees, the Thuringerwald. It has +Luther's room, with his chair and part of his bed. + +In the evening the Queen went to the perfect little German theatre, +where Meyerbeer's _Huguenots_ was given, and the audience sang +"God save the Queen" to German words. + +The next day the visitors drove to Kalenberg, another of the Duke's +seats. In the evening they held a reception at the palace, when not +only those persons who had the magic prefix _von_ to their names +were admitted, but deputations of citizens, merchants, and artisans +were presented, the Queen praising their good manners afterwards. + +The following day was the Feast of St. Gregorius, the children's +festival, in which thirteen hundred children walked in procession +through Coburg, some in fancy dresses, most of the girls in white and +green. Three girls came up to the palace balcony and sang a song in +honour of the Queen. Then great and small repaired to the meadow-- +fortunately the fine weather had set in--where there were tents +decorated with flowers, in which the royal party dined, while the band +played and the children danced "so nicely and merrily, waltzes, +polkas, and it was the prettiest thing I ever saw," declared the +Queen. "Her Majesty talked to the children, to their great +astonishment, in their own language. Tired of dancing and processions, +and freed from all awe by the ease of the illustrious visitors, the +children took to romps, 'thread my needle,' and other pastimes, and +finally were well pelted by the royal circle with bon-bons, flowers +and cakes" is the report of another observer. + +The day ended with a great ball at the palace. + +The next day was spent more quietly in going over old favourite +haunts, among them the cabinet or collection of curiosities, stuffed +birds, fossils, autographs, &c., which had been formed partly by the +Princes when boys. Prince Albert continued to take the greatest +interest in it, and had made the Queen a contributor to its treasures. +At dinner the Queen tasted _bratürste_ (roasted sausages), the +national dish of Coburg, and pronounced it excellent, with its +accompaniment of native beer. A royal neighbour, Queen Adelaide's +brother, the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, joined the party at dinner, and +the company witnessed the performance of Schiller's _Bride of +Messina_ at the theatre. + +On Sunday the August weather was so hot that the Queen and the Prince +breakfasted for the second time out of doors. In the course of the +morning they drove over with Duke Ernest and the Duchess to St. Moritz +Kirche--equivalent to the cathedral of the town. The clergy received +the party at the door of the church, and the Ober-Superintendent +Genzler made a brief oration "expressive of his joy at receiving the +great Christian Queen who was descended from their Saxon dukes, who +were the first Reformers, and at the doors of the church where the +Reformation was first preached." The Queen describes the service as +like the Scotch Presbyterian form, only with more ceremony and more +singing. The last impressed her deeply. The pastor preached a fine +sermon. The afternoon's drive led through scenery which, especially in +its pine woods, resembled the Scotch Highlands, and ended in the +_Thiergarten_, where the Duke reared his wild boars. + +"I cannot think," the Queen wrote longingly, "of going away from here. +I count the hours, for I have a feeling here which I cannot describe-- +a feeling as if my childhood also had been spent here." No wonder; +Coburg was home to her, like her native air or her mother tongue; she +must have learnt to know it at her mother's knee. Her husband's +experience was added to the earlier recollection of every salient +point, every _Haus-Mahrchen_; and never were husband and wife +more in sympathy than the two who now snatched a short season of +delight from a sojourn in the cradle of their race. + +Another brilliant sunshiny day--which the brother Princes spent +together reviving old associations in the town, while the Queen +sketched at Rosenau--closed with the last visit to the theatre, when +the people again sang "God save the Queen," adding to it some pretty +farewell verses. + +The last day which the Queen passed in Coburg was, by a happy +circumstance, the Prince's birthday--the first he had spent at Rosenau +since he was a lad of fifteen, and, in spite of all changes, the day +dawned full of quiet gladness. "To celebrate this dear day in my +beloved husband's country and birthplace is more than I ever hoped +for," wrote her Majesty, "and I am so thankful for it; I wished him +joy so warmly when the singers sang as they did the other morning." +The numberless gifts had been arranged by no other hands than those of +the Queen and the Prince's brother and sister-in-law on a table +"dressed with flowers."' Peasants came in gala dress, [Footnote: The +Queen admired greatly many of the peasant costumes, often as +serviceable and durable as they were becoming, which she saw in +Germany. She expressed the regret so often uttered by English +travellers that English labourers and workers at handicrafts, in place +of retaining a dress of their own, have long ago adopted a tawdry +version of the fashions of the upper classes. Unfortunately the +practice is fast becoming universal.] with flowers, music, and dancing +to offer their good wishes. In the afternoon all was quiet again, and +the Queen and the Prince took their last walk together, for many a +day, at Rosenau, down into the hayfields where the friendly people +exchanged greetings with them, drank the crystal clear water from the +stream, and looked at the fortifications which two princely boys had +dug and built, as partly lessons, partly play. + +The next day at half-past eight the travellers left "with heavy +hearts," measuring the fateful years which were likely to elapse +before Coburg was seen again. The pain of parting was lessened by the +presence of the Duke and Duchess of Coburg, who accompanied their +guests to the Duke's other domain of Gotha. The way led through Queen +Adelaide's country of Meiningen, and at every halting-place clergymen +with addresses more or less discursive, and "white and green young +ladies," literally bombarded the travellers with speeches, flowers, +and poems. At last the Duke of Coburg's territory was again entered +after it was dark; and the party reached the lovely castellated +country-seat of Reinhardtsbrunn, amidst forest and mountain scenery, +with its lake in front of the house, set down in the centre of a +mining population that came up in quaint costumes, with flaming +torches, to walk in procession past the windows. The Queen was charmed +with Reinhardtsbrunn, and would fain have lingered there, but time +pressed, and she was expected in the course of the next afternoon at +Gotha, on a visit to the Prince's aged grandmother who had helped to +bring him up, and was so fondly attached to her former charge. + +The old lady at seventy-four years of age anticipated the visit. She +travelled the distance of eight miles before breakfast, in order to +take her grandchildren by surprise. "I hastened to her," is the +Queen's account, "and found Albert and Ernest with her. She is a +charming old lady, and though very small, remarkably nice-looking, +erect and active, but unfortunately very deaf.... She was so happy to +see us, and kissed me over and over again. Albert, who is the dearest +being to her in the world, she was enraptured to see again, and kissed +so kindly. It did one's heart good to see her joy." + +In the afternoon the travellers proceeded to Gotha, which was in a +state of festival and crowded with people. The Queen and the Prince +resided at the old Duchess's house of Friedrichsthal, where the +greatest preparations, including the hanging of all her pictures in +their rooms, had been made for them. The first visit they paid in +Gotha was a solemn one, to the chapel which formed the temporary +resting-place of the body of the late Duke, till it could be removed +to its vault in Coburg. Then the rooms in which the father had died +were visited. These were almost equally melancholy, left as they had +been, unchanged, with the wreaths that had decorated the room for his +last birthday still there; "and there is that sad clock which stopped +just before he died." Who that has seen in Germany these faded +wreaths, with their crushed, soiled streamers of white riband, can +forget the desolate aspect which they lend to any room in which they +are preserved! + +There was a cabinet or museum here, too, to inspect, and the curious +old spectacle of the popinjay to be witnessed, in company with the +Grand Duke of Weimar and his son. This kind of shooting was harmless +enough, for the object aimed at was a wooden bird on a pole. The +riflemen, led by the rifle-king (_schutzen-konig_), the public +officials, and deputations of peasants marched past the platform where +the Queen stood, like a pageant of the Middle Ages. All the princes, +including King Leopold, fired, but none brought down the bird; that +feat was left for some humbler hero. + +On the Queen's return from the popinjay she had the happiness to meet +Baroness Lehzen, her old governess, who had come from Buckeburg to see +her Majesty. During the next few days the old friends were often +together, and the Queen speaks with pleasure of the Baroness's +"unchanged devotion," only she was quieter than formerly. It must have +appeared like another dream to both, that "the little Princess" of +Kensington, travelling with her husband, should greet her old +governess, and tell her, under the shadow of the great Thuringerwald, +of the four children left behind in England. + +The next day the forest itself was entered, when "the bright blue sky, +the heavenly air, the exquisite tints," gave a crowning charm to its +beauties. The road lay through green glades which occasionally +commanded views so remote as those of the Hartz Mountains, to +_Jagersruh_, a hunting-lodge on a height "among stately firs that +look like cedars." Here the late Duke had excited all his skill and +taste to make a hunter's paradise, which awoke again the regretful +thought, "How it would have pleased him to have shown all this himself +to those he loved so dearly!" + +But _Jagersruh_ was not the goal of the excursion; it was a +"deer-drive" or battue, which in Germany at least can be classed as "a +relic of mediaeval barbarism." A considerable space in the forest was +cleared and enclosed with canvas. In the centre of this enclosure was +a pavilion open at the sides, made of branches of fir-trees, and +decorated with berries, heather, and forest flowers; in short, a +sylvan bower provided for the principal company, outside a table +furnished with powder and shot supplied a station for less privileged +persons, including the chasseurs or huntsmen of the Duke, in green and +gold uniforms. + +Easy-chairs were placed in the pavilion for the Queen, the Queen of +the Belgians, and the Duchess Alexandrina, while Prince Albert, King +Leopold, the Prince of Leiningen, and Duke Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, +the Prince's uncle, stood by the ladies. Stags to the number of +upwards of thirty, and other game, were driven into the enclosure, and +between the performances of a band which played at intervals, the +gentlemen loaded their rifles, and fired at the helpless prey in the +presence of the ladies. + +Her Majesty records in her Journal, "As for the sport itself, none of +the gentlemen like this butchery." She turns quickly from the piteous +slaughter to the beautiful, peaceful scenery. + +A quiet Sunday was spent at Gotha. Monday was the _Lieder fest_, +or festival of song, to which, on this occasion, not only the +townspeople and villagers from all the neighbouring towns and villages +came with their banners and bands, but every small royalty from far +and near flocked to meet the Queen of England. These innumerable +cousins repaired with the Queen to the park opposite the Schloss, and +shared in the festival. The orchestra, composed of many hundreds of +singers, was opposite the pavilion erected for the distinguished +visitors. Among the fine songs, rendered as only Germans could render +them, songs composed by Prince Albert and his brother, and songs +written for the day, were sung. Afterwards there was a State dinner +and a ball. + +The last day had come, with its inevitable sadness. "I can't--won't +think of it," wrote the Queen, referring to her approaching departure. +She drove and walked, and, with her brother-in-law and his Duchess, +was ferried over to the "Island of Graves," the burial-place of the +old Dukes of Gotha when the duchy was distinct from that of Coburg. An +ancient gardener pointed out to the visitors that only one more +flower-covered grave was wanted to make the number complete. When the +Duchess of Gotha should be laid to rest with her late husband and his +fathers, then the House of Gotha, in its separate existence, would +have passed away. + +One more drive through the hayfields and the noble fir-trees to the +vast Thuringerwald, and, "with many a longing, lingering look at the +pine-clad mountains," the Queen and the Prince turned back to attend a +ball given in their honour by the townspeople in the theatre. + +On the following day the homeward journey was begun. After partings, +rendered still more sorrowful by the fact that the age of the +cherished grandmother of the delightful "dear" family party rendered +it not very probable that she, for one, would see all her children +round her again, the Duke and Duchess of Coburg went one stage with +the travellers, and then there was another reluctant if less painful +parting. + +The Queen and the Prince stopped at the quaint little town of +Eisenach, which Helen of Orleans was yet to make her home. They were +received by the Grand Duke and Hereditary Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, with +whom the strangers drove through the autumn woods to the famous old +fortress of the Wartburg, which, in its time, dealt a deadly blow to +Roman Catholicism by sheltering, in the hour of need, the Protestant +champion, Luther. Like the good Protestants her Majesty and the Prince +were, they went to see the great reformer's room, and looked at the +ink-splash on the wall--the mark of his conflict with the devil--the +stove at which he warmed himself, the rude table at which he wrote and +ate, and above all, the glorious view over the myriads of tree-tops +with which he must have refreshed his steadfast soul. But if Luther is +the hero of the Wartburg, there is also a heroine--the central figure +of that "Saint's Tragedy" which Charles Kingsley was to give to the +world in the course of the next two or three years--St. Elizabeth of +Thuringia, the tenderest, bravest, most tortured soul that ever +received the doubtful gain of canonization. There is the well by which +she is said to have ministered to her sick poor, half-way up the +ascent to the Wartburg, and down in the little town nestling below, +may be seen the remains of an hospital bearing her name. + +From Fulda, where the royal party slept, they journeyed to Goethe's +town of Frankfort, where Ludwig I., who turned Munich into a great +picture and sculpture gallery, and built the costly Valhalla to +commemorate the illustrious German dead, dined with her Majesty. + +At Biberich the Rhine was again hailed, and a steamer, waiting for the +travellers, carried them to Bingen, where their own little vessel, +_The Fairy_, met and brought them on to Deutz, on the farther +side from Cologne. The Queen says naively that the Rhine had lost its +charm for them all--the excitement of novelty was gone, and the +Thuringerwald had spoilt them. Stolzenfels, Ehrenbreitstein, and the +Sieben-Gebirge had their words of praise, but sight-seeing had become +for the present a weariness, and after Bonn, with its memories, had +been left behind, it was a rest to the royal travellers--as to most +other travellers at times--to turn away their jaded eyes, relinquish +the duty of alert observation, forget what was passing around them, +and lose themselves in a book, as if they were in England. Perhaps the +home letters had awakened a little home-sickness in the couple who +had been absent for a month. At least, we are given to understand +that it was of home and children the Queen and the Prince were chiefly +thinking when they reached Antwerp, to which the King and Queen of the +Belgians had preceded them, and re-embarked in the royal yacht +_Victoria and Albert_, though it was not at once to sail for +English waters. In gracious compliance with an urgent entreaty of +Louis Philippe's, the yacht was to call, as it were in passing, at +Tréport. + +On the morning of the 8th of September the Queen's yacht again lay at +anchor off the French seaport. The King's barge, with the King, his +son, and son-in-law, Prince Joinville, and Prince Augustus of Saxe- +Coburg, and M. Guizot, once more came alongside. After the friendliest +greetings, the Queen and Prince Albert landed with their host, though +not without difficulty. The tide would not admit of the ordinary +manner of landing, and Louis Philippe in the dilemma fell back on a +bathing-machine, which dragged the party successfully if somewhat +unceremoniously over the sands. + +The Queen of the French was there as before, accompanied among others +by her brother, the Prince of Salerno and his Princess, sister to the +Emperor of Austria. The crowd cheered as loudly as ever; there seemed +no cloud on the horizon that bright, hot day; even the plague of too +much publicity and formality had been got rid of at Château d'Eu. The +Queen was delighted to renew her intercourse with the large, bright +family circle--two of them her relations and fast friends. "It put me +so much in mind of two years ago," she declared, "that it was really +as if we had never been away;" and the King had to show her his +_Galerie Victoria_, a room fitted up in her honour, hung with the +pictures illustrating her former visit and the King's return visit to +Windsor. + +Although she had impressed on him that she wished as much as possible +to dispense with state and show on this occasion, the indefatigable +old man had been at the trouble and expense of erecting a theatre, and +bringing down from Paris the whole of the Opéra Comique to play before +her, and thus increase the gaiety of the single evening of her stay. + +Only another day was granted to Château d'Eu. By the next sunset the +King was conducting his guests on board the royal yacht and seizing +the last opportunity, when Prince Albert was taking Prince Joinville +over the _Fairy_, glibly to assure the Queen and Lord Aberdeen +that he, Louis Philippe, would never consent to Montpensier's marriage +to the Infanta of Spain till her sister the Queen was married and had +children. + +At parting the King embraced her Majesty again and again. The yacht +lay still, and there was the most beautiful moonlight reflected on the +water. The Queen and the Prince walked up and down the deck, while not +they alone, but the astute statesman Aberdeen, congratulated +themselves on how well this little visit had prospered, in addition to +the complete success of the German tour. With the sea like a lake, and +sky and sea of the deepest blue, in the early morning the yacht +weighed anchor for England. Under the hot haze of an autumn noonday +sun the royal travellers disembarked on the familiar beach at Osborne. +The dearest of welcomes greeted them as they "drove up straight to the +house, for there, looking like roses, so well and so fat, stood the +four children." + +The Queen referred afterwards to that visit to Germany as to one of +the happiest times in her life. She said when she thought of it, it +made her inclined to cry, so pure and tender had been the pleasure. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +RAILWAY SPECULATION--FAILURE OF THE POTATO CROP--SIR ROBERT PEEL'S +RESOLUTIONS--BIRTH OF PRINCESS HELENA--VISIT OF IBRAHIM PASHA. + +One thousand eight hundred and forty-five had begun with what appeared +a fresh impetus to national prosperity--a new start full of life and +vigour, by which the whole resources of the country should be at once +stirred up and rendered ten times more available than they had ever +been before. This was known afterwards as "the Railway Mania," which, +like other manias, if they are not mere fever-fits of speculation, but +are founded on real and tangible gains, had its eager hopeful rise, +its inflated disproportioned exaggeration, its disastrous collapse, +its gradual recovery, and eventually its solid reasonable success. In +1845 the movement was hurrying on to the second stage of its history. + +The great man of 1845 was Hudson the railway speculator, "the Railway +King." Fabulous wealth was attributed to him; immense power for the +hour was his. A seat in Parliament, entrance into aristocratic +circles, were trifles in comparison. We can remember hearing of a +great London dinner at which the lions were the gifted Prince, the +husband of the Queen, and the distorted shadow of George Stephenson, +the bourgeois creator of a network of railway lines, a Bourse of +railway shares; the winner, as it was then supposed, of a huge +fortune. It was said that Prince Albert himself had felt some +curiosity to see this man and hear him speak, and that their encounter +on this occasion was prearranged and not accidental. + +The autumn of 1845 revealed another side to the country's history. The +rainy weather in the summer brought to sudden hideous maturity the +lurking potato disease. Any one who recalls the time and the aspect of +the fields must retain a vivid recollection of the sudden blight that +fell upon acres on acres of what had formerly been luxuriant +vegetation, under the sunshine which came late only to complete the +work of destruction; the withering and blackening of the leaves of the +plant, the sickening foetid odour of the decaying bulbs, which tainted +the heavy air for miles; the dismay that filled the minds of the +people, who, in the days of dear corn, had learnt more and more to +depend upon the cultivation of potatoes, to whom their failure meant +ruin and starvation. + +This was especially the case in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, +where the year closed in gloom and apprehension; famine stalked +abroad, and doles of Indian corn administered by Government in +addition to the alms of the charitable, alone kept body and soul +together in fever-stricken multitudes. + +About this time also, like another feature of the spirit of adventure +which sent Franklin to the North Pole, and operated to a certain +extent in the flush of railway enterprise, England was talking half +chivalrously, half commercially, and alas! more than half sceptically, +of Brook and Borneo, and the new attempt to establish civilization and +herald Christianity under English influence in the far seas. All these +conflicting elements of new history were felt in the palace as in +other dwellings, and made part of Queen Victoria's life in those days. + +A great statesman closed his eyes on this changing world. Earl Grey, +who had been in the front in advocating change in his time, died. + +A brave soldier fell in the last of his battles. Sir Robert Sale, who +had been the guest of his Queen a year before, having returned to +India and rejoined the army of the Sutlej on fresh disturbances +breaking out in the Punjab, was killed at the battle of Moodkee. + +Something of the wit and humour of the country was quenched or +undergoing a transformation and passing into other hands. Two famous +English humorists, Sydney Smith and Tom Hood the elder, went over to +the great majority. + +By the close of 1845 it had become clear that a change in the Corn +Laws was impending. In the circumstances Sir Robert Peel, who, though +he had been for some time approaching the conclusion, was not prepared +to take immediate steps--who was, indeed, the representative of the +Conservative party--resigned office. Lord John Russell, the great Whig +leader, was called upon by the Queen to summon a new Ministry; but in +consequence of difficulties with those who were to have been his +colleagues, Lord John was compelled to announce himself unable to form +a Cabinet, and Sir Robert Peel, at the Queen's request, resumed +office, conscious that he had to face one of the hardest tasks ever +offered to a statesman. He had to encounter "the coolness of former +friends, the grudging support of unwilling adherents, the rancour of +disappointed political antagonists." + +In February, 1846, the royal family spent a week at Osborne, glad to +escape from the strife of tongues and the violent political contention +which they could do nothing to quell. The Prince was happy, "out all +day," directing the building which was going on, and laying out the +grounds of his new house; and the Queen was happy in her husband and +Children's happiness. During this short absence Sir Robert Peel's +resolutions were carried, and his Corn Bill, which was virtually the +repeal of the Corn Laws, passed. He had only to await the +consequences. + +In the middle of the political excitement a single human tragedy, +which Sir Robert Peel did something to prevent, reached its climax. +Benjamin Haydon, the painter, the ardent advocate, both by principle +and practice, of high art, took his life, driven to despair by his +failure in worldly success--especially by the ill-success of his +cartoons at the exhibition in Westminster Hall. + +On the 25th of May a third princess was born, and on the 20th of June +Sir Robert Peel's old allies, the Tories, who had but bided their time +for revenge, while his new Whig associates looked coldly on him, +conspired to defeat him in a Government measure to check assassination +in Ireland, so that he had no choice save to resign. He had sacrificed +himself as well as his party for what he conceived to be the good of +the nation. His reign of power was at an end; but for the moment, at +least, he was thankful. + +To Lord John Russell, who was more successful than on an earlier +occasion, the task of forming a new Ministry was intrusted. The +parting from her late ministers, on the 6th of July, was a trial to +the Queen, as the same experience had been previously. "Yesterday," +her Majesty wrote to King Leopold, "was a very hard day for me. I had +to part from Sir Robert Peel and Lord Aberdeen, who are irreparable +losses to us and to the country. They were both so much overcome that +it quite upset me. We have in them two devoted friends. We felt so +safe with them. Never during the five years that they were with me did +they ever recommend a person or a thing that was not for my or the +country's best, and never for the party's advantage _only_.... I +cannot tell you how sad I am to lose Aberdeen; you cannot think what a +delightful companion he was. The breaking up of all this intercourse +during our journeys is deplorable." + +In the separation the Queen turned naturally to a nearer and dearer +friend, whom only death could remove from her. "Albert's use to me, +and I may say to the country, by his firmness and sagacity in these +moments of trial, is beyond all belief." And beyond all gainsaying +must have been the deep satisfaction with which the uncle, who was +like a father, heard the repeated assurance of how successful had been +his work--what a blessing had rested upon it. + +Here is a note of exultation on the political changes from the +opposite side of the House. Lord Campbell wrote: "The transfer of the +ministerial offices took place at Buckingham Palace on the 6th of +July. I ought to have been satisfied, for I received two seals, one +for the Duchy of Lancaster and one for the County Palatine of +Lancaster. My ignorance of the double honour which awaited me caused +an awkward accident, for, when the Queen put two velvet bags into my +hand, I grasped one only, and the other with its heavy weight fell +down on the floor, and might have bruised the royal toes, but Prince +Albert good-naturedly picked it up and restored it to me." + +In July the Court again paid a short visit to Osborne, that the +Queen's health might be recruited before the baptism of the little +Princess. Her Majesty earnestly desired that the Queen of the Belgians +might be present, as the baby was to be the godchild of the young +widow of Queen Louise's much-loved brother, the late Duc d'Orleans. +Unfortunately the wish could not be fulfilled. The child was +christened at Buckingham Palace. She received the names of "Helena +Augusta Victoria." Her sponsors were the Duchesse d'Orleans, +represented by the Duchess of Kent; the Duchess of Cambridge; and the +Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The illustration +represents the charming little Princess at rather a more advanced age. + +At the end of July Prince Albert was away from home for a few days. He +visited Liverpool, which he had greatly wished to see, in order to lay +the foundation-stone of a Sailors' Home and open the Albert Dock. In +the middle of the bustle and enthusiasm of his reception he wrote to +the Queen: "I write hoping these lines, which go by the evening post, +may reach you by breakfast time to-morrow. As I write you will be +making your evening toilette, and not be ready in time for dinner. +[Footnote: The Queen dressed quickly, but sometimes she relied too +much on her powers in this respect, and failed in her wonted +punctuality.] I must set about the same task and not, let me hope, +with the same result. I cannot get it into my head that there are two +hundred and fifty miles between us.... I must conclude and enclose, by +way of close, two touching objects--a flower and a programme of the +procession." + +The same day the Queen wrote to Baron Stockmar: "I feel very lonely +without my dear master; and though I know other people are often +separated for a few days, I feel habit could not make me get +accustomed to it. This I am sure you cannot blame. Without him +everything loses its interest.... It will always be a terrible pang +for me to separate from him even for two days." Then she added with a +ring of foreboding, "And I pray God never to let me survive him." She +concluded with the true woman's proud assertion, "I glory in his being +seen and heard." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +AUTUMN YACHTING EXCURSIONS--THE SPANISH MARRIAGES--WINTER VISITS. + +In the beginning of August the Queen and the Prince, accompanied by +the King and Queen of the Belgians, went again to Osborne. This autumn +the Queen, the Prince and their two elder children, made pleasant +yachting excursions, of about a week's duration each, to old admired +scenes and new places. In one of these Baron Stockmar was with them, +since he had come to England for a year's visit. He expressed himself +as much gratified by the Prince's interest and judgment in politics, +and his opinion of the Queen was more favourable than ever. "The Queen +improves greatly," he noted down as the fruits of his keen +observation, "and she makes daily advances in discernment and +experience. The candour, the tone of truth, the fairness, the +considerateness with which she judges men and things, are truly +delightful; and the ingenuous self-knowledge with which she speaks of +herself is simply charming." The yachting excursions included +Babbicombe, with the red rocks and wooded hills, which gave the Queen +an idea of Italy, where she had never been, "or rather of a ballet or +play where nymphs are to appear;" and Torbay, where William of Orange +landed. It was perhaps in reference to that event that her Majesty +made her little daughter "read in her English history." It seems to +have been the Queen's habit, in these yachting excursions, to take +upon herself a part, at least, of the Princess Royal's education. +"Beautiful Dartmouth" recalled--it might be all the more, because of +the rain that fell there--the Rhine with its ruined castles and its +Lurlei. Plymouth Harbour and the shore where the pines grew down to +the sea, led again to Mount Edgcumbe, always lovely. But first the +Queen and the Prince steamed up the St. Germans and the Tamar rivers, +passing Trematon Castle, which belonged to the little Duke of +Cornwall, and penetrated by many windings of the stream into lake-like +regions surrounded by woods and abounding in mines, which made the +Prince think of some parts of the Danube. The visitors landed at +Cothele, and drove up to a fine old house unchanged since Henry VII.'s +time. When they returned in the _Fairy_ to the yacht proper, they +found it in the centre of a shoal of boats, as it had been the last +time it sailed in these waters. + +Prince Albert made an excursion to Dartmoor, and could have believed +he was in Scotland, while her Majesty contented herself with another +visit to Mount Edgcumbe, the master of which, a great invalid, yet +contrived to meet her near the landing-place at which his wife and +sons, with other members of the family, had received the royal +visitor. The drowsy heat and the golden haze were in keeping with the +romantically luxuriant glories of the drive, which the Queen took with +her children and her hostess. The little people went in to luncheon +while the Queen sketched. + +After Prince Albert's return in the afternoon, the visit was repeated. +"The finest and tallest chestnut-trees in existence," and the +particularly tall and straight birch-trees, were inspected, and Sir +Joshua Reynolds's portraits examined. Well might they flourish at +Mount Edgcumbe, since Plymouth was Sir Joshua's native town, and some +of the Edgcumbe family were among his first patrons, when English art +stood greatly in need of such patronage. + +The next excursion was an impromptu run in lovely weather to Guernsey, +which had not been visited by an English sovereign since the days of +King John. The rocky bays, the neighbouring islands, the half-foreign +town of St. Pierre, with "very high, bright-coloured houses," +illuminated at night, pleased her Majesty greatly. On the visitors +landing they were met by ladies dressed in white singing "God save the +Queen," and strewing the path with flowers. General Napier, a white- +haired soldier, received the Queen and presented her with the keys of +the fort. The narrow streets through which she drove were "decorated +with flowers and flags, and lined with the Guernsey militia." The +country beyond, of which she had a glimpse, was crowned with fine +vegetation. + +Whether or not it was to prevent Jersey, with St. Helier's, from +feeling jealous, ten days later the Queen and the Prince, the Prince +of Wales, and the Princess Royal, the usual suite, Lord Spencer, and +Lord Palmerston, set out on a companion trip to the sister island. The +weather was colder and the sea not so calm. Indeed, the rolling of the +vessel in Alderney Race was more than the voyagers had bargained for. +After it became smoother the little Prince of Wales put on a sailor's +dress made by a tailor on board, and great was the jubilation of the +Jack Tars of every degree. + +The whole picturesque coast of Jersey was circumnavigated in order to +reach St. Helier's, which was gained when the red rocks were gilded +with the setting sun. A little later the yacht was hauled up under the +glow of bonfires and an illumination. On a splendid September day, +which lent to the very colouring a resemblance to Naples, the Queen +passed between the twin towers of Noirmont Point and St. Aubin, and +approached Elizabeth Castle, with the town of St. Helier's behind it. +The Queen landed amidst the firing of guns, the playing of military +bands, and the roar of cheers, the ladies of the place, as before, +strewing her path with flowers, and marshalling her to a canopy, under +which her Majesty received the address of the States and the militia. +The demonstrations were on a larger and more finished scale than in +Guernsey, greater time having been given for preparation. + +The French tongue around her arrested the Queen's attention. So did a +seat in one of the streets filled with French women from Granville, +"curiously dressed, with white handkerchiefs on their heads." The +Queen drove through the green island, admiring its orchards without +end, though the season of russet and rosy apples was past for Jersey. +The old tower of La Hogue Bie was seen, and the castle of Mont Orgueil +was still more closely inspected, the Queen walking up to it and +visiting one of its batteries, with a view across the bay to the +neighbouring coast of France. Mont Orgueil is said to have been +occupied by Robert of Normandy, the unfortunate son of William the +Conqueror. Her Majesty heard that it had not yet been taken, but found +this was an error, though it was true the island of Guernsey had never +been conquered. + +The close of the pleasant day was a little spoilt by the heat and +glare, which sent the Queen ill to her cabin. The next day saw the +party bound for Falmouth, where they arrived under a beautiful moon, +with the sea smooth as glass--not an unacceptable change from the +rolling swell of the first part of the little voyage. + +Something unexpected and unwelcome had happened before the close of +the excursion, while the French coast which the Queen had hailed with +so much pleasure was still full in sight. Whether the news which +arrived with the other dispatches had anything to do with the fit of +indisposition that rendered the heat and glare unbearable, it +certainly marred the enjoyment of the last part of her trip. Before +quitting Jersey the Queen was made acquainted with the fact that Louis +Philippe's voluntary protestations with regard to the marriage of his +son, the Duc de Montpensier, had been so many idle words. He had +stolen a march both upon England and Europe generally. The marriage of +the Due de Montpensier with the Infanta Luisa of Spain was announced +simultaneously with the marriage of her sister, the Queen of Spain, to +her cousin the Due de Cadiz. + +Everybody knows at this date how futile were Louis Philippe's schemes +for the aggrandisement of his family, and how he learnt by bitter +experience, as Louis XIV. had done before him, that a coveted Spanish +alliance, in the very fact of its attainment, meant disaster and +humiliation for France. + +Louis Philippe had the grace, as we sometimes say, to shrink from +writing to announce the double marriage against which he had so often +solemnly pledged himself to the Queen. He delegated the difficult task +to Queen Amélie, who discharged it with as much tact as might have +been expected from so devoted a wife and kind a woman. + +The Queen of England's reply to this begging of the question is full +of spirit and dignity:-- + +"OSBORNE, September 10, 1846. + +"MADAME,--I have just received your Majesty's letter of the 8th, and I +hasten to thank you for it. You will, perhaps remember what passed at +Eu between the King and myself. You are aware of the importance which +I have always attached to the maintenance of our cordial +understanding, and the zeal with which I have laboured towards this +end. You have no doubt been informed that we refused to arrange the +marriage between the Queen of Spain and our cousin Leopold (which the +two Queens [Footnote: The reference is to the young Queen of Spain and +her mother the Queen-dowager Christina.] had eagerly desired) solely +with the object of not departing from a course which would be more +agreeable to the King, although we could not regard the course as the +best. [Footnote: The confining of the Queen of Spain's selection of a +husband to a Bourbon prince, a descendant of Philip V.] You will +therefore easily understand that the sudden announcement of this +double marriage could not fail to cause us surprise and very keen +regret. + +"I crave your pardon, Madame, for speaking to you of politics at a +time like this, but I am glad that I can say for myself that I have +always been _sincere_ with you. Begging you to present my +respectful regards to the King, I am, Madame, your Majesty's most +devoted friend, + +"VICTORIA." + +The last yachting excursion of the season was to Cornwall. The usual +party accompanied the Queen and the Prince, the elder children, and +the ladies and gentlemen in waiting, her Majesty managing, as before, +to hear her little daughter repeat her lessons. Lizard Point and +Land's End were reached. At Penzance Prince Albert landed to inspect +the copper and serpentine-stone works, while the Queen sketched from +the deck of the _Fairy_. As the Cornish boats clustered round the +yacht, and the Prince of Wales looked down with surprise on the half- +outlandish boatmen, a loyal shout arose, "Three cheers for the Duke of +Cornwall." + +The romantic: region of St. Michael's Mount, dear to the lovers of +Arthurian legends, was visited, the Queen climbing the circuitous path +up the hill to enter the castle, the Prince mounting to the tower +where "St Michael's chair," the rocky seat for betrothed couples, +still tests their courage and endurance. Each man and woman races up +the difficult path, and the winner of the race who first sits down in +the chair claims the right to rule the future home. + +The illustration from a painting by Stanfield represents the imposing +pile of the "old religious house" crowning the noble rock, the royal +yacht lying off the shore commanding St. Michael's Mount, the numerous +spectators on shore and in boats haunting the royal footsteps--in +short, the whole scene in the freshness and stir which broke in upon +its sombre romance. + +On Sunday service was held under the awning with its curtains of +flags, Lord Spencer--a captain in the navy--reading prayers "extremely +well." On Monday there was an excursion to the serpentine rocks, where +caves and creeks, cormorants and gulls, lent their attractions to the +spot. At Penryn the corporation came on board, "very anxious to see +the Duke of Cornwall." The Queen makes a picture in writing of the +quaint interview. "I stepped out of the pavilion on deck with Bertie. +Lord Palmerston told them that that was the Duke of Cornwall, and the +old mayor of Penryn said he hoped 'he would grow up a blessing to his +parents and his country.'" + +The party were rowed up the beautiful rivers Truro and Tregony, +between banks covered with stunted oaks or woods of a more varied kind +down to the water's edge, past charming pools, creeks, and ferries, +with long strings of boats on the water and carts on the shore, and a +great gathering of people cheering the visitors, especially when the +little Duke of Cornwall was held up for them to see. The Queen took +delight in the rustic demonstration, so much in keeping with the +place, and the simple loyalty of the people. + +Her Majesty went to Fowey, and had the opportunity of driving through +some of the narrowest, steepest streets in England, till she reached +the hilly ground of Cornwall, "covered with fields, and intersected +with hedges," and at last arrived at her little son's possession, the +ivy-covered ruin of the old castle of Restormel, an appanage of the +Duchy of Cornwall, in which the last Earl of Cornwall had resided five +hundred years before. + +The Queen also visited the Restormel iron-mines. She was one of the +comparatively few ladies who have ventured into the nether darkness of +a pit. She saw her underground subjects as well as those above ground, +and to the former no less than to the latter she bore the kindly +testimony that she found them "intelligent good people." We can vouch +for this that these hewers and drawers of ore, in their dark-blue +woollen suits, the arms bare, and caps with the candles or lamps stuck +in the front, lighting up the pallid grimy faces, would be fully +conscious of the honour done them, and would yield to no ruddy, +fustian-clad ploughman or picturesque shepherd, with his maud and +crook in loyalty to their Queen. + +The Queen and the Prince got into a truck and were drawn by the +miners, the mineral agent for Cornwall bringing up the rear, into the +narrow workings, where none could pass between the truck and the rock, +and "there was just room to hold up one's head, and not always that." +As it is with other strangers in Pluto's domains, her Majesty felt +there was something unearthly about this lit-up cavern-like place, +where many a man spent the greater part of his life. But she was not +deterred from getting out of the truck with me Prince, and scrambling +along to see the veins of ore, from which Prince Albert was able to +knock off some specimens. Daylight was dazzling to the couple when +they returned to its cheerful presence. + +The last visit paid in Cornwall was by very narrow stony lanes to +"Place," a curious house restored from old plans and drawings to a +fac-simile of a Cornwall house of the past as it had been defended by +one of the ancestresses of the present family, the Treffrys, against +an attack made upon her, by the French during her husband's absence. +The hall was lined with Cornwall marble and porphyry. + +On the 15th of September the new part of Osborne House was occupied +for the first time by its owners. Lady Lyttelton chronicled the +pleasant event and some ceremonies which accompanied it. "After dinner +we were to drink the Queen and Prince's health as a 'house-warming.' +And after it the Prince said very naturally and simply, but seriously, +'We have a hymn' (he called it a psalm) 'in Germany for such +occasions. It begins'--and then he repeated two lines in German, +which I could not quote right, meaning a prayer to 'bless our going +out and coming in.' It was long and quaint, being Luther's. We all +perceived that he was feeling it. And truly entering a new house, a +new palace, is a solemn thing to do, to those whose probable span of +life in it is long, and spite of rank, and health, and youth, down- +hill now." + +Sir Theodore Martin, who quotes Lady Lyttelton's letters in the "Life +of the Prince Consort," gives such a hymn, which is a paraphrase of +the 121st Psalm, as it appears in the Coburg _Gesang-Buch_, and +supplies a translation of the verse in question. + + Unsern ausgang segne Gott, + Unsern erngang gleicher massen, + Segne unser taglich brod, + Segne unser thun und lassen. + Segne uns mit sel'gem sterben, + Und mach uns zu Himmel's Erben + + * * * * * + + By Tre, Con and Pen, + You may know the Cornish men + God bless our going out, nor less + Our coming in, and make them sure, + God bless our daily bread, and bless + Whate'er we do, whate'er endure, + In death unto his peace awake us, + And heirs of his salvation make us + +"I forgot," writes Lady Lyttelton again, "much the best part of our +breaking in, which was that Lucy Kerr (one of the maids of honour) +insisted on throwing an old shoe into the house after the Queen, as +she entered for the first night, being a Scotch superstition. It +looked too strange and amusing. She wanted some melted lead and sundry +other charms, but they were not forthcoming. I told her I would call +her _Luckie_, and not _Lucy_." + +During the autumn the Princess of Prussia, who was on a visit to her +aunt, Queen Adelaide, went to Windsor Castle, where Madame Bunsen met +her. "I arrived here at six," writes Madame Bunsen "and at eight went +to dinner in the great hall, hung round with Waterloo pictures, the +band playing exquisitely, so placed as to be invisible, so that what +with the large proportions of the hall and the well-subdued lights, +and the splendours of plate and decorations, the scene was such as +fairy tales present; and Lady Canning, Miss Stanley, and Miss Dawson +were beautiful enough to represent an ideal queen's ideal attendants. + +"The Queen looked well and _rayonnante_, with the expression of +countenance that she has when pleased with what surrounds her, and +which you know I like to see. The old Duke of Cambridge failed not to +ask after you. + +"This morning at nine we were all assembled at prayers in the private +chapel, then went to breakfast, headed by Lady Canning, after which +Miss Stanley took the Countess Haach and me to see the collection of +gold plate. Three works of Benvenuto Cellini, and a trophy from the +Armada, an immense flagon or wine-fountain, like a gigantic old- +fashioned smelling-bottle, and a modern Indian work--a box given to +the Queen by an Indian potentate--were what interested me the most. +Then I looked at many interesting pictures in the long corridor. + +"I am lodged in what is called the Devil's Tower, and have a view of +the Round Tower, of which I made a sketch as soon as I was out of bed +this morning." + +In October the Queen and the Prince spent several days on a private +visit to the Queen-dowager at her country house of Cashiobury. From +Cashiobury the royal couple went on, in bad weather, to Hatfield +House, which had once been a palace, but had long been the seat of the +Cecils, Marquises of Salisbury. Here more than anywhere else Queen +Victoria was on the track of her great predecessor, Queen Elizabeth, +while the virgin queen was still the maiden princess, considerably +oppressed by her stern sister Queen Mary. Queen Victoria inspected all +the relics of the interesting old place, "the vineyard," the +banqueting-room fallen down into a stable, and the oak still linked +with the name of Queen Bess. + +At Hatfield there was a laudable innovation on the usual round of +festivities. From four to five hundred labourers were regaled on the +lawn with a roasted ox and hogsheads of ale. + +On the 1st of December, the Queen and Prince, who had been staying at +Osborne, paid the Duke of Norfolk a visit at Arundel. Not only was the +Duke the premier duke and Earl-Marshal of England, but he held at this +time the high office in the Household of Master of the Horse. The old +keep and tower at Arundel were brilliantly illuminated in honour of +the Queen's presence, and bonfires lit up the surrounding country. The +Duke of Wellington was here also, walking about with the Queen, while +the younger men shot with Prince Albert. On the second day of her stay +her Majesty received guests in the state drawing-room. The third day +included the usual commemorative planting of trees in the Little Park. +In the evening there was dancing, in which the Queen joined. + +There were great changes, ominous of still further transitions, in the +theatrical and literary world. Liston, the famous comedian who had +delighted a former generation, was dead, and amateur actors, led by +authors in the persons of Charles Dickens, Douglas Jerrold, &c. &c., +had come to the front, and were winning much applause, as well as +solid benefits for individuals and institutions connected with +literature requiring public patronage. A man and a woman unlike in +everything save their cordial admiration for each other, bore down all +opposition in the reading world: William Makepeace Thackeray, in 1846, +in spite of the discouragement of publishers, started his "Vanity +Fair," and Charlotte Brontë, from the primitive seclusion of an old- +fashioned Yorkshire parsonage, took England by storm with her +impassioned, unconventional "Jane Eyre." The fame of these two books, +while the authors were still in a great measure unknown, rang through +the country. + +Art in England was still following the lines laid down for the last +twenty or thirty years, unless in the case of Turner, who had entered +some time before on the third period of his work, the period marked by +defiance and recklessness as well as by noble power. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +INSTALLATION OF PRINCE ALBERT AS CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE. + +One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven began with the climax of +the terrible famine in Ireland, and the Highlands, produced by the +potato disease, which, commencing in 1845, had reappeared even more +disastrously in 1846. In the Queen's speech in opening Parliament, she +alluded to the famine in the land with a perceptibly sad fall of her +voice. + +In spite of bad trade and bad times everywhere, two millions were +advanced by the Government for the relief of the perishing people, fed +on doles of Indian meal; yet the mortality in the suffering districts +continued tremendous. + +In February, 1847, Lord Campbell describes an amusing scene in the +Queen's closet. "I had an audience, that her Majesty might prick a +sheriff for the county of Lancaster, which she did in proper style, +with the bodkin I put into her hand. I then took her pleasure about +some Duchy livings and withdrew, forgetting to make her sign the +parchment roll. I obtained a second audience, and explained the +mistake. While she was signing, Prince Albert said to me, 'Pray, my +lord, when did this ceremony of pricking begin?' CAMPBELL. 'In ancient +times, sir, when sovereigns did not know now to write their names.' +QUEEN, as she returned me the roll with her signature, 'But we now +show we have been to school.'" In the course of the next month his +lordship gives a lively account of dining along with his wife and +daughter at Buckingham Palace. "On our arrival, a little before eight, +we were shown into the picture gallery, where the company assembled. +Bowles, who acted as master of the ceremonies, arranged what gentlemen +should take what lady. He said, 'Dinner is ordered to be on the table +at ten minutes past eight, but I bet you the Queen will not be here +till twenty or twenty-five minutes after. She always thinks she can +dress in ten minutes, but she takes about double the time.' True +enough, it was nearly twenty-five minutes past eight before she +appeared; she shook hands with the ladies, bowed to the gentlemen, and +proceeded to the _salle à manger_. I had to take in Lady Emily de +Burgh, and was third on her Majesty's right, Prince Edward of Saxe- +Weimar and my partner being between us. The greatest delicacy we had +was some very nice oat-cake. There was a Highland piper standing +behind her Majesty's chair, but he did not play as at State dinners. +We had likewise some Edinburgh ale. 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 to dinner.... On returning to +the gallery we had tea and coffee. The Queen came up and talked to me. +She does the honours of the palace with infinite grace and sweetness, +and considering what she is both in public and domestic life, I do not +think she is sufficiently loved and respected. Prince Albert took me +to task for my impatience to get into the new House of Lords, but I +think I pacified him, complimenting his taste. A dance followed. The +Queen chiefly delighted in a romping sort of country-dance, called the +_Tempête_. She withdrew a little before twelve." + +The beginning of the season in London was marked by two events in the +theatrical and operatic world. Fanny Kemble (Mrs. Pierce Butler) +reappeared on the stage, and was warmly welcomed back. Jenny Lind sang +for the first time in London at the Italian Opera House in the part of +"Alice" in _Roberto il Diavolo_, and enchanted the audience with +her unrivalled voice and fine acting. + +In the month of May, in the middle of the Irish distress, the great +agitator of old, Daniel O'Connell, died in his seventy-second year, on +his way to Rome. The news of his death was received in Ireland as only +one drop more in the full cup of national misery. In the same month of +May another and a very different orator, Dr. Chalmers, the great +impassioned Scotch divine, philosopher, and philanthropist, one of the +leaders in the disruption from the Church of Scotland, died in +Edinburgh, in his sixty-eighth year. + +Prince Albert had been elected Chancellor of Cambridge University--a +well-deserved compliment, which afforded much gratification both to +the Queen and the Prince. They went down to Cambridge in July for the +ceremony of the installation, which was celebrated with all scholarly +state and splendour. + +"The Hall of Trinity was the scene of the ceremony for which the visit +was paid. Her Majesty occupied a chair of state on a dais. The +Chancellor, the Prince in his official robes, supported by the Duke of +Wellington, Chancellor of Oxford, the Bishop of Oxford, the Vice- +Chancellor of Cambridge, and the Heads of the Houses entered, and the +Chancellor read an address to her Majesty congratulatory on her +arrival. Her Majesty made a gracious reply and the Prince retired with +the usual profound obeisances, a proceeding which caused her Majesty +some amusement," so says the _Annual Register_. This part of the +day's proceedings seems to have made a lively impression on those who +witnessed it. + +Bishop Wilberforce gives his testimony. "The Cambridge scene was very +interesting. There was such a burst of loyalty, and it told so on the +Queen and Prince. E--- would not then have thought that he looked +cold. It was quite clear that they both felt it as something new that +he had earned, and not she given, a true English honour; and so he +looked so pleased and she so triumphant. There was also some such +pretty interludes when he presented the address, and she beamed upon +him and once half smiled, and then covered the smile with a gentle +dignity, and then she said in her clear musical voice, 'The choice +which the University has made of its Chancellor _has my most entire +approbation_.'" The Queen records in her Diary, "I cannot say how +it agitated and embarrassed me to have to receive this address and +hear it read by my beloved Albert, who walked in at the head of the +University, and who looked dear and beautiful in his robes, which were +carried by Colonel Phipps and Colonel Seymour. Albert went through it +all admirably, almost absurd, however, as it was for us. He gave me +the address and I read the answer, and a few kissed hands, and then +Albert retired with the University." + +After luncheon a Convocation was held in the Senate House, at which +the Queen was present as a visitor. The Prince, as Chancellor, +received her at the door, and led her to the seat prepared for her. +"He sat covered in his Chancellor's chair. There was a perfect roar of +applause," which we are told was only tamed down within the bounds of +sanity by the dulness of the Latin oration, delivered by the public +orator. Besides the princes already mentioned, and several noblemen +and gentlemen, Sir George Grey, Sir Harry Smith (of Indian fame), Sir +Roderick Murchison, and Professor Muller, received university honours. + +Her Majesty and the new Chancellor dined with the Vice-Chancellor at +Catherine Hall--probably selected for the honour because it was a +small college, and could only accommodate a select party. After dinner +her Majesty attended a concert in the Senate House--an entertainment +got up in order to afford the Cambridge public another opportunity of +seeing their Queen. Later the Prince went to the Observatory, and her +Majesty walked in the cool of the evening in the little garden of +Trinity Lodge, with her two ladies. + +The following day the royal party again went to the Senate House, the +Prince receiving the Queen, and conducting her as before to her seat. +With the accompaniment of a tremendous crowd, great heat, and thunders +of applause, the prize poems were read, and the medals distributed by +the Prince. Then came the time for the "Installation Ode," written at +the Prince's request by Wordsworth, the poet laureate, set to music, +and sung in Trinity Hall in the presence of the Queen and Prince +Albert with great effect. Poetry, of all created things, can least be +made to order; yet the ode had many fine passages and telling lines, +besides the recommendation claimed for it by Baroness Bunsen: "The +Installation Ode I thought quite affecting, because the selection of +striking points was founded on fact, and all exaggeration and humbug +were avoided." + +The poem touched first on what was so prominent a feature in the +history of Europe in the poet's youth--the evil of unrighteous and the +good of righteous war, identifying the last with the successes of +England when Napoleon was overthrown. + + Such is Albion's fame and glory, + Let rescued Europe tell the story + +Then the measure changes to a plaintive strain. + + But lo! what sudden cloud has darkened all + The land as with a funeral pall? + The rose of England suffers blight, + The flower has drooped, the isle's delight + Flower and bud together fall, + A nation's hopes he crushed in Claremont's desolate hall + +Hope and cheer return to the song. + + Time a chequered mantle wears, + Earth awakes from wintry sleep, + Again the tree a blossom bears + Cease, Britannia, cease to weep, + Hark to the peals on this bright May morn, + They tell that your future Queen is born + + +A little later is the fine passage-- + + Time in his mantle's sunniest fold + Uplifted on his arms the child, + And while the fearless infant smiled + Her happy destiny foretold + Infancy, by wisdom mild, + Trained to health and artless beauty, + Youth by pleasure unbeguiled + From the lore of lofty duty, + Womanhood, in pure renown + Seated on her lineal throne, + Leaves of myrtle in her crown + Fresh with lustre all their own, + Love, the treasure worth possessing + More than all the world beside, + This shall be her choicest blessing, + Oft to royal hearts denied. + +After a brief period of rest, which meant a little quiet "reading, +writing, working, and drawing"--a far better sedative for excited +nerves than entire idleness--the Queen and the Prince attended a +flower-show in the grounds of Downing College, walking round the +gardens and entering into all the six tents, "a very formidable +undertaking, for the heat was beyond endurance and the crowd fearful." +In the evening there was a great dinner in Trinity Hall. "Splendid did +that great hall look," is Baroness Bunsen's admiring exclamation; +"three hundred and thirty people at various tables ... the Queen and +her immediate suite at a table at the raised end of the hall, all the +rest at tables lengthways. At the Queen's table the names were put on +the places, and anxious was the moment before one could find one's +place." Then the Queen gave a reception in Henry VIII.'s drawing-room, +when the masters, professors and doctors, with their wives, were +presented. When the reception was over, at ten o'clock, in the soft +dim dusk, a little party again stole out, to see with greater leisure +and privacy those noble trees and hoary buildings. Her Majesty tells +us the pedestrians were in curious costumes: "Albert in his dress-coat +with a mackintosh over it, I in my evening dress and diadem, and with +a veil over my head, and the two princes in their uniforms, and the +ladies in their dresses and shawls and veils. We walked through the +small garden, and could not at first find our way, after which we +discovered the right road, and walked along the beautiful avenues of +lime-trees in the grounds of St. John's College, along the water and +over the bridges. All was so pretty and picturesque, in particular the +one covered bridge of St. John's College, which is like the Bridge of +Sighs at Venice. We stopped to listen to the distant hum of the town; +and nothing seemed wanting but some singing, which everywhere but here +in this country we should have heard. A lattice opened, and we could +fancy a lady appearing and listening to a serenade." + +Shade of quaint old Fuller! thou who hast described with such gusto +Queen Elizabeth's five days' stay at Cambridge, what wouldst thou not +have given, hadst thou lived in the reign of Victoria, to have been in +her train this night? Shades more formidable of good Queen Bess +herself, Bluff King Hal, Margaret Countess of Richmond, and that other +unhappy Margaret of Anjou, what would you have said of this simple +ramble? In truth it was a scene from the world of romance, even +without the music and the lady at the lattice. An ideal Queen and an +ideal Prince, a thin disguise over the tokens of their magnificence, +stealing out with their companions, like so many ghosts, to enjoy +common sights and experiences and the little thrill of adventure in +the undetected deed. + +On the last morning there was a public breakfast in the grounds of +Trinity College, attended by thousands of the county gentry of Cambridge +and Lincolnshire. "At one the Queen set out through the cloisters and +hall and library of Trinity College, to pass through the gardens and +avenues, which had been connected for the occasion by a temporary bridge +over the river, with those of St. John's." Madame Bunsen and her +companions followed her Majesty, and had the best opportunity of seeing +everything, and in particular "the joyous crowd that grouped among the +noble trees." The Queen ate her _déjeuner_ in one of the tents, and on +her return to Trinity Lodge, she and Prince Albert left Cambridge at +three o'clock for London. Baroness Bunsen winds up her graphic +descriptions with the statement, "I could still tell much of Cambridge-- +of the charm of its 'trim gardens,' of how the Queen looked and was +pleased, and how well she was dressed, and how perfect in grace and +movement." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO THE WESTERN ISLANDS OP SCOTLAND AND STAY AT +ARDVERIKIE. + +On the 11th of August her Majesty and Prince Albert, with the Prince +of Wales, the Princess Royal, and the Prince of Leiningen, attended by +a numerous suite, left Osborne in the royal yacht for Scotland. They +followed a new route and succeeded, in spite of the fogs in the +Channel, in reaching the Scilly Isles. The voyage, to begin with, was +not a pleasant one. There had been a rough swell on the sea as well as +fogs off shore. The children, and especially the Queen, on this +occasion suffered from sea-sickness. However, her Majesty landed on +the tiny island of St. Mary's. + +As the royal party approached Wales the sea became calmer and the +sailing enjoyable. The yacht and its companions lay in the great +harbour of Milford Haven, under the reddish-brown cliffs. Prince +Albert and the Prince of Leiningen went to Pembroke, while the Queen +sat on the deck and sketched. + +On a beautiful Sunday the Queen sailed through the Menai Straits in +the _Fairy_, when the sight of "Snowdon rising splendidly in the +middle of the fields and woods was glorious." The "grand old Castle of +Caernarvon" attracted attention; so did Plas Newydd, where her Majesty +had spent six weeks, when she had visited Wales as Princess Victoria, +in one of her girlish excursions with the Duchess of Kent. The Isle of +Man, with the town of Douglas, surmounted by bold hills and cliffs, a +castle and a lighthouse, looked abundantly picturesque, but the +landing there was reserved for the return of the voyagers, though it +was on this occasion that a tripping Manxman described Prince Albert, +in a local newspaper, as leading the Prince Regent by the hand; a slip +which drew from the Prince the gay rejoinder that "usually one has a +regent for an infant, but in Man it seems to be precisely the +reverse." + +The Mull of Galloway was the first Scotch land that was sighted, and +just before entering Loch Ryan the huge rock, Ailsa Craig, with its +moving clouds of sea-fowl, rose to view. + +Arran and Goatfell, Bute and the Bay of Rothesay, were alike hailed +with delight. But the islands were left behind for the moment, till +more was seen of the Clyde, and Greenock, of sugar-refining and boat- +building fame, was reached. It was her Majesty's first visit to the +west coast of Scotland, and Glasgow poured "down the water" her +magistrates, her rich merchants, her stalwart craftsmen, her swarms +from the Gorbels and the Saut Market, the Candle-rigs and the Guse- +dibs. Multitudes lined the quays. No less than forty steamers over- +filled with passengers struggled zealously in the wake of royalty. +"Amidst boats and ships of every description moving in all +directions," the little _Fairy_ cut its way through, bound for +Dumbarton. + +On the Queen's return to Greenock she sailed past Roseneath, and +followed the windings of Loch Long, getting a good view of the +Cobbler, the rugged mountain which bears a fantastic resemblance to a +man mending a shoe. At the top of the loch, Ben Lomond came in sight. +"There was no sun, and twice a little mist; but still it was +beautiful," wrote the Queen. + +On "a bright fresh morning" in August, when the hills were just +"slightly tipped with clouds," the Queen sailed through the Kyles of +Bute, that loveliest channel between overtopping mountains, and +entered Loch Fyne, another fine arm of the sea, of herring celebrity. + +A Highland welcome awaited the Queen at the little landing-place of +Inverary, made gay and fragrant with heather. Old friends, whom she +was honouring by her presence, waited to receive her, the Duke and +Duchess of Argyle--the latter the eldest daughter of the Duchess of +Sutherland, who was also present with her son, Lord Stafford, her +unmarred daughter, Lady Caroline Leveson-Gower, and her son-in-law and +second daughter, Lord and Lady Blantyre. An innocent warder stood in +front of the old feudal keep. In the course of the Queen's visit to +Germany she had made the acquaintance, without dreaming of what lay +concealed in the skirts of time, of one of her future sons-in-law in a +fine little boy of eight years. Now her Majesty was to be introduced, +without a suspicion of what would be the result of the introduction, +to the coming husband of another daughter still unborn. Here is the +Queen's description of the son and heir of the house of Argyle, who +was yet to win a princess for his bride. "Outside, stood the Marquis +of Lorne, just two years old--a dear, white, fat, fair little fellow, +with reddish hair but very delicate features, like both his mother and +father; he is such a merry, independent little child. He had a black +velvet dress and jacket, with a 'sporran,' scarf, and Highland +bonnet." + +Her Majesty lunched at the castle, "the Highland gentlemen standing +with halberts in the room," and returned to the _Fairy_, sailing +down Loch Fyne when the afternoon was at its mellowest, and the long +shadows were falling across the hillsides. At five Lochgilphead was +reached, when Sir John Orde lent his carriage to convey the visitors +to the Crinan Canal. The next day's sail, in beautiful weather still, +was through the clusters of the nearest of the western islands, up the +Sound of Jura, amidst a flotilla of small boats crowned with flags. +Here were fresh islands and mountain peaks, until the strangers were +within hail of Staffa. + +It is not always that an approach to this northern marvel of nature is +easy or even practicable; but fortune favours the brave. Her Majesty +has described the landing. "At three we anchored close before Staffa, +and immediately got into the barge, with Charles, the children, and +the rest of our people, and rowed towards the cave. As we rounded the +point the wonderful basaltic formation came into sight. The appearance +it presents is most extraordinary, and when we turned the corner to go +into the renowned Fingal's Cave the effect was splendid, like a great +entrance into a vaulted hall; it looked almost awful as we entered, +and the barge heaved up and down on the swell of the sea. It is very +high, but not longer than two hundred and twenty-seven feet, and +narrower than I expected, being only forty feet wide. The sea is +immensely deep in the cave. The rocks under water were all colours-- +pink, blue, and green, which had a most beautiful and varied effect. +It was the first time the British standard, with a queen of Great +Britain and her husband and children, had ever entered Fingal's Cave, +and the men gave three cheers, which sounded very impressive there." + +On the following day the Atlantic rains had found the party, though +for the present the affliction was temporary. It poured for three +hours, during which her Majesty drew and painted in her cabin. The +weather cleared in the afternoon; sitting on the deck was again +possible, and Loch Linnhe, Loch Eil, and the entrance to Loch Leven +were not lost. + +At Fort William the Queen was to quit the yacht and repair to the +summer quarters of Ardverikie. Before doing so she recorded her regret +that "this delightful voyage and tour among the western lochs and +isles is at an end; they are so beautiful and so full of poetry and +romance, traditions and historical associations." + +Rain again, more formidable than before, on Saturday, the 21st of +August. It was amidst a hopeless drenching drizzle, which blots out +the chief features of a landscape, that the Queen went ashore, to find +"a great gathering of Highlanders in their different tartans" met to +do her honour. Frasers, Forbeses, Mackenzies, Grants, replaced +Campbells, Macdonalds, Macdougals, and Macleans. By a wild and lonely +carriage-road, the latter part resembling Glen Tilt, her Majesty +reached her destination. + +Ardverikie, which claimed to have been a hunting-seat of Fergus, king +of the Scots, was a shooting lodge belonging to Lord George Bentinck, +rented from him by the Marquis of Abercorn, and lent by the marquis to +the Queen. It has since been burnt down. It was rustic, as a shooting +lodge should be, very much of a large cottage in point of +architecture, the bare walls of the principal rooms characteristically +decorated with rough sketches by Landseer, among them a drawing of +"The Stag at Bay," and the whole house bristling with stags' horns of +great size and perfection. In front of the house lay Loch Laggan, +eight miles in length. + +The Queen remained at Ardverikie for four weeks, and doubtless would +have enjoyed the wilds thoroughly, had it not been for the lowest deep +of persistently bad weather, when "it not only rained and blew, but +snowed by way of variety." + +Lord Campbell heard and wrote down these particulars of the royal stay +at Ardverikie. "The Queen was greatly delighted with the Highlands in +spite of the bad weather, and was accustomed to sally for a walk in +the midst of a heavy rain, putting a great hood ever her bonnet, and +showing nothing of her features but her eyes. The Prince's invariable +return to luncheon about two o'clock, in spite of grouse-shooting and +deer-stalking, is explained by his voluntary desire to please the +Queen, and by the intense hunger which always assails him at this +hour, when he likes, in German fashion, to make his dinner." + +In a continuance of the most dismally unpropitious weather, the Queen +and her children left Ardverikie on the 17th of September, the Prince +having preceded her for a night that he might visit Inverness and the +Caledonian Canal. The storm continued, almost without intermission, +during the whole of the voyage home. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +THE FRENCH FUGITIVES--THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER. + +Long before the autumn of 1847, the mischievous consequences of the +railway mania, complicated by the failure of the potato crop, showed +itself in great bankruptcies in the large towns all over the country. + +The new year came with trouble on its wings. The impending storm burst +all over Europe, first in France. Louis Philippe's dynasty was +overthrown. + +In pairs or singly, sometimes wandering aside in a little distraction, +so as to be lost sight of for days, the numerous brothers and sisters, +with the parent pair, reached Dreux and Eu, and thence, with the +exception of the Duchesse d'Orleans and her sons, straggled to +England. + +One can guess the feelings of the Queen and Prince Albert when they +heard that their late hosts, doubly allied to them by kindred ties, +were fugitives, seeking refuge from the hospitality of a foreign +nation. And the first confused tidings of the French revolution which +reached the Queen and Prince Albert were rendered more trying, by the +almost simultaneous announcement of the death of the old Dowager- +Duchess of Gotha, to whom all her grandchildren were so much attached. + +The ex-King and Queen arrived at Newhaven, Louis Philippe bearing the +name of Mr. Smith. Queen Victoria had already written to King Leopold +on the 1st of March: "About the King and Queen (Louis Philippe and +Queen Amélie) we still know nothing.... We do everything we can for +the poor family, who are, indeed, sorely to be pitied. But you will +naturally understand that we cannot make common cause with them, and +cannot take a hostile position to the new state of things in France. +We leave them alone; but if a Government which has the approbation of +the country be formed, we shall feel it necessary to recognise it in +order to pin them down to maintain peace and the existing treaties, +which is of the greatest importance. It will not be pleasant to do +this, but the public good and the peace of Europe go before one's +personal feelings." + +As soon as it could be arranged under the circumstances, the Queen had +an interview with the exiles. What a meeting after the last parting, +and all that had come to pass in the interval! This interview took +place on the 6th of March, when Louis Philippe came privately to +Windsor. + +The same intelligent chronicler, Lady Lyttelton, who gave such a +graphic account of the Citizen-King's first visit to Windsor, had also +to photograph the second. Once more she uses with reason the word +"historical." "To-day is historical, Louis Philippe having come from +Claremont to pay a private (_very_ private) visit to the Queen. +She is really enviable now, to have in her power and in her path of +duty, such a boundless piece of charity and beneficent hospitality. +The reception by the _people_ of England of all the fugitives has +been beautifully kind." + +That day the Queen wrote sadly to Baron Stockmar: "I am quite well; +indeed, particularly so, though God knows we have had since the 25th +enough for a whole life--anxiety, sorrow, excitement; in short, I feel +as if we had jumped over thirty years' experience at once. The whole +face of Europe is changed, and I feel as if I lived in a dream." She +added, with the tenderness of a generous nature, referring to the very +different circumstances in which her regard for the Orleans house had +been established, and to the alienation which had arisen between her +and some of its members: "You know my love for the family; you know +how I longed to get of terms with them again ... and you said, 'Time +will alone, but will certainly, bring it about.' Little did I dream +that this would be the way we should meet again and see each other, +all in the most friendly way. That the Duchesse de Montpensier, about +whom we have been quarrelling for the last year, and a half, should be +here as a fugitive and dressed in the clothes I sent her, and should +come to thank _me for my kindness_, is a reverse of fortune which +no novelist would devise, and upon which one could moralise for ever." + +It was a comfort to the Queen and Prince Albert that Belgium, which +had at first appeared in the greatest danger, ended by standing almost +alone on the side of its King and Government. + +The tide of revolution, which swept over the greater states, did not +spare the small. The Duke of Coburg-Gotha's subjects, who had seemed +so happily situated and so contented at the time of the Queen's visit, +were in a ferment like the rest of their countrymen. Bellona's hot +breath was in danger of withering the flowers of that Arcadia. The +Princes of Leiningen and Hohenlohe, the Queen's brother and brother- +in-law, were practically dispossessed of seigneurial rights and lands, +and ruined. The Princess of Hohenlohe wrote to her sister: "We are +undone, and must begin a new existence of privations, which I don't +care for, but for poor Ernest" (her husband) "I feel it more than I +can say." + +In the meantime, on the 18th of March a fourth English Princess was +born. There was more than usual congratulation on the safety and well- +being of mother and child, because of the great shocks which had tried +the Queen previously, and the anxiety which filled all thoughtful +minds for the result of the crisis in England. Her Majesty's courage +rose to the occasion. She wrote to King Leopold in little more than a +fortnight: "I heard all that passed, and my only thoughts and talk +were political. But I never was calmer or quieter, or less nervous. +Great events make one calm; it is only trifles that irritate my +nerves." + +England had its own troubles and was in high excitement about an +increased grant of money for the support of the army and navy, and the +continuance of the income-tax. The Chartists threatened to make a +great demonstration on Kennington Common. + +The first threat in London, for the 13th of March, a few days before +the birth of the little Princess, ended in utter failure. The happy +termination was assisted by the state of the weather, great falls of +rain anticipating the work of large bodies of police prepared to +scatter the crowd. But as another demonstration, with the avowed +intention of walking in procession to present to the House of Commons +a monster petition, miles long, for the granting of the People's +Charter, was announced to take place on the 10th of April, great +uncertainty, and agitation filled the public mind. It was judged +advisable that the Queen should go to the Isle of Wight for a short +stay at Osborne, though it was still not more than three weeks since +her confinement. + +The second demonstration collapsed like the first. Only a fraction-- +not more than twenty-three thousand of the vast multitude expected to +appear--assembled at the meeting-place, and the people dispersed +quietly. But it is only necessary to mention the precautions employed +to show how great had been the alarm. The Duke of Wellington devised +and conducted the steps which were taken beforehand. On the bridges +were massed bodies of foot and horse police, and special constables, +of whom nearly two hundred thousand--one of them Prince Louis +Napoleon, the future Emperor of the French--are said to have been +sworn in. In the immediate neighbourhood of each bridge strong forces +of military, while kept out of sight, were ready "for instant +movement." Two regiments of the line were at Millbank Penitentiary, +twelve hundred infantry at Deptford Dockyard, and thirty pieces of +heavy field ordnance at the Tower prepared for transport by hired +steamers to any spot where help might be required. Bodies of troops +were posted in unexpected quarters, as in the area of the untenanted +Rose Inn yard, but within call. The public offices at Somerset House +and in the City were liberally supplied with arms. Places like the +Bank of England were "packed" with troops and artillery, and furnished +with sand-bag parapets for their walls, and wooden barricades with +loopholes for firing through, for their windows. + +"Thank God," her Majesty wrote to the King of the Belgians, "the +Chartist meeting and procession have turned out a complete failure. +The loyalty of the people at large, has been very striking, and their +indignation at their peace being interfered with by such wanton and +worthless men immense." + +Never was cheerfulness more wanted to lighten a burden of work and +care. In this year of trouble "no less than twenty-eight thousand +dispatches were received or sent out from the Foreign Office." All +these dispatches came to the Queen and Prince Albert, as well as to +Lord Palmerston, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. + +Across the Channel the inflammatory speeches and writings of Messrs. +Mitchel, Meagher, and Smith O'Brien became so treasonable in tone +that, after the passing of a Bill in Parliament for the better +repression of sedition, the three Irish leaders were arrested and +brought to trial, the jury refusing to commit in the case of Meagher +and Smith O'Brien, but in that of Mitchel, who was tried separately, +finding him guilty, and sentencing him to transportation for fourteen +years. + +On the 2nd of May the Court returned to Buckingham Palace, and the +baptism of the infant princess took place on the 13th, in the private +chapel of Buckingham Palace, when the Archbishop of Canterbury +officiated. The sponsors were Duke Augustus of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, +represented by Prince Albert, and the Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen and +the Grand-Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, represented by the Queen- +dowager and the Duchess of Cambridge. The names given to the child +were, "Louise Caroline Alberta," the first and last for the child's +grandmother on the father's side and for the royal father himself. A +chorale was performed, which the Prince had adapted from an earlier +composition written to the hymn-- + + In life's gay morn, ere sprightly youth + By vice and folly is enslaved, + Oh! may thy Maker's glorious name + Be on thy infant mind engraved; + So shall no shades of sorrow cloud + The sunshine of thy early days, + But happiness, in endless round, + Shall still encompass all thy ways. + +Bishop Wilberforce describes the scene. "The royal christening was a +very beautiful sight, in its highest sense of that word 'beauty.' The +Queen, with the five royal children around her, the Prince of Wales +and Princess Royal hand-in-hand, all kneeling down quietly and meekly +at every prayer, and the little Princess Helena alone, just standing, +and looking round with the blue eyes of gazing innocence." + +When the statues of the royal children were executed by Mrs. +Thornycroft, Princess Helena was modelled as Peace. The engraving is a +representation of the graceful piece of sculpture, in which a slender +young girl, wearing a long loose robe and having sandalled feet, holds +the usual emblematic branch and cluster--one in each hand. + +As one Princess was born, another of a former generation, whose birth +had been hailed with equal rejoicing, passed away, on the 27th of May, +immediately after the Birthday Drawing-room. Princess Sophia, the +youngest surviving daughter and twelfth child of George III. and Queen +Charlotte, died in her arm-chair in the drawing-room of her house at +Kensington, aged seventy-one. At her own request she was buried at +Kensal Green, where the Duke of Sussex was interred. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +THE QUEEN'S FIRST STAY AT BALMORAL. + +From France, in June, came the grievous news of the three days' +fighting in the streets of Paris, because no Government provision +could secure work and bread for the artisans. The insurrection was +only put down by martial law under the Dictator, General Cavaignac. + +In Sardinia the King, Charles Albert, fighting gallantly against the +Austrian rule, was defeated once and again, and driven back. + +In England, though the most swaggering of the Chartists still +blustered a little, attention could be given to more peaceful +concerns. In July Prince Albert went to York, though he could "ill be +spared" from the Queen's side in those days of startling events and +foreign turmoil, to be present at a meeting of the Royal Agricultural +Society, of which he had been governor for half-a-dozen years. The +acclamations with which the Prince was received, were only the echo of +the tempest of cheers which greeted and encouraged her Majesty every +time she appeared in public this year. + +In August strong measures had again to be taken in Ireland. These +included the gathering together of a great military force in the +disturbed districts, and the assemblage of a fleet of war-steamers on +the coast. As in the previous instance, little or no resistance was +offered. In the course of a few days the former leaders, Meagher, +Smith O'Brien, and Mitchel, were arrested. They were brought to trial +in Dublin, convicted of high treason, and sentenced to death--a +sentence commuted into transportation for life. + +The Queen had the pleasure of finding her brother, the Prince of +Leiningen, appointed head of the department of foreign affairs in the +short-lived Frankfort assembly of the German states. It showed at +least the respect in which he was held by his countrymen. + +On the 5th of September the Queen went in person to prorogue +Parliament, which had sat for ten months. The ceremony took place in +the new House of Lords. There was an unusually large and brilliant +company present on this occasion, partly to admire the "lavish paint +and gilding," the stained-glass windows, with likenesses of kings and +queens, and Dyce's and Maclise's frescoes, partly to enjoy the +emphatically-delivered sentence in the royal speech, in which the +Queen acknowledged, "with grateful feelings, the many marks of loyalty +and attachment which she had received from all classes of her people." + +The Queen and the Prince, with three of their children and the suite, +sailed from Woolwich for a new destination in Scotland--a country- +house or little castle, which they had so far made their own, since +the Prince, acting on the advice of Sir James Clark, the Queen's +physician, had acquired the lease from the Earl of Aberdeen. + +The royal party were in Aberdeen Harbour at eight o'clock in the +morning of the 7th September. On the 8th Balmoral was reached. The +first impression was altogether agreeable. Her Majesty has described +the place, as it appeared to her, in her Journal. "We arrived at +Balmoral at a quarter to three. It is a pretty little castle in the +old Scottish style. There is a picturesque tower and garden in the +front, with a high wooded hill; at the back there is a wood down to +the _Dee_, and the hills rise all around." + +During the first stay of the Court at Balmoral, the Queen has +chronicled the ascent of a mountain. On Saturday, the 16th of +September, as early as half-past nine in the morning, her Majesty and +Prince Albert drove in a postchaise four miles to the bridge in the +wood of Ballochbuie, where ponies and guides awaited them. Macdonald, +a keeper of Farquharson of Invercauld's and afterwards in the service +of the Prince, a tall, handsome man, whom the Queen describes as +"looking like a picture in his shooting-jacket and kilt," and Grant, +the head-keeper at Balmoral, on a pony, with provisions in two +baskets, were the chief attendants. + +Through the wood and over moss, heather, and stones, sometimes riding, +sometimes walking; Prince Albert irresistibly attracted to stalk a +deer, in vain; across the stony little burn, where the faithful +Highlanders piloted her Majesty, walking and riding again, when +Macdonald led the bridle of the beast which bore so precious a burden; +the views "very beautiful," but alas! mist on the brow of Loch-na-gar. +Prince Albert making a detour after ptarmigan, leaving the Queen in +the safe keeping of her devoted guides, to whom she refers so kindly +as "taking the greatest care of her." Even "poor Batterbury," the +English groom, who seems to have cut rather a ridiculous figure in his +thin boots and gaiters and non-enjoyment of the expedition, "was very +anxious also" for the well-being of his royal lady, whose tastes must +have struck him as eccentric, to say the least. + +The mist intensified the cold when the citadel mountain was reached, +so that it must have been a relief to try a spell of walking once +more, especially as the first part of the way was "soft and easy," +while the party looked down on the two _lochans_, known as _Na +Nian_. Who that has any knowledge of the mountains cannot recall +the effect of these solitary tarns, like well-eyes in the wilderness, +gleaming in the sunshine, dark in the gloom? The Prince, good +mountaineer as he was, grew glad to remount his pony and let the +docile, sure-footed creature pick its steps through the gathering fog, +which was making the ascent an adventure not free from danger. + +Everything not within a hundred yards was hidden. The last and +steepest part of the mountain (three thousand seven hundred and +seventy-seven feet from the sea-level) was accomplished on foot, and +at two o'clock, after four hours' riding and walking, a seat in a +little nook where luncheon could be taken was found; for, +unfortunately, there was no more to be done save to seek rest and +refreshment. There was literally nothing to be seen, in place of the +glorious panorama which a mountain-top in favourable circumstances +presents. + +This was that "dark Loch-na-gar" whose "steep frowning glories" Lord +Byron rendered famous, for which he dismissed with scorn, "gay +landscapes and gardens of roses." + +No doubt the snowflakes, in corries on the mountain-side, do look +deliciously cool on a hot summer day. But such a drizzling rain as +this was the other side of the picture, which her Majesty, with a +shiver, called "cold, wet, and cheerless." In addition to the rain the +wind began to blow a hurricane, which, after all, in the case of a fog +was about the kindest thing the wind could do, whether or not the +spirits of heroes were in the gale. + +At twenty minutes after two the party set out on their descent of the +mountain. The two keepers, moving on as pioneers in the gloom, "looked +like ghosts." When walking became too exhausting, the Queen, "well +wrapped in plaids," was again mounted on her pony, which she declared +"went delightfully," though the mist caused the rider "to feel +cheerless." + +In the course of the next couple of hours, after a thousand feet of +the descent had been achieved, by one of those abrupt transitions +which belong to such a landscape, the mist below vanished as if by +magic, and it was again, summer sunshine around. + +But the world could not be altogether shut out at Balmoral, and the +echoes which came from afar, this year, were of a sufficiently +disturbing character. Among the most notable, Sir Theodore Martin +mentions the Frankfort riots, in which two members of the German +States Union were assassinated, and the startling death of the +Conservative leader, Lord George Bentinck, who had suddenly exchanged +the _rôle_ of the turf for that of Parliament, and come to the +front during the struggle over the abolition of the Corn Laws. + +A third strangely significant omen was the election of Prince Louis +Napoleon, by five different French Departments, as a deputy to the new +French Chamber. + +The Court left Balmoral on the 28th of September, stayed one night in +London, and then proceeded for ten days to Osborne. On the return of +the Queen and the Prince to Windsor, on the 9th of October, a sad +accident occurred in their sight. As the yacht was crossing on a misty +and stormy day to Portsmouth, she passed near the frigate +_Grampus_, which had just come back from her station in the +Pacific. In their eagerness to meet their relations among the crew on +board, five unfortunate women had gone out in an open boat rowed by +two watermen, though the foul-weather flag was flying. "A sudden +squall swamped the boat" without attracting the attention of anyone on +board the _Grampus_ or the yacht. But one of the watermen, who +was able to cling to the overturned boat, was seen by the men in a +Custom-house boat, who immediately aroused the indignation of Lord +Adolphus Fitzclarence and his brother-officers by steering, apparently +without any reason, right across the bows of the _Fairy_. Prince +Albert, who was on deck, was the first to discover the cause of the +inexplicable conduct of the men in the Custom-house boat. "He called +out that he saw a man in the water;" the Queen hurried out of her +pavilion, and distinguished a man on what turned out to be the keel of +a boat. "Oh dear! there are more!" cried Prince Albert in horror, +"which quite overcame me," the Queen wrote afterwards. "The royal +yacht was stopped and one of its boats lowered, which picked up three +of the women--one of them alive and clinging to a plank, the others +dead." The storm was violent, and the responsibility of keeping the +yacht exposed to its fury lay with Lord Adolphus. Since nothing +further could be attempted for the victims of their own rashness, he +did not think it right that the yacht should stay for the return of +the boat, as he held the delay unsafe, although both the Queen and the +Prince, with finer instincts, were anxious this should be done. "We +could not stop," wrote her Majesty again, full of pity. "It was a +dreadful moment, too horrid to describe. It is a consolation to think +we were of some use, and also that, even if the yacht had remained, +they could not have done more. Still, we all keep feeling we might, +though I think we could not.... It is a terrible thing, and haunts me +continually." + +The Magyar War under Kossuth was raging in Hungary. In the far-away +Punjab the Sikh War, in which Lieutenant Edwardes had borne so gallant +a part in the beginning of the year, was still prolonged, with Mooltan +always the bone of contention. + +In October all aristocratic England was excited by the sale of the Art +treasures of Stowe, which lasted for forty days. Mrs. Gaskell made a +fine contribution to literature in her novel of "Mary Barton," in +which genius threw its strong light on Manchester life. + +The Queen had a private theatre fitted up this year in the Rubens +Room, Windsor Castle. The first of the _dramatis personae_ in the +best London theatres went down and acted before the Court, giving +revivals of Shakespeare--which it was hoped would improve the taste +for the higher drama--varied by lighter pieces. + +On the 24th of November the Queen heard of the death of her former +Minister and counsellor William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne. "Truly and +sincerely," her Majesty wrote in her Journal, "do I deplore the loss +of one who was a most disinterested friend of mine, and most sincerely +attached to me. He was, indeed, for the first two years and a half of +my reign, almost the only friend I had, except Stockmar and Lehzen, +and I used to see him constantly, daily. I thought much and talked +much of him all day." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +PUBLIC AND DOMESTIC INTERESTS--FRESH ATTACK UPON THE QUEEN. + +The Queen and the Prince were now pledged--alike by principle and +habit--to hard work. They were both early risers, but before her +Majesty joined Prince Albert in their sitting-room, where their +writing-tables stood side by side, we are told he had already, even in +winter, by the light of the green German lamp which he had introduced +into England, prepared many papers to be considered by her Majesty, +and done everything in his power to lighten her labours as a +sovereign. + +Lord Campbell describes an audience which he had from the Queen in +February. "I was obliged to make an excursion to Windsor on Saturday, +and have an audience before Prince Albert's lunch. I was with the +Queen in her closet, _solus cum solâ_. But I should first tell +you my difficulty about getting from the station at Slough to the +Castle. When we go down for a council we have a special train and +carriages provided for us. I consulted Morpeth, who answered, 'I can +only tell you how I went last--on the top of an omnibus; but the Queen +was a little shocked.' I asked how she found it out. He said he had +told her himself to amuse her, but that I should be quite _en +règle_ by driving up in a fly or cab. So I drove up in my one horse +conveyance, and the lord-in-waiting announced my arrival to her +Majesty. I was shown into the royal closet, a very small room with one +window, and soon she entered by another door all alone. My business +was the appointment of a sheriff for the County Palatine, which was +soon despatched. We then talked of the state of the finances of the +Duchy, and I ventured to offer her my felicitations on the return of +this auspicious day--her wedding-day. I lunched with the maids of +honour, and got back in time to take a part in very important +deliberations in the Cabinet." + +In February, 1849, the Queen opened Parliament in person. Perhaps the +greatest source of anxiety was now the Sikh War, in which the warlike +tribes were gaining advantages over the English troops, though Mooltan +had been reduced the previous month. A drawn battle was fought between +Lord Gough's force and that of Chuttar Singh at Chillianwallah. While +the English were not defeated, their losses in men, guns and standards +were sore and humiliating to the national pride. Sir Charles Napier +was ordered out, and, in spite of bad health, obeyed the order. But in +the meantime Lord Gough had retrieved his losses by winning at +Goojerat a great victory over the Sikhs and Afghans, which in the end +compelled the surrender of the enemy, with the restoration of the +captured guns and standards. On the 29th of March the kingdom of the +Punjaub was proclaimed as existing no longer, and the State was +annexed to British India; while the beneficial influence of Edwardes +and the Lawrences rendered the wild Sikhs more loyal subjects, in a +future time of need, than the trained and petted Sepoy mercenaries +proved themselves. + +On the afternoon of the 19th of May, after the Queen had held one of +her most splendid Drawing-rooms, when she was driving in a carriage +with three of her children up Constitution Hill, she was again fired +at by a man standing within the railings of the Green Park. Prince +Albert was on horseback, so far in advance that he did not know what +had occurred, till told of it by the Queen when he assisted her to +alight. But her Majesty did not lose her perfect self-possession. She +stood up, motioned to the coachman, who had stopped the carriage for +an instant, to go on, and then diverted the children's attention by +talking to them. The man who had fired was immediately arrested. +Indeed, he would have been violently assaulted by the mob, had he not +been protected by the police. He proved to be an Irishman, named +Hamilton, from Limerick, who had come over from Ireland five years +before, and worked as a bricklayer's labourer and a navvy both in +England and France. Latterly he had been earning a scanty livelihood +by doing chance jobs. There was this to distinguish him from the other +dastardly assailants of the Queen: he was not a half-crazed, morbidly +conceited boy, though he also had no conceivable motive for what he +did. He appears to have taken his measures, in providing himself with +pistol and powder, from a mere impulse of stolid brutality. His pistol +contained no ball, so that he was tried under the Felon's Act, which +had been provided for such offences, and sentenced to seven years' +transportation. + +The education of their children was a subject of much thought and care +to the Queen and Prince Albert. Her Majesty wrote various memoranda on +the question which was of such interest to her. Some of these are +preserved in the life of the Prince Consort. She started with the wise +maxim, "that the children should be brought up as simply and in as +domestic a way as possible; that (not interfering with their lessons) +they should be as much as possible with their parents, and learn to +place their greatest confidence in them in all things." She dwelt upon +a religious training, and held strongly the conviction that "it is +best given to a child, day by day, at its mother's knee." It was a +matter of tender regret to the Queen when "the pressure of public +duty" prevented her from holding this part of her children's education +entirely in her own keeping. "It is already a hard case for me," was +the pathetic reflection of the young mother in reference to the +childhood of the Princess Royal, "that my occupations prevent me being +with her when she says her prayers." At the same time the Queen and +the Prince had strong opinions on the religious training which ought +to be given to their children, and strove to have them carried out. +The Queen wrote, still of the Princess Royal, "I am quite clear that +she should be taught to have great reverence for God and for religion, +but that she should have the feelings of devotion and love which our +Heavenly Father encourages His earthly children to have for Him, and +not one of fear and trembling; and that the thoughts of death and an +after life should not be represented in an alarming and forbidding +view, and that she should be made to know _as yet_ no difference +of creeds, and not think that she can only pray on her knees, or that +those who do not kneel are less fervent and devout in their prayers." + +Surely these truly reverent, just, and liberal sentiments on the +religion to be imparted to young children must recommend themselves to +all earnest, thoughtful parents. + +In the accompanying engraving the girl-Princesses, Helena and Louise, +who are represented wearing lilies in the breasts of their frocks, +look like sister-lilies--as fresh, pure, and sweet. + +In 1849 Mr. Birch, who had been head boy at Eton, taken high honours +at Cambridge, and acted as one of the under masters at Eton, was +appointed tutor to the Prince of Wales when the Prince was eight years +of age. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. + +Parliament was prorogued by commission, and the Queen and the Prince, +with their four children, sailed on the 1st of August for Ireland. +Lady Lyttelton watching the departing squadron from the windows of +Osborne, wrote with something like dramatic emphasis, "It is done, +England's fate is afloat; we are left lamenting. They hope to reach +Cork to-morrow evening, the wind having gone down and the sky cleared, +the usual weather compliment to the Queen's departure." + +The voyage was quick but not very pleasant, from the great swell in +the sea. At nine o'clock, on the morning of the 2nd, Land's End was +passed, and at eight o'clock in the evening the Cove of Cork was so +near that the bonfires on the hill and the showers of rockets from the +ships in the harbour to welcome the travellers, were distinctly +visible. Unfortunately the next day was gray and "muggy"--a quality +which the Queen had been told was characteristic of the Irish climate. +The saluting from the various ships sent a roar through the thick air. +The large harbour with its different islands--one of them containing a +convict prison, another a military depot--looked less cheerful than it +might have done. The captains of the war-steamers came on board to pay +their respects; so did the Lord-Lieutenant, Lord Bandon, and the +commanders of the forces at Cork. Prince Albert landed, but the Queen +wrote and sketched till after luncheon. The delay was lucky, for the +sun broke out with splendour in the afternoon. The _Fairy_, with +its royal freight, surrounded by rowing and sailing boats, went round +the harbour, all the ships saluting, and then entered Cove, and lay +alongside the gaily-decorated crowded pier. The members, for Cork, the +clergymen of all denominations, and the yacht club presented +addresses, "after which," wrote the Queen, "to give the people the +satisfaction of calling the place 'Queenstown,' in honour of its being +the first spot on which I set foot upon Irish ground, I stepped on +shore amid the roar of cannon (for the artillery was placed so close +as quite to shake the temporary room which we entered), and the +enthusiastic shouts of the people.". + +The _Fairy_ lay alongside the pier of Cork proper, and the Queen +received more deputations and addresses, and conferred the honour of +knighthood on the Lord Mayor. The two judges, who were holding their +courts, came on board in their robes. + +Then her Majesty landed and entered Lord Bandon's carriage, +accompanied by Prince Albert and her ladies, Lord Bandon and General +Turner riding one on each side. The Mayor went in front, and many +people in carriages and on horseback joined the royal cortege, which +took two hours in passing through the densely-crowded streets and +under the triumphal arches. Everything went well and the reception was +jubilant. To her Majesty Cork looked more like a foreign than an +English town. She was struck by the noisy but good-natured crowd, the +men very "poorly, often-raggedly, dressed," many wearing blue coats +and knee-breeches with blue stockings. The beauty of the women +impressed her, "such beautiful dark eyes and hair, and such fine +teeth; almost every third woman was pretty, and some remarkably so. +They wear no bonnets, and generally long blue cloaks." + +Re-embarking at Cork, the visitors sailed to Waterford, arriving in +the course of the afternoon. + +The travellers sailed again at half-past eight in the morning, having +at first a rough passage, with its usual unacceptable accompaniment of +sea-sickness, but near Wexford the sea became gradually smooth, and +there was a fine evening. At half-past six Dublin Bay came in sight. +The war-steamers, four in number, waiting for her Majesty, were at +their post. Escorted by this squadron, the yacht "steamed slowly and +majestically" into Kingstown Harbour, which was full of ships, while +the quays were lined with thousands of spectators cheering lustily. +The sun was setting as this stately "procession of boats" entered the +harbour, and her Majesty describes in her Journal "the glowing light" +which lit up the surrounding country and the fine buildings, +increasing the beauty of the scene. + +Next morning, while the royal party were at breakfast, the yacht was +brought up to the wharf lined with troops. The Lord-Lieutenant, Lord +Clarendon, and Lady Clarendon, Prince George of Cambridge, Lords +Lansdowne and Clanricarde, the Archbishop of Dublin, &c. &c., came on +board, an address was presented from the county by the Earl of +Charlemont, to which a written reply was given. At ten Lord Clarendon, +bowing low, stepped before the Queen on the gangway, Prince Albert led +her Majesty on shore, the youthful princes and princesses and the rest +of the company following, the ships saluting so that the very ground +shook with the heavy 68-pounders, the bands playing, the guard of +honour presenting arms, the multitude huzzaing, the royal standard +floating out on the breeze. + +Along a covered way, lined with ladies and gentlemen, and strewn with +flowers, the Queen proceeded to the railway station, and after a +quarter of an hour's journey reached Dublin, where she was met by her +own carriages, with the postillions in the Ascot liveries. + +The Queen and Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales and the Princess +Royal, occupied one carriage, Prince Alfred and Princess Alice, with +the ladies-in-waiting, another. The Commander-in-chief of the soldiers +in Ireland, Sir Edward Blakeney, rode on one side of the Queen's +carriage, Prince George of Cambridge on the other, followed by a +brilliant staff and escort of soldiers. "At the entrance of the city a +triumphal arch of great size and beauty had been erected, under which +the civic authorities--Lord Mayor, town-clerk, swordbearer, &c. &c.-- +waited on their sovereign." The Lord Mayor presented the keys and her +Majesty returned them. "It was a wonderful and stirring scene," she +described her progress in her Journal; "such masses of human beings, +so enthusiastic, so excited, yet such perfect order maintained. Then +the number of troops, the different bands stationed at certain +distances, the waving of hats and handkerchiefs, the bursts of welcome +that rent the air, all made it a never-to-be-forgotten scene when one +reflected how lately the country had been under martial law." + +The Queen admired Dublin heartily, and gave to Sackville Street and +Merrion Square their due meed of praise. At the last triumphal arch a +pretty little allegory, like a bit of an ancient masque, was enacted. +Amidst the heat and dust a dove, "alive and very tame, with an olive- +branch round its neck," was let down into the Queen's lap. + +The viceregal lodge was reached at noon, and the Queen was received by +Lord and Lady Clarendon and their household. + +On the 7th of August, a showery day, the Queen drove into Dublin with +her ladies, followed by the gentlemen, but with no other escort. Her +Majesty was loudly cheered as she proceeded to the bank, the old +Parliament House before the Union, where Curran and Grattan and many a +"Monk of the Screw" had debated, "Bloody Toler" had aroused the rage +of the populace, and Castlereagh had looked down icy cold on the +burning commotion. The famous Dublin schools were next visited. Their +excellent system of education and liberal tolerant code delighted the +Prince. At Trinity College, with its memories of Dean Swift and +"Charley O'Malley," the Queen and the Prince wrote their names in St. +Columba's book, and inspected the harp said to have belonged to "King +O'Brian." After their return to the lodge, when luncheon had been +taken, and Prince Albert went into Dublin again, the Queen refreshed +herself with a bit of home life. She wrote and read, and heard her +children say some of their lessons. + +At five the Queen drove to Kilmainham Hospital, Lord Clarendon +accompanying her and her ladies, while the Prince and the other +gentlemen rode. The Irish Commander-in-chief and Prince George +received her Majesty, who saw and no doubt cheered the hearts of the +old pensioners, going into their chapel, hall, and governor's room. +Afterwards she drove again into Dublin, through the older quarters, +College Green--where Mrs. Delany lived when she was yet Mrs. Pendarvis +and the belle of the town, and where there still stands the well- +known, often maltreated statue of William III., Stephen's Green, &c. +&c. The crowds were still tremendous. + +On the 8th of August, before one o'clock, the Queen and her ladies in +evening dress, and Prince Albert and the gentlemen in uniform, drove +straight to the castle, where there was to be a levee the same as at +St. James's. Her Majesty, seated on the throne, received numerous +addresses--those of the Lord Mayor and corporation, the universities, +the Archbishop and bishops (Protestant and Catholic), the different +Presbyterians, and the Quakers. No fewer than two thousand +presentations took place, the levee lasting till six o'clock--some +five hours. + +On the following day there was a review of upwards of six thousand +soldiers and police in the Phoenix Park. + +The Queen and the Prince dined alone, but in the course of the evening +they drove again into Dublin, to the castle, that she might hold a +Drawing-room. Two or three thousand people were there; one thousand +six hundred ladies were presented. Then her Majesty walked through St. +Patrick's Hall and the other crowded rooms, returning through the +densely-filled, illuminated streets, and the Phoenix Park after +midnight. + +On the 10th of August, the Queen had a little respite from public +duties in a private pleasure. She and Prince Albert, in company with +Lord and Lady Clarendon and the different members of the suite, went +on a short visit to Carton, the seat of "Ireland's only Duke," the +Duke of Leinster. The party passed through Woodlands, with its +"beautiful lime-trees," and encountered a number of Maynooth students +near their preparatory college. At Carton the Queen was received by +the Duke and Duchess and their eldest son, the Marquis of Kildare, +with his young wife, Lady Caroline Leveson-Gower, one of the daughters +of the Duchess of Sutherland. All the company walked, to the music of +two bands, in the pretty quaint garden with its rows of Irish yews. +Was it the same in 1798, when a son of the Leinster house, after +thinking to be a king, was hunted down in a poor Dublin lodging, +fought like a lion for his life, was taken a wounded prisoner to the +castle, and then to Newgate to die? + +The Duke led the Queen round the garden, while Prince Albert conducted +the Duchess. Her Majesty wrote warmly of her host that "he was one of +the kindest and best of men." After luncheon the country people danced +jigs in the park, the men in their thick coats, the women in their +shawls; one man, "a regular Irishman, with his hat on, one ear," the +music furnished by three old and tattered pipers. Her Majesty +pronounced the steps of the dancers "very droll." + +The Duke and Duchess took their guests a drive, the people riding, +running, and driving with the company, but continuing perfectly well- +behaved, and ready to obey any word of the Duke's. It must have been a +curious scene, in which all ranks took part. The Queen could not get +over the spectacle of the countrymen running the whole way, in their +thick woollen coats, in the heat. + +On the Queen's departure from Kingstown she was followed by the same +enthusiasm that had greeted her on her arrival. "As the yacht approached +the extremity of the pier near the lighthouse, where the people were +most thickly congregated and were cheering enthusiastically, the Queen +suddenly left the two ladies-in-waiting with whom she was conversing, +ran with agility along the deck, and climbed the paddle-box to join +Prince Albert, who did not notice her till she was nearly at his side. +Reaching him and taking his arm, she waved her right hand to the people +on the piers." As she stood with the Prince while the yacht steamed out +of the harbour, she waved her handkerchief in "a parting acknowledgment" +of her Irish subjects' loyalty. As another compliment to the +enthusiastic farewells of the people, the Queen gave orders "to slacken +speed." The paddlewheels became still, the yacht floated slowly along +close to the pier, and three times the royal standard was lowered by way +of "a stately obeisance" made in response to the last ringing cheers of +the Irish. Lord Clarendon wrote afterwards, that "there was not an +individual in Dublin who did not take as a personal compliment to +himself the Queen's having gone upon the paddle-box and ordered the +royal standard to be lowered three times." It was a happy thought of her +own. + +The weather was thick and misty, and the storm which was feared came +on in a violent gale before the yacht entered Belfast Harbour, early +on the morning of the 11th of August. The Mayor and other officials +came on board to breakfast, and in the course of the forenoon the +Queen and the Prince, with the ladies and gentlemen in attendance, +entered the barge to row to the _Fairy_. Though the row was only +of two minutes' duration, the swell on the water was so great that the +embarkation in the _Fairy_ was a matter of difficulty; and when +the smaller yacht was gained the Queen had to take shelter in the +pavilion from the driving spray. In such unpropitious circumstances +her Majesty passed Carrickfergus, the landing-place of William III., +and arrived at the capital of Ulster just as the sun came out and lent +its much-desired presence to the gala. Lord Londonderry and his wife +and daughters, Lord Donegal, the proprietor of the greater part of +Ulster, &c. &c., came on board with various deputations, especially of +Presbyterians and members of the linen trade. The Queen knighted the +mayor, as she had knighted his brother-magistrate at Cork. + +By an odd blunder the gangway, which had been carefully constructed +for the Queen's use, was found too large. Some planks on board the +yacht had to form an impromptu landing-stage; but the situation was +not so awkward as when Louis Philippe had to press a bathing-machine +into the royal service at Tréport. The landing-place was covered in +and decorated, the Londonderry carriage in waiting, and her Majesty's +only regret was for Lord Londonderry, a big man, crowded on the rumble +along with specially tall and large sergeant-footmen. + +The Scotch-descended people of Belfast had outdone themselves in +floral arches and decorations. The galleries for spectators were +thronged. There was no stint in the honest warmth of the reception. +But the Irish beauty, and doubtless also something of the Irish spirit +and glee, had vanished with the rags and the tumbledown cabins. The +douce, comfortable people of Ulster were less picturesque and less +demonstrative. + +Linen Hall, the Botanic Gardens, and the new college were visited, and +different streets driven through in returning to the place of +embarkation at half-past six on an evening so stormy that the weather +prevented the yacht from setting sail. As it lay at anchor there was +an opportunity for seeing the bonfires, streaming in the blast, on the +neighbouring heights. + +Before quitting Ireland the Queen determined to create her eldest son +"Earl of Dublin," one of the titles borne by the late Duke of Kent. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +SCOTLAND AGAIN--GLASGOW AND DEE-SIDE. + +In the course of the afternoon the yacht sailed for Loch Ryan. The +object of this second visit to the West of Scotland was not so much +for the purpose of seeing again the beautiful scenery which had so +delighted the Queen and the Prince, as with the view of making up for +the great disappointment experienced by the townspeople of Glasgow on +her Majesty's having failed to visit what was, after London, one of +the largest cities in her empire. + +The weather was persistently bad this time, squally and disagreeable. +On August 15th the _Fairy_, with the Queen and Prince on board, +sailed for Glasgow, still in pouring rain and a high wind. The storm +did not prevent the people from so lining the banks that the swell +from the steamer often broke upon them. Happily the weather cleared at +last, and the day was fine when the landing-place was reached. As +usual, the Lord Provost came on board and received the honour of +knighthood, after he had presented one of the many addresses offered +by the town, the county, the clergy of all denominations, and the +House of Commerce. The Queen landed, with the Prince and all the +children that had accompanied her. Sheriff Alison rode on one side of +her carriage, the general commanding the forces in Scotland on the +other. The crowd was immense, numbering as many as five hundred +thousand men, women, and children. The Queen admired the streets, the +fine buildings, the quays, the churches. At the cathedral she was +received by a man who seemed as venerable as the building itself, +Principal MacFarlane. He called her Majesty's attention to what was +then the highest chimney in the world, that of the chemical works of +St. Rollax. The inspection of the fine cathedral, which the old +Protestants of the west protected instead of pulling down, included +the crypt. The travellers proceeded by railway to Stirling and Perth. + +Early on the morning of the 15th the party started, the Queen having +three of the children in the carriage with herself and the Prince, on +the long drive through beautiful Highland scenery to Balmoral. + +This year her Majesty made her first stay at Alt-na-guithasach, the +hut or bothie of "old John Gordon," the situation of which had taken +her fancy and that of the Prince. They had another hut built for +themselves in the immediate vicinity, so that they could at any time +spend a day or a couple of days in the wilds, with a single lady-in- +waiting and the most limited of suites. On the 30th of August the +Queen, the Prince, and the Honourable Caroline Dawson, maid of honour, +set out on their ponies, attended only by Macdonald, Grant, another +Highlander, and an English footman. The rough road had been improved, +and riding was so easy that Prince Albert could practise his Gaelic by +the way. + +The Queen was much pleased with her new possession, which meant "a +charming little dining-room, sitting-room, bedroom, and dressing-room +all _en suite_; a little bedroom for Miss Dawson and one for her +maid, and a pantry." In the other hut were the kitchen where the +Gordon family sat, a room where the servants dined, a storeroom, and a +loft where the men slept. All the people in attendance on the small +party were the Queen's maid, Miss Dawson's maid, Prince Albert's +German valet, a footman, and Macdonald, together with the old couple, +John Gordon and his wife. After luncheon the visitors went to Loch +Muich--a name which has been interpreted "darkness" or "sorrow"--and +got into a large boat with four rowers, while a smaller boat followed, +having a net. The excursion was to the head of the loch, which joins +the _Dhu_ or Black Loch. "Real severe Highland scenery," her +Majesty calls it, and to those who know the stern sublimity of such +places, the words say a great deal. "The boat, the net, and the people +in their kilts in the water and on the shore," called for an artist's +pencil. Seventy trouts were caught, and several hawks were seen. The +sailing was diversified by scrambling on shore. The return in the +evening was still more beautiful. At dinner the German valet and +Macdonald, the Highland forester, helped the footman to wait on the +company. Whist, played with a dummy, and a walk round the little +garden, "where the silence and solitude, only interrupted by the +waving of the fir-trees, were very striking," ended the day. + +The Queen and her family left Balmoral on the 27th. Travelling by +Edinburgh and Berwick, they visited Earl Grey at Howick. Derby was the +next halting-place. At Reading the travellers turned aside for +Gosport, and soon arrived at Osborne. + +Already, on the 16th of September, a special prayer had been read in +every church in England, petitioning Almighty God to stay the plague +of cholera which had sprung up in the East, travelled across the seas, +and broken out among the people. But the dreaded epidemic had nothing +to do with the sad news which burst upon the Queen and Prince Albert +within, a few days of their return to the south. Both were much +distressed by receiving the unexpected intelligence of the sudden +death of Mr. Anson, who had been the Prince's private secretary, and +latterly the keeper of the Queen's privy purse. + +The offices which Mr. Anson filled in succession were afterwards +worthily held by Colonel Phipps and General Grey. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +OPENING OF THE NEW COAL EXCHANGE--THE DEATH OF QUEEN ADELAIDE. + +On the 30th of October the new Coal Exchange, opposite Billingsgate, +was to have been opened by the Queen in person. A slight illness--an +attack of chicken-pox--compelled her Majesty to give up her +intention, and forego the motherly pleasure of seeing her two elder +children, the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, make their first +appearance in public. Prince Albert, with his son and daughter, +accompanied by the Duke of Norfolk as Master of the Horse, drove from +Buckingham Palace at twelve o'clock, and embarked on the Thames in the +royal barge, "a gorgeous structure of antique design, built for +Frederic, Prince of Wales, the great-great-grandfather of the Prince +and Princess who now trod its deck." It was rowed by twenty-seven of +the ancient craft of watermen, restored for a day to the royal +service, clad in rich livery for the occasion, and commanded by Lord +Adolphus Fitzclarence. Commander Eden, superintendent of Woolwich +Dockyard, led the van in his barge. Then came Vice-Admiral Elliot, +Commander-in-chief at the Nore; next the Lord Mayor's bailiff in his +craft, preceding the Lord Mayor in the City barge, "rearing its quaint +gilded poop high in the air, and decked with richly emblazoned devices +and floating ensigns.... Two royal gigs and two royal barges escorted +the State barge, posted respectively on its port and starboard bow, +and its port and starboard quarter. The Queen's shallop followed; the +barges of the Admiralty and the Trinity Corporation barge brought up +the rear." [Footnote: Annual Register.] According to ancient custom +one barge bore a graceful freight of living swans to do honour to the +water procession. Such a grand and gay pageant on the river had not +been seen for a century back. It only wanted some of the "water +music," which Handel composed for George II., to render the gala +complete. + +It would be difficult to devise a scene more captivating for children +of nine and ten, such as the pair who figured in it. Happily the day, +though it was nearly the last of October, was beautiful and bright, +and from the position which the royal party occupied in their barge +when it was in the middle of the river, "not only the other barges and +the platformed steamers and lighters with their living loads, but the +densely-crowded banks, must have formed a memorable spectacle. The +very streets running down from the Strand were so packed with +spectators as to present each one a moving mass. Half a million of +persons were gathered together to witness the unwonted sight; the +bridges were hung over with them like swarms of flies, and from the +throng at intervals shouts of welcome sounded long and loud." Between +Southwark and London Bridge the rowers lay on their oars for a moment, +in compliment to the ardent loyalty of the scholars of Queen +Elizabeth's Grammar School. The most picturesque point was "at the +moment the vessels emerged from London Bridge and caught sight of the +amphitheatre of shipping in the Upper Pool--a literal forest of masts, +with a foliage of flags more variously and brilliantly coloured than +the American woods after the first autumn frost. Here, too, the ear +was first saluted by the boom of guns, the Tower artillery firing as +the procession swept by." + +The landing-place on the Custom House Quay was so arranged, by means +of coloured canvas, as to form a covered corridor the whole length of +the quay, to and across Thames Street, to the principal entrance to +the Coal Exchange. + +Prince Albert and the young Prince and Princess passed down the +corridor, "bowing to the citizens on either side," a critical ordeal +for the simply reared children. When the Grand Hall of the Exchange +was reached, the City procession came up, headed by the Lord Mayor, +and the Recorder read aloud an address "with such emphatic solemnity," +it was remarked, that the Prince of Wales seemed "struck and almost +awed by his manner." Lady Lyttelton takes notice of the same comical +effect produced on the little boy. Prince Albert replied. + +At two o'clock the _déjeuner_ was served, when the Lord Mayor and +the Lady Mayoress, at Prince Albert's request, sat near him. The usual +toasts were given; the health of the Queen was drunk with "loudest +cheers," that of the Queen-Dowager with "evident feeling," called +forth by the fact that King William's good Queen, who had for long +years struggled vainly with mortal disease, was, as everybody knew, +drawing near her end. The toast of the Prince of Wales and the +Princess Royal was received with an enthusiasm that must have tended +at once to elate and abash the little hero and heroine of the day. + +At three o'clock the royal party re-embarked in the _Fairy_. As +Prince Albert stepped on board, while expressing his gratification +with the whole proceedings, he said to his children, with the +gracious, kindly tact which was natural to him, "Remember that you are +indebted to the Lord Mayor for one of the happiest days of your +lives." + +Before December wound up the year it was generally known that the +Queen-Dowager Adelaide, who had in her day occupied a prominent place +in the eyes of the nation, was to be released from the sufferings of +many years. + +In November Queen Victoria paid her last visit to the Queen-Dowager. +"I shall never forget the visit we paid to the Priory last Thursday,", +the Queen wrote to King Leopold. "There was death written in that dear +face. It was such a picture of misery, of complete prostration, and +yet she talked of everything. I could hardly command my feelings when +I came in, and when I kissed twice that poor dear thin hand.... I love +her so dearly; she has ever been so maternal in her affection to me. +She will find peace and a reward for her many sufferings." + +Queen Adelaide died quietly on the 2nd of December, at her country +seat of Bentley Priory, in the fifty-eighth year of her age. Her will, +which reflected her genuine modesty and humility, requested that she +should be conveyed to the grave "without any pomp or state;" that she +should have as private a funeral as was consistent with her rank; +that her coffin should be "carried by sailors to the chapel;" that, +finally, she should give as little trouble as possible. + +The Queen-Dowager's wishes were strictly adhered to. There was no +embalming, lying in State, or torchlight procession. The funeral +started from the Priory at eight o'clock on a winter morning, and +reached Windsor an hour after noon. There was every token of respect +and affection, but an entire absence of show and ostentation. Nobody +was admitted to St. George's Chapel except the mourners and those +officially connected with the funeral. Few even of the Knights of the +Garter were present. Among the few was the old Duke of Wellington, +sitting silent and sad; Prince Albert and the Duke of Cambridge also +occupied their stalls. The Duchess of Kent and the Duchess of +Cambridge, with the Duchess of Saxe-Weimar and two Princesses of Saxe- +Weimar, the late Queen's sister and nieces, were in the Queen's +closet. + +The Archbishop of Canterbury officiated. Ten sailors of the Royal Navy +"gently propelled" the platform on which the coffin was placed to the +mouth of the vault. Among the supporters of the pall were Lord +Adolphus and Lord Frederick Fitzclarence. The chief mourner was the +Duchess of Norfolk. Prince George of Cambridge and Prince Edward and +Prince Gustaf of Saxe-Weimar, nephews of the late Queen, followed. +Then came the gentlemen and ladies of her household. All the gentlemen +taking part in the funeral were in plain black with black scarfs; each +lady had a large black veil over her head. + +After the usual psalms and lessons, Handel's anthem, "Her body is +buried in peace," was sung. The black velvet pall was removed and the +crown placed on the coffin, which, at the appropriate time in the +service, was lowered to the side of King William's coffin. Sir Charles +Young, King-at-Arms, proclaimed the rank and titles of the deceased. +The late Queen's chamberlain and vice-chamberlain broke their staves +of office amidst profound silence, and kneeling, deposited them upon +the coffin. The organ played the "Dead March in Saul," and the company +retired. + +Long years after Queen Adelaide had lain in her grave, the publication +of an old diary revived some foul-mouthed slanders, which no one is +too pure to escape. But the coarse malice and gross falsehood of the +accusations were so evident, that their sole result was to rebound +with fatal effect on the memory of the man who retailed them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +PREPARATION FOR THE EXHIBITION--BIRTH OF THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT--THE +BLOW DEALT BY FATE--FOREIGN TROUBLES--ENGLISH ART. + +The first great public meeting in the interest of the Exhibition was +held in London in the February of this year, and on the 21st of March +a banquet was given at the Mansion House to promote the same cause. +Prince Albert was present, with the ministers and foreign ambassadors; +and the mayors and provosts of all the principal towns in the United +Kingdom were also among the guests. The Prince delivered an admirable +speech to explain his view of the Exhibition. + +It was at this time that the Duke of Wellington made the gratifying +proposal that the Prince should succeed him as Commander-in-chief of +the army, urging the suggestion by every argument in his power, and +offering to supply the Prince with all the information and guidance +which the old soldier's experience could command. After some quiet +consideration the Prince declined the proposal, chiefly on the ground +that the many claims which the high office would necessarily make on +his time and attention, must interfere with his other and still more +binding duties to the Queen and the country. + +On May-day, 1850, her Majesty's third son and seventh child was born. +The Prince, in announcing the event to the Dowager-Duchess of Coburg, +says: "The little boy was received by his sisters with _jubilates_. 'Now +we are just as many as the days of the week,' was the cry, and then a +bit of a struggle arose as to who was to be Sunday. Out of well-bred +courtesy the honour was conceded to the new-comer." + +The circumstance that the 1st of May was the birthday of the Duke of +Wellington determined the child's name, and perhaps, in a measure, his +future profession. The Queen and the Prince were both so pleased to +show this crowning mark of friendship from a sovereign to a subject, +that they did not allow the day to pass without intimating their +intention to the Duke. "It is a singular thing," the Queen wrote to +Baron Stockmar, "that this so much wished-for boy should be born on +the old Duke's eighty-first birthday. May that, and his beloved +father's name, bring the poor little infant happiness and good +fortune!" + +An amusing episode of the Queen's visit to Ireland had been the +passionate appeal of an old Irishwoman, "Och, Queen, dear! make one of +them Prince Patrick, and all Ireland will die for you!" Whether or not +her Majesty remembered the fervent request, Prince Arthur had Patrick +for one of his names, certainly in memory of Ireland, and William for +another, partly in honour of one of his godfathers--the present +Emperor of Germany--and partly because it would have pleased Queen +Adelaide, whose sister, Duchess Ida of Saxe-Weimar, was godmother. +Prince Albert's name wound up the others. The child was baptized on +the 22nd of June at Buckingham Palace. The two godfathers were +present; so were the Duchesses of Kent and Cambridge (the Duke of +Cambridge lay ill), Prince George and Princess Mary of Cambridge, the +Prince of Leiningen, and Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, the ministers +and foreign ambassadors. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of +London and Oxford, &c. &c., officiated. Prince Albert's chorale, "In +life's gay morn," was performed again. After the christening there was +a State banquet in the picture gallery. Prince Arthur was the finest +of all the Queen's babies, and the royal nurseries still retain +memories of his childish graces. + +Before the ceremony of the christening, and within a month of the +birth of her child, her Majesty was subjected to one of the most +wanton and cowardly of all the attacks which half-crazed brains +prompted their owners to make upon her person. She had driven out +about six o'clock in the evening, with her children and Lady Jocelyn, +to inquire for her uncle, the Duke of Cambridge, who was suffering +from his last illness. While she was within the gates of Cambridge +House, a tall, gentlemanlike man loitered at the entrance, as it +appeared with the by no means uncommon wish to see the Queen. But when +her carriage drove out, while it was leisurely turning the corner into +the road, the man started forward, and, with a small stick which he +held, struck the Queen a sharp blow on the face, crushing the bonnet +she wore, and inflicting a severe bruise and slight wound on the +forehead. The fellow was instantly seized and the stick wrested from +his grasp, while he was conveyed to the nearest police-station. + +The Queen drove home, and was able to show herself the same evening at +the Opera, where she was received with the singing of the National +Anthem and great cheering. + +The offender was neither a boy nor of humble rank. He proved to be a +man of thirty--a gentleman by birth and education. + +The Prince wrote of the miserable occurrence to Baron Stockmar that +its perpetrator was a dandy "whom you must often have seen in the +Park, where he has made himself conspicuous. He maintains the closest +silence as to his motives, but is manifestly deranged. All this does +not help to make one cheerful." + +The man was the son of a gentleman named Pate, of wealth and position, +who had acted as sheriff of Cambridgeshire. The son had had a +commission in the army, from which he had been requested to retire, on +account of an amount of eccentricity that had led at least to one +serious breach of discipline. He could give no reason for his conduct +beyond making the statement that he had acted on a sudden +uncontrollable impulse. He was tried in the following July. The jury +refused to accept the plea of insanity, and he was sentenced, like his +predecessor, to seven years' transportation. + +At the date of the attack the minds of the Queen and the Prince, and +indeed of a large portion of the civilised world, were much occupied +with a serious foreign embroilment into which the Government had been +drawn by what many people considered the restless and interfering +policy of Lord Palmerston, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. +He had gone so far as to send a fleet into Greek waters for the +protection of two British subjects claiming assistance, and in the act +he had offended France and Russia. + +Much political excitement was aroused, and there were keen and +protracted debates in both Houses of Parliament. In the House of Lords +something like a vote of censure of the foreign policy of the +Government was moved and carried. In the House of Commons the debate +lasted five nights, and the fine speech in which Lord Palmerston, a +man in his sixty-sixth year, defended his policy, was continued "from +the dusk of one day to the dawn of the next." + +Apart from these troubles abroad, the country, on the whole, was in a +prosperous and satisfactory condition. Trade was flourishing. Neither +had literature fallen behind. Perhaps it had rarely shown a more +brilliant galaxy of contemporary names, including those of John Stuart +Mill in logic, Herbert Spencer in philosophy, Charles Darwin in +natural science, Ruskin in art criticism, Helps as an essayist. And in +this year Tennyson brought out his "In Memoriam," and Kingsley his +"Alton Lock". It seemed but natural that the earlier lights should be +dying out before the later; that Lord Jeffrey, the old king of +critics, should pass beyond the sound of reviews; and Wordsworth, +after this spring, be seen no more among the Cumberland hills and +dales; and Jane Porter, whose innocent high-flown romances had been +the delight of the young reading world more than fifty years before, +should end her days, a cheerful old lady, in the prosaic town of +Bristol. + +In the Academy's annual exhibition the same old names of Landseer +(with his popular picture of the Duke of Wellington showing his +daughter-in-law, Lady Douro, the field of Waterloo), Maclise, +Mulready, Stanfield, &c. &c., came still to the front. But a new +movement, having a foreign origin, though in this case an English +development, known as the pre-Raphaelite theory, with Millais, Holman +Hunt, and Rossetti as its leaders, was already at work. This year +there was a picture by Millais--still a lad of twenty-one--in support +of the protest against conventionality in the beautiful, which did not +fail to attract attention, though it excited as much condemnation as +praise. The picture was "Christ in the House of His Parents," better +known as "The Carpenter's Shop." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +THE DEATHS OF SIR ROBERT PEEL, THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, AND LOUIS +PHILIPPE. + +The Court had been at Osborne for the Whitsun holidays, and the Prince +had written to Germany, "In our island home we are wholly given up to +the enjoyment of the warm summer weather. The children catch +butterflies, Victoria sits under the trees, and I drink the Kissingen +water, Ragotzky. To-day mamma-aunt (the Duchess of Kent) and Charles +(Prince of Leiningen) are come to stay a fortnight with us; then we go +to town to compress the (so-called) pleasures of the season into four +weeks. God be merciful to us miserable sinners." + +There was more to be encountered in town this year, than the hackneyed +round of gaieties--from which even royalty, with all the will in the +world, could not altogether free itself. The first shock was the +violent opposition, got up alike by the press and in Parliament, to +Hyde Park as the site of the building required for the Exhibition. +Following hard upon it came the melancholy news of the accident to +Sir Robert Peel, which occurred at the very door, so simply and yet so +fatally. Sir Robert, who, was riding out on Saturday, the 29th of +June, had just called at Buckingham Palace and written his name in her +Majesty's visiting-book. He was going up Constitution Hill, and had +reached the wicket-gate leading into the Green Park, when he met Miss +Ellis, Lady Dover's daughter, with whom he was acquainted, also +riding. Sir Robert exchanged greetings with the young lady, and his +horse became restive, "swerved towards the rails of the Green Park," +and threw its rider, who had a bad seat in the saddle, sideways on his +left shoulder. It was supposed that Sir Robert held by the reins, so +as to drag the animal down with its knees on his shoulder. + +He was taken home in a carriage, and laid on a sofa in his dining- +room, from which he was never moved. At his death he was in his sixty- +third year. + +The vote of the House of Commons settled the question that Hyde Park +should be the site of the Exhibition, and _Punch_'s caricature, +which the Prince enjoyed, of Prince Albert as "The Industrious Boy," +cap in hand, uttering the petition-- + + "Pity the troubles of a poor young Price, + Whose costly scheme has borne him to your door," + +lost all its sting, when such a fund was guaranteed as warranted the +raising of the structure according to Sir Joseph Paxton's beautiful +design. + +The Queen and the Prince had many calls on their sympathy this summer. +On the 8th of July the Duke of Cambridge died, aged seventy-six. He +was the youngest of George III and Queen Charlotte's sons who attained +manhood. He was one of the most popular of the royal brothers, +notwithstanding the disadvantages of having been educated partly +abroad, taken foreign service, and held appointments in Hanover which +caused him to reside there for the most part till the death of William +IV. Neither was he possessed of much ability. He had not even the +scientific and literary acquirements of the Duke of Sussex, who had +possessed one of the best private libraries in England. But the Duke +of Cambridge's good-nature was equal to his love of asking questions-- +a hereditary trait. He was buried, according to his own wish, at Kew. + +The House of Commons voted twelve thousand a year to Prince George, on +his becoming Duke of Cambridge, in lieu of the twenty-seven thousand a +year enjoyed by the late Duke. + +Osborne was a more welcome retreat than ever at the close of the +summer, but even Osborne could not shelter the Queen from political +worry and personal sorrow. There were indications of renewed trouble +from Lord Palmerston's "spirited foreign policy." + +The Queen and the Prince believed they had reason to complain of Lord +Palmerston's carelessness and negligence, in not forwarding in time +copies of the documents passing through his department, which ought to +have been brought under the notice both of the sovereign and the Prime +Minister, and to have received their opinion, before the over- +energetic Secretary for Foreign Affairs acted upon them on his own +responsibility. + +In these circumstances her Majesty wrote a memorandum of what she +regarded as the duty of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs +towards the Crown. The memorandum was written in a letter to Lord John +Russell, which he was requested to show to Lord Palmerston. + +Except the misunderstanding with Sir Robert Peel about the dismissal +of the ladies of her suite, which occurred early in the reign, this is +the only difference on record between the Queen and any of her +ministers. + +During this July at Osborne, Lady Lyttelton wrote her second vivid +description, quoted in the "Life of the Prince Consort," of Prince +Albert's organ-playing. "Last evening such a sunset! I was sitting, +gazing at it, and thinking of Lady Charlotte Proby's verses, when from +an open window below this floor began suddenly to sound the Prince's +organ, expressively played by his masterly hand. Such a modulation! +Minor and solemn, and ever changing and never ceasing. From a +_piano_ like Jenny Lind's holding note up to the fullest swell, +and still the same fine vein of melancholy. And it came on so exactly +as an accompaniment to the sunset. How strange he is! He must have +been playing just while the Queen was finishing her toilette, and then +he went to cut jokes and eat dinner, and nobody but the organ knows +what is in him, except, indeed, by the look of his eyes sometimes." + +Lady Lyttelton refers to the Prince's cutting jokes, and the Queen has +written of his abiding cheerfulness. People are apt to forget in their +very admiration of his noble thoughtfulness, earnestness, and +tenderness of heart that he was also full of fun, keenly relishing a +good story, the life of the great royal household. + +The Queen had been grieved this summer by hearing of the serious +illness of her greatest friend, the Queen of the Belgians, who was +suffering from the same dangerous disease of which her sister, +Princess Marie, had died. Probably it was with the hope of cheering +King Leopold, and of perhaps getting a glimpse of the much-loved +invalid, that the Queen, after proroguing Parliament in person, sailed +on the 21st of August with the Prince and their four elder children in +the royal yacht on a short trip to Ostend, where the party spent a +day. King Leopold met the visitors--the younger of whom were much +interested by their first experience of a foreign town. The Queen had +the satisfaction of finding her uncle well and pleased to see her, so +that she could call the meeting afterwards a "delightful, happy +dream;" but there was a sorrowful element in the happiness, occasioned +by the absence of Queen Louise, whose strength was not sufficient for +the journey to Ostend, and of whose case Sir James Clark, sent by the +Queen to Laeken, thought badly. + +The poor Orleans family had another blow in store for them. On Prince +Albert's thirty-first birthday, the 26th of August, which he passed at +Osborne, news arrived of the death that morning, at Claremont, of +Louis Philippe, late King of the French, in his seventy-seventh year. + +The Queen and the Prince had been prepared to start with their elder +children for Scotland the day after they heard of the death, and by +setting out at six o'clock in the morning they were enabled to pay a +passing visit to the house of mourning. + +We may be permitted to remark here, by what quiet, unconscious touches +in letters and journals we have brought home to us the dual life, full +of duty and kindliness, led by the highest couple in the land. Whether +it is in going with a family of cousins to take the last look at a +departed kinsman, or in getting up at daybreak to express personal +sympathy with another family in sorrow, we cannot fail to see, while +it is all so simply said and done, that no painful ordeal is shirked, +no excuse is made of weighty tasks and engrossing occupations, to free +either Queen or Prince from the gentle courtesies and tender charities +of everyday humanity; we recognise that the noblest and busiest are +also the bravest, the most faithful, the most full of pity. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +THE QUEEN'S FIRST STAY AT HOLYROOD--LIFE IN THE HIGHLANDS--THE DEATH +OF THE QUEEN OF THE BELGIANS. + +This year the Queen went north by Castle Howard, the fine seat of the +Earl of Carlisle, the Duchess of Sutherland's brother, where her +Majesty made her first halt. After stopping to open the railway +bridges, triumphs of engineering, over the Tyne and the Tweed, the +travellers reached Edinburgh, where, to the gratification of an +immense gathering of her Scotch subjects, her Majesty spent her first +night in Holyrood, the palace of her Stewart ancestors. The place was +full of interest and charm for her, and though it was late in the +afternoon before she arrived, she hardly waited to rest, before +setting out incognito, so far as the old housekeeper was concerned, to +inspect the historical relics of the building. She wandered out with +her "two girls and their governess" to the ruins of the chapel or old +abbey, and stood by the altar at which Mary Stewart, the fair young +French widow, wedded "the long lad Darnley," and read the inscriptions +on the tombs of various members of noble Scotch houses, coming to a +familiar name on the slab which marked the grave of the mother of one +of her own maids of honour, a daughter of Clanranald's. + +The Queen then visited Queen Mary's rooms, being shown, like other +strangers, the closet where her ancestress had sat at supper on a +memorable night, and the stair from the chapel up which Ruthven, risen +from a sick-bed, led the conspirators who seized Davie Rizzio, dragged +him from his mistress's knees, to which he clung, and slew him +pitilessly on the boards which, according to old tradition, still bear +the stain of his blood. After that ghastly token, authentic or non- +authentic, which would thrill the hearts of the young princesses as it +has stirred many a youthful imagination, Darnley's armour and Mary's +work-table, with its embroidery worked by her own hand, must have +fallen comparatively flat. + +The next morning the Queen and the Prince, with their children, took +their first drive round the beautiful road, then just completed, which +bears her name, and, encircling Arthur's Seat, is the goal of every +stranger visiting Edinburgh, affording as it does in miniature an +excellent idea of Scotch scenery. On this occasion the party alighted +and climbed to the top of the hill, rejoicing in the view. "You see +the beautiful town, with the Calton Hill, and the bay with the island +of Inchkeith stretching out before you, and the Bass Rock quite in the +distance, rising behind the coast.... The view when we gained the +carriage hear Dunsappie Loch, quite a small lake, overhung by a crag, +with the sea in the distance, is extremely pretty.... The air was +delicious." + +In the course of the forenoon the Prince laid the foundation stone of +the Scotch National Gallery, and made his first speech (which was an +undoubted success) before one of those Edinburgh audiences, noted for +their fastidiousness and critical faculty. The afternoon drive was by +the beautiful Scott monument, the finest modern ornament of the city, +Donaldson's Hospital, the High Street, and the Canongate, and the +lower part of the Queen's Drive, which encloses the Queen's Park. "A +beautiful park indeed," she wrote, "with such a view, and such +mountain scenery in the midst of it." + +In the evening there was assembled such a circle as had not been +gathered in royal old Holyrood since poor Prince Charlie kept brief +state there. Her Majesty wrote in her journal, "The Buccleuchs, the +Roxburghs, the Mortons, Lord Roseberry, Principal Lee, the Belhavens, +and the Lord Justice General, dined with us. Everybody so pleased at +our living at my old palace." The talk seems to have been, as was +fitting, on old times and the unfortunate Queen Mary, the heroine of +Holyrood. Sir Theodore Martin thinks it may have been in remembrance +of this evening that Lord Belhaven, on his death, left a bequest to +the Queen "of a cabinet which had been brought by Queen Mary from +France, and given by her to the Regent Mar, from whom it passed into +the family of Lord Belhaven." The cabinet contains a lock of Queen +Mary's golden hair, and a purse worked by her. + +On the following day the royal party left Holyrood and travelled to +Balmoral. The Queen, with the Prince and her children, and the Duchess +of Kent, with her son and grandson, were at the great gala of the +district, the Braemar gathering, where the honour of her Majesty's +presence is always eagerly craved. + +Another amusement was the _leistering_, or spearing, of salmon in +the Dee. Captain Forbes of Newe, and from forty to fifty of his clan, +on their return to Strathdon from the Braemar gathering, were +attracted by the fishing to the river's edge, when they were carried +over the water on the backs of the Queen's men, who volunteered the +service, "Macdonald, at their head, carrying Captain Forbes on his +back." The courteous act, which was quite spontaneous, charmed the +Queen and the Prince. The latter in writing to Germany gave further +details of the incident. "Our people in the Highlands are altogether +primitive, true-hearted and without guile.... Yesterday the Forbeses +of Strath Don passed through here. When they came to the Dee our +people (of Strath Dee) offered to carry them across the river, and did +so, whereupon they drank to the health of Victoria and the inmates of +Balmoral in whisky (_schnapps_), but as there was no cup to be +had, their chief, Captain Forbes, pulled off his shoe, and he and his +fifty men drank out of it." + +The Forbeses got permission to march through the grounds of Balmoral, +"the pipers going, in front. They stopped and cheered three times +three, throwing up their bonnets." The Queen describes the +characteristic demonstration, and she then mentions listening with +pleasure "to the distant shouts and the sound of the pibroch." + +There were two drawbacks to the peace and happiness of Balmoral this +year. The one was occasioned by an unforeseen vexatious occurrence, +and the complications which arose from it. General Haynau, the +Austrian officer whose brutalities to the conquered and to women +during the Hungarian war had aroused detestation in England, happened +to visit London, and was attacked by the men in Barclay's brewery. +Austria remonstrated, and Lord Palmerston made a rash reply, which had +to be recalled. + +The other care which darkened the Balmoral horizon in 1850 was the +growing certainty of a fatal termination to the illness of the Queen +of the Belgians. Immediately after the Court returned to Osborne the +blow fell. Queen Louise died at Ostend on the 11th of October, 1850. +She was only in her thirty-ninth year, not more than eight years older +than Queen Victoria. She was the second daughter of Louis Philippe, +Princess Marie having been the elder sister. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +THE PAPAL BULL--THE GREAT EXHIBITION. + +In the winter of 1850 the whole of England was disturbed by the Papal +Bull which professed to divide England afresh into Roman Catholic +bishoprics, with a cardinal-archbishop at their head. Protestant +England hotly resented the liberty the Pope had taken, the more so +that the Tractarian movement in the Church seemed to point to +treachery within the camp. Lord John Russell took this view of it, and +the announcement of his opinion intensified the excitement which +expressed itself, in meetings all over the county and numerous +addresses to the Queen, condemning the act of aggression and urging +resistance. The protests of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, +and of the Corporation of London, were presented to her Majesty in St. +George's Hall, Windsor Castle, on the 10th of December. The Oxford +address was read by the Chancellor of Oxford, the Duke of Wellington, +the old soldier speaking "in his peculiar energetic manner with great +vigour and animation." The Cambridge address was read by the +Chancellor of Cambridge, Prince Albert, "with great clearness and +well-marked emphasis." The Queen replied "with great deliberation and +with decided accents." Her Majesty, while repelling the invasion of +her rights and the offence to the religious principles of the country, +held, with the calmer judges of the situation, that no pretence, +however loudly asserted, could constitute reality. The Pope might call +England what he liked, but he could not make it Catholic. + +In January, 1851, the Court had a great loss in the retirement of Lady +Lyttelton from her office of governess to the royal children, which +she had filled for eight years; while her service at Court, including +the time that she had been a lady-in-waiting, had lasted over twelve +years. Thenceforth her bright sympathetic accounts of striking events +in the life at Windsor and Osborne cease. The daughter of the second +Earl of Spenser married, at twenty-six years of age, the third Lord +Lyttelton. She was forty-two when she became a lady-in-waiting, and +fifty-four when she resigned the office of governess to the Queen's +children. She desired to quit the Court because, as she said, she was +old enough to be at rest for whatever time might be left her. In the +tranquillity and leisure which she sought, she survived for twenty +years, dying at the age of seventy-four in 1870. The parting in 1851 +was a trial to all. "The Queen has told me I may be free about the +middle of January," wrote Lady Lyttelton, "and she said it with all +the feeling and kindness of which I have received such incessant +proofs through the whole long twelve years during which I have served +her. Never by a word or look has it been interrupted." Neither could +Lady Lyttelton say enough in praise of the Prince, of "his wisdom, his +ready helpfulness, his consideration for others, his constant +kindness." "In the evening I was sent for to my last audience in the +Queen's own room," Lady Lyttelton wrote again, "and I quite broke down +and could hardly speak or hear. I remember the Prince's face, pale as +ashes, and a few words of praise and thanks from them both, but it is +all misty; and I had to stop on the private staircase and have my cry +out before I could go up again." + +Lady Lyttelton was succeeded in her office by Lady Caroline +Barrington, sister of Earl Grey, who held the post for twenty-four +years, till her death in 1875. She too was much and deservedly +esteemed by the Queen and the royal family. + +The Exhibition was the event in England of 1851. From the end of March +till the opening-day, for which May-day was fitly chosen, Prince +Albert strove manfully day and night to fulfil his important part in +the programme, and it goes without saying that the Queen shared in +much of his work, and in all his hopes and fears and ardent desires. + +Already the building, with its great transept and naves, lofty dome, +transparent walls and roof, enclosing great trees within their ample +bounds, the _chef-d'-oeuvre_ of Sir Joseph Paxton--who received +knighthood for the feat--the admiration of all beholders, had sprung +up in Hyde Park like a fairy palace, the growth of a night. Ships and +waggons in hundreds and thousands, laden by commerce, science and art, +were trooping from far and near to the common destination. Great and +small throughout the country and across the seas were planning to make +the Exhibition their school of design and progress, as well as their +holiday goal. + +It must be said that the dread of what might be the behaviour of the +vast crowds of all nations gathered together at one spot, and that +spot London, assailed many people both at home and abroad. But as +those who are not "evil-doers" are seldom "evil-dreaders," the Queen +and the Prince always dismissed the idea of such a danger with +something like bright incredulous scorn, which proved in the end wiser +than cynical suspicion and gloomy apprehension. + +The Exhibition of 1851, with its reverent motto, chosen by Prince +Albert, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the +compass of the world, and they that dwell therein," is an old story +now, and only elderly people remember some of its marvels--like the +creations of the "Arabian Nights'" tales--and its works of art, which, +though they may have been excelled before and since, had never yet +been so widely seen and widely criticised. The feathery palm-trees and +falling fountains, especially the great central cascade, seemed to +harmonize with objects of beauty and forms of grace on every side. The +East contended with the West in soft and deep colours and sumptuous +stuffs. Huge iron machines had their region, and trophies of cobweb +lace theirs; while "walking-beams" clanked and shuttles flew, working +wonders before amazed and enchanted-eyes. + +Especially never had there been seen, such modern triumphs in carved +woodwork, in moulded iron, zinc, and bronze, in goldsmiths' work, in +stoneware and porcelain, in designs for damasks in silk and linen. + +The largest diamond in the world, the Koh-i-Noor or "mountain of +light," found in the mines of Golconda, presented to the great Mogul, +having passed through the hands of a succession of murderous and +plundering Shahs, had been brought to England and laid at the feet of +Queen Victoria as one of the fruits of her Afghan conquests, the year +before the Exhibition. It was now for the first time publicly +displayed. Like many valuable articles, its appearance, marred by bad +cutting, did not quite correspond with the large estimate of its +worth, about two millions. In order to increase its effect, the +precious clumsily-cut "goose's egg," relieved against a background of +crimson velvet in its strong cage, was shown by gas-light alone. Since +those days, the jewel has been cut, so that its radiance may have full +play when it is worn by her Majesty on great occasions. To keep the +Koh-i-Noor in company, one of the largest emeralds and one of the +largest pearls in the world were in this Exhibition. So were "_le +saphir merveilleux_"--of amethystine colour by candle-light, once +the property of Egalité Orleans, and the subject of a tale by Madame +Genlis-and a renowned Hungarian opal. + +Hiram Powers's "Greek Slave" from America more than rivalled Monti's +veiled statue from Italy, while far surpassing both in majesty was +Kiss's grand group of the "Mounted Amazon defending herself from, the +attack of a Lioness," cast in zinc and bronzed. Statues and statuettes +of the Queen abounded, and must have constantly met her eye, from Mrs. +Thornycroft's spirited equestrian statue to the great pedestal and +statue, in zinc, of her Majesty, crowned, in robes of State, with the +sceptre in one hand and the orb in the other, modelled by Danton, +which stood in the centre of the foreign nave. + +What enhanced the fascination of the scene to untravelled spectators +was that without the deliberate contrivance brought to perfection in +the great Paris Exhibition, real Chinamen walked among their junks and +pagodas, Russians stood by their malachite gates, Turks hovered about +their carpets. + +Women's quaint or exquisite work, whether professional or amateur, was +not absent. It was notable in the magnificent covers for the head and +footboard of a bed which had occupied thirty girls for many weeks, and +in a carpet worked in squares by a company of ladies, and presented as +a tribute of their respect and love for the most unremittingly +diligent woman in England, her Majesty the Queen. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +THE QUEEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION. + +Of all the many descriptions of the Exhibition of 1851, which survive +after more than thirty years, the best are those written by the Queen, +which we gratefully borrow, as we have already borrowed so many of the +extracts from her journal in the Prince's "Life." + +Sir Theodore Martin has alluded to the special attraction lent to the +Exhibition on its opening day by the excitement of the glad +ceremonial, the throng of spectators, the Court element with "its +splendid toilets" and uniforms, while Thackeray has a verse for the +chief figure. + + Behold her in her royal place, + A gentle lady, and the hand + That sways the sceptre of this land, + How frail and weak + Soft is the voice and fair the face; + She breathes amen to prayer and hymn + No wonder that her eyes are dim, + And pale her cheek. + +But she has deigned to speak for herself, and no other speaks words +so noble and tender in their simplicity. + +"May 1st. The great event has taken place, a complete and beautiful +triumph, a glorious and touching sight, one which I shall ever be +proud of for my beloved Albert and my country.... Yes, it is a day +which makes my heart swell with pride and glory and thankfulness. + +"We began it with tenderest greetings for the birthday of our dear +little Arthur. At breakfast there was nothing but congratulations.... +Mamma and Victor (the Queen's nephew, son of the Princess of +Hohenlohe, now well-known as Count Gleichen) were there, and all the +children and our guests. Our humble gifts of toys were added to by a +beautiful little bronze _replica_ of the 'Amazon' (Kiss's) from +the Prince (of Prussia), a beautiful paper-knife from the Princess (of +Prussia), and a nice little clock from mamma. + +"The Park presented a wonderful spectacle, crowds streaming through +it, carriages and troops passing quite like the Coronation day, and +for me the same anxiety; no, much greater anxiety, on account of my +beloved Albert. The day was bright, and all bustle and excitement.... +At half-past eleven the whole procession, in State carriages, was in +motion.... The Green Park and Hyde Park were one densely crowded mass +of human beings in the highest good-humour and most enthusiastic. I +never saw Hyde Park look as it did, as far as the eye could reach. A +little rain fell just as we started, but before we came near the +Crystal Palace the sun shone and gleamed upon the gigantic edifice, +upon which the flags of all the nations were floating. We drove up +Rotten Row and got out at the entrance on that side. + +"The glimpse of the transept through the iron gates--the waving palms, +flowers, statues, myriads of people filling the galleries and seats +around, with the flourish of trumpets as we entered, gave us a +sensation which, I can never forget, and I felt much moved. We went +for a moment to a little side-room, where we left our shawls, and +where we found mamma and Mary (now Duchess of Teck), and outside which +were standing the other Princes. In a few seconds we proceeded, Albert +leading me, having Vicky at his hand, and Bertie holding mine. The +sight as we came to the middle, where the steps and chair (which I did +not sit on) were placed, with the beautiful crystal fountain in front +of it, was magical--so vast, so glorious, so touching. One felt, as so +many did whom I have since spoken to, filled with devotion, more so +than by any service I have ever heard. The tremendous cheers, the joy +expressed in every face, the immensity of the building, the mixture of +palms, flowers, trees, statues, fountains--the organ (with two hundred +instruments and six hundred voices, which sounded like nothing), and +my beloved husband the author of this peace festival, which united the +industry of all nations of the earth--all this was moving indeed, and +it was and is a day to live for ever. God bless my dearest Albert, God +bless my dearest country, which has shown itself so great to-day! One +felt so grateful to the great God who seemed to pervade all and to +bless all. The only event it in the slightest degree reminded me of +was the Coronation, but this day's festival was a thousand times +superior. In fact it is unique and can bear no comparison, from its +peculiarity, beauty, and combination of such different and striking +objects. I mean the slight resemblance only as to its solemnity; the +enthusiasm and cheering, too, were much more touching, for in a church +naturally all is silent. + +"Albert left my side after "God save the Queen" had been sung, and at +the head of the commissioners, a curious assemblage of political and +distinguished men, read me the report, which is a long one, and to +which I read a short answer; after which the Archbishop of Canterbury +offered up a short and appropriate prayer, followed by the "Hallelujah +Chorus," during which the Chinese mandarin came forward and made his +obeisance. This concluded, the procession began. It was beautifully +arranged and of great length, the prescribed order being exactly +adhered to. The nave was full, which had not been intended; but still +there was no difficulty, and the whole long walk, from one end to the +other, was made in the midst of continued and deafening cheers and +waving of handkerchiefs. Everyone's face was bright and smiling, many +with tears in their eyes. Many Frenchmen called out "_Vive la +Reine_!" One could, of course, see nothing but what was near in the +nave, and nothing in the courts. The organs were but little heard, but +the military band at one end had a very fine effect as we passed +along. They played the march from _Athalie_.... The old Duke and +Lord Anglesey walked arm in arm, which was a touching sight. I saw +many acquaintances among those present. We returned to our own place, +and Albert told Lord Breadalbane to declare that the Exhibition was +opened, which he did in a loud voice: 'Her Majesty commands me to +declare this Exhibition open,' which was followed by a flourish of +trumpets and immense cheering. All the commissioners, the executive +committee, who worked so hard, and to whom such immense praise is due, +seemed truly happy, and no one more so than Paxton, who may be justly +proud; he rose from being a common gardener's boy. Everybody was +astonished and delighted, Sir George Grey (Home Secretary) in tears. + +"The return was equally satisfactory, the crowd most enthusiastic, the +order perfect. We reached the palace at twenty minutes past one, and +went out on the balcony and were loudly cheered, the Prince and +Princess (of Prussia) quite delighted and impressed. That we felt +happy, thankful, I need not say; proud of all that had passed, of my +darling husband's success, and of the behaviour of my good people. I +was more impressed than I can say by the scene. It was one that can +never be effaced from my memory, and never will be from that of any +one who witnessed it. Albert's name is immortalised, and the wicked +reports of dangers of every kind, which a set of people, viz. the +_soi disant_ fashionables, the most violent Protectionists, +spread, are silenced. It is therefore doubly satisfactory, and that +all should have gone off so well, and without the slightest accident +or mishap.... Albert's emphatic words last year, when he said that the +feeling would be _that of deep thankfulness to the Almighty for the +blessings which He has bestowed on us here below_ this day +realised.... + +"I must not omit to mention an interesting episode of this day, viz:-- +the visit of the good old Duke on this his eighty-second birthday to +his little godson, our dear little boy. He came to us both at five, +and gave him a golden cup and some toys, which he had himself chosen, +and Arthur gave him a nosegay. + +"We dined _en famille_, and then went to the Covent Garden Opera, +where we saw the two finest acts of the _Huguenots_ given as +beautifully as last year. I was rather tired, but we were both so +happy, so full of thankfulness! God is indeed our kind and merciful +Father." + +In answer to Lord John Russell's statement, on the close of the +Exhibition, that the great enterprise and the spirit in which it had +been conducted would contribute "to give imperishable fame to Prince +Albert," the Queen asserted that year would ever remain the happiest +and proudest of her life. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +THE QUEEN'S "RESTORATION BALL" AND THE "GUILDHALL BALL." + +The season of the first Exhibition was full of movement and gaiety, in +which the Queen and Prince Albert joined. They had also the pleasure +of welcoming their brother and sister, the Duke and Duchess of Saxe +Coburg, who arrived to witness the Prince's triumph. As usual he came +forward on every occasion when his services, to which his position and +personal gifts lent double value, were needed--whether he presided at +an Academy dinner, or at a meeting of the Society for the Propagation +of the Gospel, or laid the foundation of the Hospital for Consumption, +or attended the meeting of the British Association, and the Queen +delighted in his popularity and usefulness. + +On the 4th of May Baroness Bunsen was at Stafford House "when her +there," and thus describes the Queen. "The Queen looked charming, and I +could not help the same reflection that I have often made before, that +she is the only piece of _female royalty_ I ever saw who was also a +creature such as almighty God has created. Her smile is a _real_ smile, +her grace is _natural_; although it has received a high polish from +cultivation, there is nothing artificial about it. Princes I have seen +several whose first characteristic is that of being _men_ rather than +princes, though not many. The Duchess of Sutherland is the only person I +have seen, when receiving the Queen, not giving herself the appearance +of a visitor in her own house by wearing a bonnet." + +On the 16th of May the Queen and the Prince were at Devonshire House, +when Lord Lytton's comedy of "Not so Bad as we Seem" was played by +Dickens, Foster, Douglas Jerrold, on behalf of the new "Guild of +Literature and Art," in which hopes for poor authors were cheerfully +entertained. + +On the 23rd of May Lord Campbell was anticipating the Queen's third +costume ball with as much complacency as if the eminent lawyer had +been a young girl. "We are invited to the Queen's fancy ball on the +13th of June," he wrote "where we are all to appear in the characters +and costume of the reign of Charles II. I am to go as Sir Matthew +Hale, Chief Justice, and I am now much occupied in considering my +dress, that is to say, which robe I am to wear--scarlet, purple, or +black. The only new articles I shall have to order are my black velvet +coif, a beard with moustaches, and a pair of shoes with red heels, and +red rosettes." + +The period chosen for the Restoration Ball was the time midway between +the dates of the Plantagenet and the Powder Ball. + +As on former occasions, the Court walked in procession to the throne- +room, where each quadrille passed in turn before the Queen and Prince +Albert. + +Her Majesty's dress was of grey watered silk, trimmed with gold and +silver lace, and ornamented with bows of rose-coloured riband fastened +by bouquets of diamonds. The front of the dress was open, and the +under-skirt was made of cloth of gold embroidered in a shawl pattern +in silver. The gloves and shoes were embroidered alternately with +roses and _fleurs-de-lys_ in gold. On the front of the body of +the dress were four large pear-shaped emeralds of great value. The +Queen wore a small diamond crown on the top of her head, and a large +emerald set in diamonds, with pearl loops, on one side of the head; +the hair behind plaited with pearls. + +Prince Albert wore a coat of rich orange satin, brocaded with gold, +the sleeves turned up with crimson velvet, a pink silk epaulette on +one shoulder; a baldrick of gold lace embroidered with silver for the +sword; the breeches of crimson velvet with pink satin bows and gold +lace, the stockings of lavender silk, the sash of white silk, gold +fringed. + +There were four national quadrilles. The English Quadrille was led by +the Marchioness of Ailesbury; the Scotch Quadrille was under the +guidance of the young Marchioness of Stafford, daughter-in-law of the +Duke of Sutherland; the French Quadrille was led by Countess Flahault, +the representative of the old barons Keith, and the wife of a +brilliant Frenchman; the Spanish Quadrille was marshalled by Countess +Granville. There were two more Quadrilles, the one under the control +of the Countess of Wilton, the other, called the "Rose Quadrille," led +by Countess Grey. + +With all due deference to the opinion of the late Mr. Henry Greville, +the accounts of these quadrilles leave the impression not only that +they were arranged with finer taste, but that a considerable advance +had been made in artistic perception and sense of harmony. The ladies +in each quadrille were dressed alike, so were the gentlemen; thus +there were no harsh contrasts. In the English set the ladies wore blue +and white silk gowns with trimmings of rose-colour and gold. The +gentlemen were in scarlet and gold, and blue velvet. Lady Waterford +was in this set, and Lady Churchill, daughter of the Marquis of +Conyngham, long connected with the Court. The Duke of Cambridge and +Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar were among the gentlemen in the set. + +Certainly it is a little hard to decide on what principle the +exceedingly piquant costume of the ladies in the Scotch Quadrille was +classed as Scotch. The ladies wore riding-habits of pale green taffeta +ornamented with bows of pink ribbon, and had on grey hats with pink +and white feathers. Lady Stafford carried a jewelled riding-whip. The +gentlemen were in Highland costume. + +In the French Quadrille the ladies wore white satin with bows of light +blue ribbon opening over cloth of gold. The gentlemen were in the +uniform of _Mousquetaires_. In this quadrille danced Lady +Clementina Villiers, with her "marble-like beauty." She had ceased to +be a Watteau shepherdess, and she had lost her companion shepherdess +of old, but her intellectual gifts and fine qualities were developing +themselves more and more. In the same dance was Lady Rose Lovell, the +young daughter of the Duke of Beaufort, whose elopement at the age of +seventeen with a gallant one-armed soldier had been condoned, so that +she still played her part in the Court gala. + +In the Spanish Quadrille the ladies wore black silk over grey damask, +trimmed with gold lace and pink rosettes, and Spanish mantillas. The +gentlemen were in black velvet, with a Spanish order embroidered in +red silk on coat and cloak, grey silk stockings, and black velvet hats +with red and yellow feathers. In this quadrille were the matronly +beauties Lady Canning, Lady Jocelyn, and Lady Waldegrave. + +After the quadrilles had been danced, the ladies falling into lines, +advanced to the throne and did reverence, the gentlemen forming in +like manner and performing the same ceremony. Her Majesty, and Prince +Albert then proceeded to the ballroom, where Lady Wilton's and Lady +Grey's quadrilles were danced. In the Rose Quadrille the ladies wore +rose-coloured skirts over white moire, with rose-coloured bows and +pearls, rose colour and pearls in the hair. Each lady wore a single +red rose on her breast. + +After the quadrilles, the Queen opened the general ball by dancing the +_Polonnaise_ with Prince Albert, the Duke of Cambridge, and +Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar; Prince Albert dancing next with the +Duchess of Norfolk, the premier peeress present. The Queen danced +after supper with the Prince of Leiningen. He was at the Restoration +as he had been at the Powder Ball, and wore black velvet and gold lace +with orange ribbons. + +The characters seem to have been chosen with more point than before. +The Countess of Tankerville personated a Duchesse de Grammont, in +right of her mother-in-law, Corisande de Grammont, grand-daughter of +Marie Antoinette's friend Gabrielle de Polignac. + +Lady Ashburton was Madame de Sevigné, whose fashion of curls beginning +in rings on the forehead and getting longer and longer towards the +neck, was as much in demand for the ladies, as Philip Leigh's +lovelocks were for the gentlemen. + +Lady Hume Campbell was "La Belle Duchesse de Bourgogne;" Lady +Middleton, Lucy Percy, Countess of Carlisle. Mrs. Abbot Lawrence +vindicated her American nationality by representing Anna Dudley, the +wife of an early governor of Massachusetts; Mr. Bancroft Davies, +secretary of the United States legation, figured as William Penn. + +Lady Londonderry and Miss Burdett Coutts were still remarkable for the +splendour of their jewels. Lady Londonderry wore a girdle of diamonds, +a diamond _berthe_, and a head-dress a blaze of precious stones, +the whole valued roughly at a hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Miss +Burdett Coutts displayed a band of jewels, after the fashion of the +gentlemen's baldricks, passing over one shoulder and terminating in a +diamond clasp fastening back the upper skirt. After diamonds, which, +like the blossom of the gorse, may be considered as always _à la +mode_, the specialities of the Restoration Ball were Honiton lace, +which was reckoned in better keeping with falling collars than old +point, and an enormous expenditure of ribbons. Some of the magnificent +collars, such as that of Lord Overton, were manufactured for the +occasion. As for ribbons, not only did ladies' dresses abound in bows +and rosettes, the gentlemen's doublets, "trunks," and sleeves, were +profusely beribboned. The very shirt-sleeves, exposed by the coat- +sleeves terminating at the elbow, were bound and festooned with +ribbons; while from the ends of the waistcoat hung a waterfall of +ribbons, like a Highlander's philabeg. Verily, the heart of Coventry +must have rejoiced; the Restoration Ball might have been got up for +its special benefit. + +The Duke of Wellington was in the scarlet and gold uniform of the +period, but he alone of all the gentlemen was privileged to wear his +own scanty grey hair, which rendered him conspicuous. The old man +walked between his two daughters-in-law, Lady Douro and Lady Charles +Wellesley. + +Lord Galway wore a plain cuirass and gorget so severely simple that it +might have been mistaken for the guise of one of Cromwell's officers, +who were otherwise unrepresented. + +Mr. Gladstone was there as Sir Leoline Jenkins, judge of the High +Court of Admiralty in Charles's reign. His dress was copied from an +engraving in the British Museum. It was quiet enough, but it is +difficult to realise "the grand old man" of to-day in a velvet coat +turned up with blue satin, ruffles and collar of old point, black +breeches and stockings, and shoes with spreading bows. + +Sir Edwin Landseer, whom Miss Thackeray has described as helping to +dress some of the ladies for this very ball, was so studiously plain +that it must have looked like a protest against the use of +"properties" in his apparel. He wore a dress of black silk, with no +cloak, no mantle, no skirts to his coat. Round his neck was a light +blue scarf, hanging low behind. He had on a grey wig, imitating +partial baldness. There could have been no doubt of the historical +correctness of the dress, though there might have been some question +of its becomingness. + +There were changes of some importance in the royal household at this +time, caused by the retirement of General, afterwards Sir George +Bowles, the Master of the Household, and of Mr. Birch, tutor to the +Prince of Vales. With the assistance of Baron Stockmar, fitting +successors for those gentlemen were found in Sir Thomas Biddulph and +Mr. Frederick Gibbes. + +The ball at Guildhall had been fixed for the 2nd of July, but the day +was changed when it was remembered that the 2nd was the anniversary of +the death of Sir Robert Peel. The entertainment was a very splendid +affair. The city was continually progressing in taste and skill in +these matters, and the times were so prosperous as to admit of large +expenditure without incurring the charge of reckless extravagance. The +Queen, Prince Albert, and their suite left Buckingham Palace, in State +carriages, at nine o'clock on the summer evening, and drove through +brilliantly illuminated streets, densely crowded with large numbers of +foreigners as well as natives. + +The great hall where the ball took place was magnificently fitted up, +many ideas for the decoration being borrowed from the Exhibition. Thus +there was a striking array of banners emblazoned with the arms of the +nations and cities which had contributed to the Exhibition. "Above the +centre shaft of each cluster of columns, shot up towards the roof a +silver palm-tree, glittering and sparkling in the brilliant light so +profusely shed around. On touching the roof these spread forth and +ended in long branches of bright clustering broad leaves of green and +gold, from which hung pendant rich bunches of crimson and ruby +sparkling fruit." The compartments beneath the balconies were filled +with pictures of the best known and most admired foreign contributions +to the Exhibition--such as the Amazon group, the Malachite gates, the +Greek Slave; &c., &c. Huge griffins had their places at the corners of +the dais supporting the throne, while above it a gigantic plume of +Prince of Wales's feathers reared itself in spun glass. The chambers +and corridors of the Mansion House were fitted up with "acres of +looking-glass, statuary, flowers, &c., &c.," provided for the crowd of +guests that could not obtain admittance to the hall, where little room +was left for dancing. The supper, to which the Queen was conducted, +was in the crypt. It was made to resemble a baronial hall, "figures in +mediaeval armour being scattered about as the bearers of the lights +which illuminated the chamber." Before leaving, in thanking the Lord +Mayor (Musgrove) for his hospitality, the Queen announced her +intention of creating him a baronet. Her Majesty and the Prince took +their departure at one o'clock, returning to Buckingham Palace through +the lit streets and huzzaing multitude. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +ROYAL VISITS TO LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER--CLOSE OF THE EXHIBITION. + +On the 27th of August the Court left for Balmoral, travelling for the +most part by the Great Northern Railway, but not, as now, making a +rapid night and day journey. On the contrary, the journey lasted three +days, with pauses for each night's rest between. Starting from Osborne +at nine, the Royal party reached Buckingham Palace at half-past +twelve. Halting for an hour and a half, they set off again at two. +They stopped at Peterborough, where old Dr. Fisher, the Bishop, was +able to greet in his Queen the little Princess who had repeated her +lessons to him in Kensington Palace. No longer a solitary figure but +for the good mother, she was herself a wife and mother, the happiest +of the happy in both relations. The train stopped again at Boston and +Lincoln for the less interesting purpose of the presentation and +reception of congratulatory addresses on the Exhibition. The same +ceremony was gone through at Doncaster where the party stayed for the +night at the Angel Inn. + +Leaving before nine on the following morning, after changing the line +of railway at York, and stopping at Darlington and Newcastle, +Edinburgh was reached in the course of the afternoon. Her Majesty and +the Prince, with their children, proceeded to Holyrood, and before the +evening was ended drove for an hour through the beautiful town. Here, +too, the Exhibition bore its fruit in the honour of knighthood +conferred on the Lord Provost. + +On the third morning the travellers left again at eight o'clock, and +journeyed as far as Stonehaven, where the royal carriages met them, +and conveyed them to Balmoral, which was reached by half-past six. The +Prince had now bought the castle and estate, seven miles in length, +and four in breadth, and plans were formed for a new house more +suitable for the accommodation of so large a household. + +On the day after the Queen and Prince Albert's arrival in the +Highlands, he received the news of the death of his uncle, brother to +the late Duke of Coburg and to the Duchess of Kent, Duke Ferdinand of +Saxe-Coburg. + +There is little to record of the happy sojourn in the North this year, +with its deer-stalking, riding and driving, except that Hallam, the +historian, and Baron Liebig, the famous chemist, visited Sir James +Clark, the Queen's physician, at Birkhall, which he occupied, and were +among the guests at Balmoral. + +It had been arranged that the Queen and the Prince should visit +Liverpool and Manchester on their way south, in order to give the +great cities of Lancashire the opportunity of greeting and welcoming +their Sovereign. It was the 8th of October before the royal party set +out on their homeward journey, ending the first of the shortening days +at Holyrood. + +On the following day the strangers went on to the ancient dull little +town of Lancaster, and drove to the castle, where the keys were +presented, and an address read under John O'Gaunt's gateway. The tower +stairs were mounted for the view over Morcambe Bay and the English +lake country on the one hand, and away across level lands to the sea +on the other. Every native of the town "wore a red rose or a red +rosette, as emblems of the House of Lancaster." + +The Queen and the Prince then proceeded to Prescot, where they left +the railway, driving through Lord Derby's fine park at Knowsley, to be +the guests of the Earl of Sefton at Croxteth. Next morning, when +Liverpool was to be visited, a _contretemps_ occurred. The +weather was hopelessly wet; the whole party had to go as far as +possible in closed carriages; afterwards the downpour was so +irresistible that the Prince's large cloak had to be spread over the +Queen and her children to keep them dry. But her Majesty's +commiseration is almost entirely for the crowd on foot, "the poor +people so wet and dirty." They spoil her pleasure in her enthusiastic +reception and the fine buildings she passes. + +The royal party drove along the docks, and in spite of the rain got +out at the appointed place of embarkation, went on board the +_Fairy_, accompanied by the Mayor and other officials, and sailed +along the quays round the mouth of the Mersey, surveying the grand +mass of shipping from the pavilion on deck as well as the dank mist +would permit. On landing, the Town Hall and St. George's Hall were +visited in succession. In the first the Queen received an address and +knighted the Mayor. She admired both buildings--particularly St. +George's, which she called "worthy of ancient Athens," and said it +delighted Prince Albert. At both halls she presented herself on +balconies in order to gratify the multitudes below. + +The Queen left Liverpool by railway, going as far as Patricroft, where +she was received by Lady Ellesmere and a party from Worsley, including +the Duke of Wellington, Lord and Lady Westminster, and Lord and Lady +Wilton. Her Majesty was to try a mode of travelling new to her. She +had arrived at the Bridgewater Canal, one of the greatest feats of +engineering in the last century, constructed by the public-spirited, +eccentric Duke of Bridgewater, and Brindley the engineer. The Queen +went on board a covered barge drawn by four horses. She describes the +motion as gliding along "in a most noiseless and dream-like manner, +amidst the cheers of the people who lined the sides of the canal." +Thus she passed under the "beautifully decorated bridges" belonging to +Lord Ellesmere's colliery villages. + +Only at the hall-door of Worsley were Lord Ellesmere, lame with gout, +and Lord Brackley, his son, "terribly delicate" from an accident in +the hunting-field, the husband of one of the beautiful Cawdor +Campbells, able to meet their illustrious guests. Henry Greville says +her Majesty brought with her four children, two ladies-in-waiting, two +equerries, a physician, a tutor, and a governess. Men of mechanical +science seem to belong to Worsley, so that it sounds natural for the +Queen and the Prince to have met there, during the evening, Nasmyth, +the inventor of the steam-hammer, and to have examined his maps of his +investigations in the moon, and his landscape-drawings, worthy of his +father's son. The Queen and Prince Albert derived great pleasure from +their passing intercourse with a man of varied gifts, whose sterling +qualities they could well appreciate. + +The next morning, the 10th of October, the weather was all that could +be wished, but another and even more unfortunate complication +threatened the success of the arrangements, on which the comfort of a +few and the gratification of many thousands of persons depended. +Prince Albert, never strong, was always liable to trying attacks of +sleeplessness and sickness. In the course of the night he had been +"very unwell, very sick and wretched for several hours." "I was +terrified for our Manchester visit" wrote the Queen in her journal. +"Thank God! by eight o'clock he felt much better, and was able to get +up" indefatigable as ever. + +At ten the party started to drive the seven miles to Manchester, +escorted by Yeomanry and a regiment of Lancers, Lord Cathcart and his +staff riding near the Queen's carriage through an ever-increasing +crowd. The Queen was greatly interested in the rows of mill-workers +between whom she passed, "dressed in their best, ranged along the +streets, with white rosettes in their button-holes"--that patient, +easily pleased crowd, which has an aspect half comical, half pathetic. +Her Majesty admired the intelligent expression of both men and women, +but was painfully struck with their puniness and paleness. In the Peel +Park the visitors were greeted by a great demonstration, which her +Majesty calls "extraordinary and unprecedented," of no less than +eighty-two thousand school children, of every denomination, Jews as +well as Christians. The Queen received and replied to an address, from +her carriage, and the immense body of children sang "God save the +Queen." + +The party then drove through the principal streets of Salford and +Manchester--the junction of the two being marked by a splendid +triumphal arch, under which the Mayor and Corporation (dressed for the +first time in robes of office--so democratic was Manchester), again +met the Queen and presented her with a bouquet. At the Exchange she +alighted to receive another address, to which she read an answer, and +knighted the Mayor. Her Majesty missed "fine buildings," of which, +with the exception of huge warehouses and factories, Manchester had +then none to boast; but she was particularly struck by the demeanour +of the inhabitants, in addition to what she was pleased to call their +"most gratifying cheering and enthusiasm." "The order and good +behaviour of the people, who were not placed behind any barriers, were +the most complete we have seen in our many progresses through capitals +and cities--London, Glasgow, Dublin, Edinburgh--for there never was a +running crowd, nobody moved and therefore everybody saw well, and +there was no squeezing...." The Queen heard afterwards that she had +seen a million of human beings that day. In the afternoon her Majesty +and the Prince, returned to Worsley. + +Henry Greville tells an almost piteous incident of this visit, in +relation to the Duke of Wellington and his advanced age, with the +infirmities that could no longer be repelled. After saying that in +order to prevent the procession's becoming too large, no other guest +at Worsley was admitted into it, except the privileged old Duke, whom +the teller of the story describes as driving in the carriage with +Henry Greville's sister, Lady Enfield, one of the ladies in attendance +on the Queen, he goes on to mention "he (the Duke) was received with +extraordinary enthusiasm; notwithstanding Lady Enfield had to nudge +him constantly, to keep him awake, both going and coming, with very +little success." Lady Enfield adds a note to her brother's narrative. +"The whole scene was one of the most exciting I ever saw in my life. +Being carried away by the general enthusiasm, and feeling that the +people would be disappointed if no notice was taken of their cheering, +I at last exclaimed 'Duke, Duke, that's for _you_.' Thereupon he +opened his eyes, and obediently made his well-known salutation, two +fingers to the brim of his hat." + +The next morning when the Prince had started by seven o'clock to +inspect a model factory near Bolton, while there was a long and busy +day before them, the Queen made a little entry in her journal which +will find a sorrowful echo in many a faithful heart, "This day is full +of sad recollections, being the anniversary of the loss of my beloved +Louise (Queen of the Belgians), that kind, precious friend, that +angelic being whose loss I shall ever feel." + +The same pleasant passage was made by the canal back to Patricroft, +where the railway carriages were entered and the train steamed to +Stockport. Crewe, Stafford--there another old soldier, Lord Anglesey, +was waiting--Rugby, Weedon, Wolverton, and Watford, then at five +o'clock the railway journey ended. The royal carriages were in +attendance, and rest and home were near at hand. The day had been hot +and fatiguing, but the evening was soft and beautiful with moonlight; +a final change of horses at Uxbridge, the carriage shut when the +growing darkness prevented any farther necessity for seeing and being +seen; at half-past seven, Windsor, and the three little children still +up and at the door "well and pleased." + +From Windsor the Court went for some days to London for the closing of +the Exhibition. The number of visitors had been six millions two +hundred thousand, and the total receipts five hundred thousand pounds. +There had not been a single accident, "We ought, indeed, to be +thankful to God for such a success," the Prince wrote reverently. On +the 14th of October the Queen paid a farewell visit to the place in +which she had been so much interested, with the regret natural on such +an occasion. "It looked so beautiful," she wrote in her journal, "that +I could not believe it was the last time I was to see it." But already +the dismantling had begun. + +The Queen refers in the next breath to a heroine of the Exhibition, an +old Cornish woman named Mary Kerlynack, who had found the spirit to +walk several hundreds of miles to behold the wonder of her generation. +This day she was at one of the doors to see another sight, the Queen. +"A most hale old woman" her Majesty thought Mary, "who was near crying +at my looking at her." + +On the 15th, a cheerlessly wet day, in keeping with a somewhat +melancholy scene, Prince Albert and his fellow commissioners closed +the Exhibition--a ceremony at which it was not judged desirable the +Queen should be present, though she grieved not to witness the end as +well as the beginning. "How sad and strange to think this great and +bright time has passed away like a dream," her Majesty wrote once more +in her diary. The day of the closing of the Exhibition happened to be +the twelfth anniversary of the Queen's betrothal to the Prince. + +The tidings arrived in the course of November of the death, in his +eighty-first year, in the old palace of Herrenhausen, on the 18th of +the month, of the King of Hanover, the fifth, and last surviving son +of George III and Queen Charlotte. He had been more popular as a king +than as a prince. + +The arrival of Kossuth in England in the autumn of 1851 had brought a +disturbing element into international politics. But it was left for +Louis Napoleon's _coup d'état_ in Paris on the 2nd of December, +when the blood shed so mercilessly on the Boulevards was still fresh +in men's minds, to get Lord Palmerston into a dilemma, from which +there was no disentanglement but the loss of office on his part. + +An impetus, great though less lasting than it seemed, was given this +year to emigration to Australia, by the discovery in the colony of +gold in quartz beds, under much the same conditions that the precious +metal had been found in California. The diggings, with the chance of a +large nugget, became for a time the favourite dream of adventurers. +Nay, the dream grew to such an absorbing desire, that men heard of it +as a disease known as "the gold fever." And quiet people at home were +told that it was hardly safe for a ship to enter some of the +Australian harbours, on account of the certainty of the desertion of +the crew, under whatever penalties, that they might repair to the last +El Dorado. + +The successful ambition of Louis Napoleon and his power over the +French army, began to excite the fears of Europe with regard to French +aggression, and a renewal of the desolating wars of the beginning of +the century; before the talk about the Exhibition and the triumphs of +peace had well died on men's lips. The Government was anxious to fall +back on the old resource of calling out the militia, with certain +modifications and changes--brought before Parliament in the form of a +Militia Bill. It did not meet with the approval of the members any +more than of the Duke of Wellington, whose experience gave his opinion +much weight. Lord Palmerston spoke with great ability against the +measure. The end was that the Government suffered a defeat, and the +Ministry resigned office in February, 1852. This time Lord Derby was +successful in forming a new Cabinet, in which Mr. Disraeli was +Chancellor of the Exchequer. A fresh Militia Bill was brought forward +and carried by the new Government, after it had received the warm +advocacy of the Duke of Wellington. The old man spoke in its favour +with an amount of vigour and clear-headedness which showed that +however his bodily strength might be failing, his mental power +remained untouched. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +DISASTERS--YACHTING TRIPS--THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. + +The month of February, 1852, was unhappily distinguished by three +great English calamities, accompanied by extensive loss of life. The +first was the destruction of the West India mail steamer _Amazon_ +by fire, as she was entering the Bay of Biscay, in which a hundred and +forty persons perished, among them Eliot Warburton, the accomplished +traveller and author. + +The second was the wreck of her Majesty's troop-ship _Birkenhead_ +near the Cape of Good Hope, with the loss of upwards of four hundred +lives, in circumstances when the discipline and devotion of the men +were of the noblest description. The third was the bursting of the +Bilberry Reservoir in midland England, with the sacrifice of nearly a +hundred lives and a large amount of property. + +When the season commenced, and it was this year, as last, particularly +gay, a reflection of the general prosperity of the country, with the +high hopes inspired by the Australian gold-fields, the Queen wrote to +the King of the Belgians in order to re-assure him with regard to a +fear which seems to have arisen in the elderly man's mind, that she +whom he remembered at the beginning of her reign as fond of pleasure +and untiring in her amusements, might be swept away in the tide. +"Allow me just to say one word about the London season. The London +season for us consists of two State balls and two concerts. (The State +balls and concerts are given to this day, though her Majesty, since +her widowhood, has ceased to attend them. The Queen's place and that +of Prince Albert in these social gaieties, have been naturally taken +by the Prince and Princess of Wales.) We are hardly ever later than +twelve o'clock at night, and our only dissipation is going three or +four times a week to the play or opera, which is a great amusement and +relaxation to us both. As for going out as people do here every night, +to balls and parties, and to breakfasts and teas all day long besides, +I am sure no one would stand it worse than I should; so you see, +dearest uncle, that in fact the London season is nothing to us." + +So much higher, and more solid and lasting, as they should have been, +were the pursuits and gratifications of the woman, the wife and +mother, than of the young girl. + +The Queen added that the only one who was fagged was the Prince, and +that from business and not pleasure, a result which made her often +anxious and unhappy. Indeed, this suspicion of precarious health on +Prince Albert's part was the cloud the size of a man's hand that kept +hovering on the horizon in the summer sky. + +Parliament was prorogued and dissolved at the same time at an +unusually early date, the first of July, so that the season itself +came to a speedy end. + +Before the Queen left London, she was present at the baptism and stood +sponsor for the young Hindoo Princess Gouromma, the pale, dark, +slender girl whose picture looks down on the visitor at Buckingham +Palace. She had been brought to England by her father, the Rajah of +Coorg, a high-caste Hindoo, who desired that she should be brought up +a Christian. He was one of the princes of Northern India, whose +inheritance had become a British possession. He lived at Benares under +the control of the East India Company, and had an allowance from +Government as well as a large private fortune. The little princess was +the same age as the Princess Royal, eleven years. She was the daughter +of the Rajah's favourite wife, who had died immediately after the +infant's birth. The ceremony took place in the private chapel of +Buckingham Palace. The Archbishop of Canterbury officiated. Besides +the Queen, the sponsors were Lady Hardinge, Mr. Drummond, and Sir +James Weir Hogg, the chairman of the East India Company. The little +girl received the name "Victoria." The Rajah returned soon afterwards +to India. + +The Court had longer time to enjoy the sea air and quiet of Osborne, +where, however, sorrow intruded in the shape of the news of the death +of Count Mensdorff, the uncle by marriage both of the Queen and Prince +Albert, to whom they were warmly attached. Though he had been no +prince, only a French emigrant officer in the Austrian service, when +he married the sister of the Duchess of Kent, he was held in high +esteem by his wife's family for the distinction with which he had +served as a soldier, and for his many good qualities. + +Princess Hohenlohe, with a son and daughter, came to Osborne as a +stage to Scotland and Abergeldie, where she was to visit her mother, +the Duchess of Kent, and where she could also best enjoy the Queen's +society. The poor Princess, who made a stay of several months in this +country, had need of a mother's and a sister's sympathy. A heavy +sorrow had lately befallen her. The eldest daughter of the Hohenlohe +family, Princess Elise, a girl of great promise, had died at Venice of +consumption in her twenty-first year. + +Yachting excursions were again made to Devonshire and Cornwall, to +Torquay and the often-visited beauties of Mount Edgcumbe and the banks +of the Tamar. There was a proposal of a visit to the King of the +Belgians, with the Channel Islands to be touched at on the way. One +part of the programme had to be given up, on account of the +tempestuous weather. The yacht, after waiting to allow Prince Albert +to pay a flying visit--the last--to the Duke of Wellington at +Walmer, ran up the Scheldt in one of the pauses in the storm, and the +travellers reached Antwerp at seven o'clock on the morning of the 11th +of August, "in a hurricane of wind and rain." + +But the weather is of little consequence when friends meet. King +Leopold was waiting for his welcome guests, and immediately carried +them off to his country palace, for their visit this time was to him +and not to any of the old Flemish towns. + +The Queen and Prince Albert, with their children, stayed at Laeken for +three days, returning to Antwerp in time for a visit to the cathedral +and the museum, before sailing in the same unpropitious weather for +Flushing. The intention was still to cross on the following morning to +the Channel Islands, but the wet, wild weather did not change, and the +yacht remained where it was, the Queen indemnifying herself for the +disappointment by landing and going over an old Dutch town and a +farmhouse, with which she was much pleased. + +On the 30th of August the Court went to Balmoral by Edinburgh. Soon +after her arrival the Queen had the gratifying intelligence that a +large legacy, about two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, had been +left to her and her heirs by one of her subjects--Mr. Campden Nield-- +a gentleman without near relatives, who had lived in the most +penurious way, denying himself the very necessaries of life. + +The Queen's comment on the bequest to King Leopold was like her. "It +is astonishing, but it is satisfactory to see that people have so much +confidence that it will not be thrown away, and so it certainly will +not be." Baron Stockmar held with some justice that it was "a monument +reared to the Queen during her life, in recognition of her simple, +honourable, and constitutional career." + +Her Majesty and Prince Albert went on the 16th of September for their +customary two days' stay by Loch Muich, though they had been startled +in the morning by a newspaper report of the death of the Duke of +Wellington at Walmer. But the rumour had arisen so often during these +many years that nobody believed it, now that it was true. + +The little party started in the course of the forenoon on a showery +day. Arrived at the Loch, the Queen walked up the side to Alt-na- +Dearg, a "burn" and fall, then rode up the ravine hung with birch and +mountain-ash, and walked again along the top of the steep hills to +points which command a view of Lord Panmure's country, "Mount Keen and +the Ogilvie Hills." + +A little farther on, while resting and looking down on the Glassalt +Shiel and the head of the loch, the Queen, by a curious coincidence, +missed the watch which the Duke of Wellington had given her. Her +Majesty sent back a keeper to inquire about her loss; in the meanwhile +she walked on and descended by the beautiful falls of the Glassalt, +one hundred and fifty feet in height, which she compares to those of +the Bruar. The cottage or shiel of the Glassalt had just been built +for the Queen, and offered accommodation in its dainty little dining- +room and drawing-room for her to rest and refresh herself. After she +had eaten luncheon, she set out again on a pony, passed another +waterfall, called the Burn of the Spullan, and reached the wild +solitary Dhu Loch. + +The Queen had sat down to sketch when the keeper returned to tell her +that the watch was safe at home; but that was not all. He brought a +letter from Lord Derby with a melancholy confirmation of the report of +the morning. The Duke of Wellington was dead. The Queen calls the news +"fatal," and with something of the fond exaggeration of a daughter, +writes of the dead man as "England's--rather Britannia's--pride, her +glory, her hero, the greatest man she ever had produced." + +We can understand it, when we remember how closely connected he was +with all her previous career, from her cradle till now. He had taken +pride in her, advised her, obeyed her, with half a father's, half a +servant's devotion. The King of the Belgians was hardly more her +second father than the Duke of Wellington had been. + +Besides, the Duke was not only a soldier; he had been a statesman, tried +and true as far as his vision extended; brave here no less than in the +stricken field, honest with an upright man's straightforwardness, wise +with a practical man's sense of what could and could not be done, what +must be yielded when the time came. + +The Queen might well mourn for her grey-bearded captain, her faithful +old councillor. There was one comfort, that the Duke had reached a +good old age, and died after a few hours illness, without suffering. +He simply fell asleep, and awoke no more in this world. His old +antagonist, Marshal Soult, had pre-deceased him only by a few months. + +The Queen sums up the position: "One cannot think of this country +without 'the Duke,' our immortal hero." + +Her Majesty hastened down on foot to the head of Loch Muich, and rode +back in the rain to Alt-na-Giuthasach to write to Lord Derby and Lord +Charles Wellesley, who had been with his father in his last hours. She +wrote mournfully in her journal: "We shall soon stand sadly alone. +Aberdeen is almost the only personal friend of that kind left to us. +Melbourne, Peel, Liverpool, now the Duke, all gone!...." + +Invitations were countermanded, and the Court went into mourning. The +Queen was right that the sorrow was universal. The ships in the Thames +and in all the English ports had their flags half-mast high, the +church bells were tolled, business was done "with the great exchanges +half-shuttered," garrison music was forbidden. + +The Duke had left no directions with regard to his funeral, and it was +fitting that it should receive the highest honour Sovereign and people +could pay. But the Queen refrained from issuing an order, preferring +that the country should take the initiative. It was necessary to wait +till the 11th of November, when Parliament must meet. In the meantime +the body of the Duke was placed under a Guard of Honour at Walmer. +Viscount Hardinge was appointed Commander-in-Chief. + +The Court left Balmoral on the 12th of October, about a month after +the Duke of Wellington's death, and on the 11th--a day which the Queen +calls in her journal "a very happy, lucky, and memorable one"--her +Majesty and Prince Albert, with their family, household, tenants, +servants, and poorer neighbours, ascended Craig Gowan, a hill near +Balmoral, for the purpose of building a cairn, which was to +commemorate the Queen and the Prince's having taken possession of +their home in the north. At the "Moss House," half-way up, the Queen's +piper met her, and preceded her, playing as he went. Not the least +welcome among the company already collected were the children of the +keepers and other retainers, with whom her Majesty was familiar in +their own homes. She calls them her "little friends," and enumerates +them in a motherly way, "Mary Symons, and Lizzie Stewart, the four +Grants, and several others." + +The Queen laid the first stone of the cairn, Prince Albert the next. +Their example was followed by the Princes and Princesses, according to +their ages, and by the members of the household. Finally every one +present "came forward at once, each person carrying a stone and +placing it on the cairn." The piper played, whiskey was handed round. +The work of building went on for an hour, during which "some merry +reels were danced on a flat stone opposite." All the old people +danced, apparently to her Majesty's mingled gratification and +diversion. Again the happy mother of seven fine children notices +particularly the children and their performance. "Many of the +children--Mary Symons and Lizzie Stewart especially--danced so nicely, +the latter with her hair all hanging down." + +There is another little paragraph which is very characteristic of the +love of animals, and the faithful remembrance of old landmarks, well- +known features in the Queen's character. "Poor dear old Monk, Sir +Robert Gordon's (the former owner of Balmoral) faithful old dog, was +sitting there among us all." + +When the cairn ("seven or eight feet high") was all but finished, +Prince Albert climbed to the top and deposited the last stone, when +three cheers were given. The Queen calls it "a gay, pretty, and +touching sight," that almost made her cry. "The view was so beautiful +over the dear hills; the day so fine, the whole so _gemüthlich_." +She ends reverently, "May God bless this place, and allow us to see it +and enjoy it many a long year." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +THE IRON DUKE'S FUNERAL. + +On the 11th of November the Parliament met and voted the Duke a public +funeral in the City cathedral of St. Paul's, by the side of Nelson, +the great soldier and the great sailor bearing each other company in +their resting-place, in the middle of the people whom they had saved +from foreign dominion. + +The hearse with the body had left Walmer at seven o'clock on the +morning of the 10th, minute guns being fired in succession from the +castles of Walmer, Deal, and Sandown, startling the sea-mews hovering +over the Goodwin Sands, causing the sailors in the foreign vessels in +the Downs to ask if England had gone to war. From the railway station +in London, the coffin was escorted by Life Guards to Chelsea, where it +was received by the Lord Chamberlain and conducted to the great hall +for the lying-in-state, which occupied four days. + +The fine old hospital, where so many of the Duke's soldiers had found +refuge, which Wilkie had painted for him at the moment when the +pensioners were listening to the reading of the Gazette that announced +the victory of Waterloo, was carefully prepared for the last scene but +one of a hero's life. Corridors, vestibule, and hall were hung with +black cloth and velvet, and lit with tall candles in silver +candelabra. Trophies of tattered banners, the spoils of the many +victories of him who had just yielded to the last conqueror, were +surmounted by the royal standard; Grenadiers lined hall and vestibule, +their heads bent over their reversed arms. A plumed canopy of black +velvet and silver was raised over a dais, with a carpet of cloth of +gold, on which rested the gilt and crimson coffin. At the foot of the +bier hung the mace and insignia of the late Duke's numerous orders of +knighthood; and on ten pedestals, with golden lions in front, were the +eight field-marshals' batons of eight different kingdoms, which had +been bestowed on him. On the ninth and tenth pedestals were placed the +Great Banner and the banner of Wellesley. + +The Queen and Prince Albert came privately with their children, early +on the first day, a windy, rainy Saturday in November, to view the +lying-in-state. + +On the night before the funeral the coffin was removed to the Horse +Guards, over which Wellington had so long presided, where it is said +that in the early days of his career he met Nelson. Early next morning +the coffin was conveyed to a pavilion on the parade, whence it was +lifted to the car which was to convey it to St. Paul's. + +Not later than six o'clock on the morning of the 18th, the troops in +large numbers began to muster in Hyde Park, under the direction of the +Duke of Cambridge. The streets and windows were lined with seats +covered with black cloth. Barriers were raised at the mouths of the +side streets in the line of route, to prevent the danger of any side +rush. In the dread of missing the sight, hundreds of people took up +their position the night before, and kept it during the dark hours, in +spite of wind and rain. All the richer classes were in mourning; +indeed, whoever could bring out a scrap of black did so. There was a +peculiar hush and touch of solemnity, which had its effect on the +roughest in the million and a half of spectators. + +At a quarter before eight, nineteen minute guns were fired in the +park, the walls of the pavilion were suddenly drawn up, revealing the +funeral car and its sacred burden. Instantly the troops presented arms +for the last time to their late commander, and the drums beat "a long +and heavy roll, increasing like the roll of thunder." The words "to +reverse arms" were then given, and the funeral procession began to +move. First came battalion after battalion of infantry, commencing +with the rifles, the bands playing "The Dead March in Saul," the +trumpets of the cavalry taking up "the wailing notes." "As the dark +mass of the rifles appeared, and the solemn dead march was heard, the +people were deeply affected, very many of both sexes to tears.... +Great interest was felt as the Duke's regiment, the 33rd, passed." +Squadrons of cavalry were succeeded by seventeen guns; the Chelsea +Pensioners, old men, like him whose remains they followed, to the +number of eighty three--his years on earth; one soldier from every +regiment in her Majesty's service, to say that none had been left out, +when their leader was borne to his grave; standards and pennons; +deputations from public bodies--Merchant Taylors' Company, East India +Company, and the deputation from the Common Council of London, joining +the procession at Temple Bar; more standards, high officials, +Sheriffs, and Knights of the Bath; the Judges, members of the +Ministry, and Houses of Parliament; the Archbishop of Canterbury; the +Lord Mayor of London carrying the City Sword; His Royal Highness +Prince Albert, attended by the Marquesses of Exeter and Abercorn-- +Lord Chamberlain and Groom of the Stole; the Great Banner, borne by an +officer, and supported by two officers on horseback; the Field- +marshals' batons--each carried by a foreign officer of high rank-- +which every country in Europe, except France and Austria, had +entrusted to the care of the Great Duke. To the imposing scene to-day +France, like an honorable enemy, sent a representative; but Austria, +still smarting under the affront to Haynau, was conspicuous by +absence. The English Field-marshal's baton was borne on its cushion by +the Duke's old comrade in arms, the Marquis of Anglesey. The Duke's +coronet followed. Then the pall-bearers--eight generals in mourning +coaches. At length the huge funeral car, heavily wrought and +emblazoned and inscribed with the names of the Duke's battles, drawn +by twelve horses, with five officers on horseback, bearing the +banneroles of the lineage of the deceased, riding on either side. On +the car was placed the coffin, and on the coffin rested the hat and +sword of the dead commander.... Every emotion, save that of solemn +awe, was hushed. The massive structure moved on its course with a +steady pressure, and produced a heavy dull sound, as it ground its +path over the road.... But the car, apart from its vast size, passed +unnoticed, for on its highest stage rested a red velvet coffin, which +contained all that was mortal of England's greatest son. It seemed +that a thousand memories of his great and long career were awakened at +the sight of that narrow tenement of so great a man.... The voice +which had cried "Up, Guards, and at them!" at the critical moment on +the afternoon of that rainy Sunday at Waterloo, thirty-seven years +before, was silent for ever. The sagacious and skilled brain which had +planned so well the defence of London from the threatened outbreak of +the Chartists, would plan no more for Queen and country. No longer +would the shouting crowd press round him on every gala, and strangers +watch patiently near the Horse Guards for one of the sights of London-- +the eagle face of the conqueror of him who conquered Europe. + + "No more in soldier fashion would he greet, + With lifted hand, the gazer in the street." + +Wellington was making his way from the Horse Guards for the last time, +attended by such a mighty multitude as seldom waits on the steps of +Kings, hardly ever with such mute reverence as they gave him that day. +The "good grey head" of "the last Great Englishman" was about to be +laid in the dust, and his best epitaph was Tennyson's line-- + + "One that sought but duty's iron crown." + +Behind the car came the chief mourner, accompanied by his younger +brother, with cousins and relatives to the last degree of kindred, and +friends filling a long train of mourning coaches. Then followed what +moved the people more than all the splendour, because it came like a +touch of homely nature appealing to all, in a familiar part of the +life that was gone, the late Duke's horse, led by John Mears, his aged +groom. The horse might have been "Copenhagen," which had borne the +Duke in the thick of his greatest battle, and died long since at +Strathfieldsaye, so eagerly did the crowds gaze on it. More carriages +and troops closed the march. + +And she was not absent who had held the dead man in such high esteem, +whom he had so loved and honoured. From two different points--as if +she were reluctant to see the last of her old friend--from the balcony +of Buckingham Palace, where the Royal Standard floated half-mast high, +as the funeral passed up Constitution Hill, and again from the windows +of St. James's Palace, as the melancholy train went down St. James's +Street, the Queen, surrounded by her children and her young cousins +from Belgium, looked down on the solemn pageant. + +Nearly twenty thousand privileged persons--many of them of high rank, +filled St. Paul's, black-draped and gas-lit on the dark November day. +After the funeral company were seated, the body, which had been +received at the west entrance by the Bishop of London and the other +clergy of the Cathedral, was carried up the nave to the chanting of "I +am the Resurrection and the Life." The spurs were borne by one herald, +the helmet and crest by another, the sword and target by a third, the +surcoat by a fourth, the foreign batons by their foreign bearers, the +English baton by Lord Anglesey. + +Among the psalms and anthems, a dirge accompanied by trumpets was +sung, "And the King said to all the people that were with him, rend +your clothes and gird you with sackcloth and mourn. And the King +himself followed the bier. And they buried him; and the King lifted up +his voice and wept at the grave, and all the people wept. And the King +said unto his servants, Know ye not that there is a prince and a great +man fallen this day in Israel." + +An affecting incident occurred, when, at the conclusion of this dirge, +the body was lowered into the crypt to the "intensely mournful" sound +of "The Dead March in Saul." As the coffin with the coronet and baton +slowly descended, and thus the great warrior departed from the sight +of men, a sense of heavy depression came on the whole assembly. Prince +Albert was deeply moved, and the aged Marquess of Anglesey, the +octogenarian companion in arms of the deceased, by an irresistible +impulse stepped forward, placed his hand on the sinking coffin that +contained the remains of his chief in many battles, and burst into +tears. + + "In the vast Cathedral leave him; + God accept him, Christ receive him." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON III. AND THE EMPRESS EUGÉNIE--FIRE AT WINDSOR-- +THE BIRTH OF PRINCE LEOPOLD. + +At the close of 1852 Mr. Disraeli announced his Budget in one famous +speech, to which Mr. Gladstone replied in another, the first of those +memorable speeches--at once a fine oration and a convincing argument-- +so often heard since then. The Derby Ministry, already tottering to +its fall on the ground of its opposition to Free-trade principles, was +defeated, and the same night Lord Derby resigned office, and Lord +Aberdeen, who was able to unite the Whigs and the followers of the +late Sir Robert Peel, took his place. + +On the 2nd of December, the anniversary of the _coup d'état_, the +Empire was declared in France, and Louis Napoleon entered Paris as +Emperor on the following day. + +On the 22nd of January, 1853, the Emperor of the French made public +his approaching marriage to the beautiful Eugénie de Montigo, Comtesse +de Théba. + +A serious fire broke out at Windsor Castle on the night of the 19th of +March, the very day that the Court had come down for Easter. It was +the result of an accident from the over-heating of a flue, which might +have been doubly disastrous. + +The scene of the fire was the upper stories of the Prince of Wales's +Tower, above the Gothic dining-room, which is in the same suite with +the Crimson, Green, and White drawing-rooms, in the last of which the +Queen and Prince Albert were sitting, at ten o'clock in the evening, +when the smell of smoke and burning aroused an alarm. + +Besides the suite of drawing-rooms, with their costly furniture, the +plate-rooms were beneath the Gothic dining-room; and on the other +side--beyond a room known as the Octagon-room--was the Jewelled +Armoury. The fire had taken such hold that the utmost exertions were +needed to keep it under, and prevent it from spreading, and it +remained for hours doubtful whether the rest of the Castle would +escape. Prince Albert, the gentlemen of the household, and the +servants, with seven hundred Guards brought from the barracks and +stationed in the avenues to prevent further disorder, strove to +supplement the work of the fire-engines. The Gothic dining-room was +stripped of its furniture, including the gold vase or bath for wine, +valued at ten thousand pounds. The Crimson drawing-room and the +Octagon-room were dismantled. The plate-rooms were considered +fireproof, but the Jewelled Armoury was emptied of its treasures, +among them the famous peacock of Tippoo Sahib. + +More than five hours passed before the danger was over. The Queen, in +writing to reassure the King of the Belgians, said, "Though I was not +alarmed, it was a serious affair, and an acquaintance with what a fire +is, and with its necessary accompaniments, does not pass from one's +mind without leaving a deep impression. For some time it was very +obstinate, and no one could tell whether it would spread or not. Thank +God, no lives were lost." + +Less than three weeks after the fire, the Queen's fourth son, and +eighth child, was born at Buckingham Palace on the 7th of April. +Within a fortnight her Majesty was sufficiently recovered to write to +the King of the Belgians, and here the wound which had been felt so +keenly bled afresh. "My first letter is this time, as last time, +addressed to you. Last time it was because dearest Louise--to whom the +first announcement had heretofore always been addressed, was with me, +alas! Now," she goes on to remind him affectionately, "Stockmar will +have told you that Leopold is to be the name of our fourth young +gentleman. It is a mark of love and affection which I hope you will +not disapprove. It is a name which is the dearest to me after Albert, +one which recalls the almost only happy days of my sad childhood. To +hear "Prince Leopold" [Footnote: When Prince Leopold's title was +merged into that of Duke of Albany, our readers may remember that some +reluctance was expressed at the change, and that there was an attempt +to preserve the earlier name, by arranging that his Royal Highness +should be styled "Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany."] again will make me +think of all those days. His other names will be George, Duncan, +Albert, and the sponsors will be the King of Hanover, Ernest Hohenlohe +(the Queen's brother-in-law), the Princess of Prussia, and Mary of +Cambridge. George is after the King of Hanover, and Duncan is a +compliment to dear Scotland." + +In the Royal Academy this year one of the pre-Raphaelites, who had +been at first treated with vehement opposition and ridicule, came so +unmistakably to the front as to stagger his former critics, and render +his future success certain. Even the previous year Millais's +"Huguenot" had made a deep impression, and his "Order of Release" this +year carried everything before it. In the same Academy exhibition were +Sir Edwin Landseer's highly poetic "Night" and "Morning." + +On the Court's return from Osborne to London, the Queen and Prince +Albert were present with their guests, the King and Queen of Hanover, +and the Duke and Duchess of Coburg, on the 21st of June, in the camp +at Chobham, when a sham-fight and a series of military manoeuvres over +broken ground were carried out with great spirit and exactness, to the +admiration of a hundred thousand spectators. Her Majesty, as in the +early years of her reign, wore a half-military riding-habit, and was +mounted on a splendid black horse, on which she rode down the lines +before witnessing the mock battle from an adjoining height. + +Four days afterwards Prince Albert returned to the camp to serve for a +couple of days with his brigade, the Guards. The Prince experienced +something of the hardships of bivouacing in stormy weather, and +suffered in consequence. He came back labouring under a bad cold, to +be present at the baptism of his infant son on the 28th. All the +sponsors were there in person. The Lord Chamberlain conducted the +baby-prince to the font; the Archbishop of Canterbury performed the +sacred rite. The usual State banquet and evening party followed. But +illness, not very deadly, yet sufficiently prostrating, was hovering +over the royal pair and their guests. The Prince of Wales was already +sick of measles. Prince Albert, pre-disposed by the cold he had +caught, got the infection from his son, had a sharp attack of the same +disease, and we are told "at the climax of the illness showed great +nervous excitement," symptomatic of a susceptible, highly-strung, +rather fragile temperament. + +Though the country was unaware of the extent of the Prince's illness, +we can remember the public speculation it excited, and the +contradictory assertions that the Queen would claim her wife's +prerogative of watching by her husband's sick-bed, and that she would +be forbidden to do so, for State reasons, her health or sickness, not +to say the danger to her life, being of the utmost importance to the +body politic. It is easy to see that if such a question had arisen, it +would have been peculiarly trying to one who had been brought up to +regard her duty to the country as a primary obligation, while at the +same time every act of her life showed how precious and binding were +her conjugal relations. But the matter settled itself. After the +Princess Royal and Princess Alice had also been attacked by the +epidemic, the Queen was seized with it, happily in the mildest form, +which was of short duration. But the mischief did not confine itself +to the English royal family. The juvenile malady of measles became for +a time the scourge of princes, a little to the diversion of the world, +since no great harm was anticipated, or came to pass, while the +ailment invaded a succession of Courts. The guests at Prince Leopold's +baptism carried the seeds of the disease to Hanover, in the person of +the little Hanoverian cousin, King George's son, who had been a +visitor in the English royal nurseries; to Brussels, in the case of +the Duke and Duchess of Coburg, who unconsciously handed on the +unwelcome gift to King Leopold's sons, the Due de Brabant and the +Comte de Flandres, the former on the eve of his marriage, before the +illness was taken across Germany to Coburg. + +By the 6th of August, the birthday of Prince Alfred, the Queen and the +Prince were sufficiently recovered to pay a second visit with their +children to Chobham, when a fresh series of manoeuvres were performed +prior to the breaking up of the camp. + +A great cluster of royal visitors had arrived in England, making the +season brilliant. It was, perhaps, significant that these visitors +included three Russian archduchesses, in spite of the fact that a war +with Russia was in the air, being only held back by the strenuous +efforts of statesmen, against the wishes of the people. Other visitors +were the Crown Prince and Princess of Wurtemberg, near akin to Russia, +and the Prince of Prussia--the later came from Ostend, on an +invitation to witness a sight well calculated to recommend itself to +his martial proclivities--a review, on the grandest scale, of the +fleet at Spithead, on the 11th of August. The weather was fine, and +the spectacle, perfect of its kind, was seen by all the royal company, +by what was in effect "the House of Commons with the Speaker at its +head," and by multitudes in more than a hundred steamers, besides, the +crowds viewing the scene from the shores of the Isle of Wight and +Hampshire. On the 21st of August, a French sailor whose name has +become a household word in England, died far away amidst the horrors +of the north seas, in a gallant effort to rescue Sir John Franklin and +his crew. Among the brave men who sailed on this perilous quest, none +earned greater honour and love than young Bellot. + +On the 22nd of August, a marriage of some interest to the Queen was +celebrated at Brussels. King Leopold's eldest son, the Due de Brabant, +was married in St. Gudule's to the Archduchess Marie Henriette of +Austria. The bridegroom was only eighteen years of age, the bride as +young; but it was considered desirable that the heir-apparent should +marry, and Queen Louise's place had remained vacant while her +daughter, Princess Charlotte, was still unfit to preside over the +Court in her mother's room. + +On the 29th of August, Sir Charles Napier, the dauntless, eccentric +conqueror of Scinde, follows his old commander to the grave. Though +more than ten year's younger, Sir Charles's last public appearance was +at the Duke's funeral. He was the grandson of Lord Napier, and the +son of the beautiful Lady Sarah Lennox. + +A great art and industrial exhibition at Dublin--the first of the +numerous progeny of the Great Exhibition of two years before--was held +this year. Naturally, the Queen and the Prince were much interested in +its fortunes, and had promised to be present at the opening, but were +prevented by the outbreak of measles in June. It was possible, +however, to visit the Irish Exhibition before its close, and this her +Majesty and Prince Albert did on their way to Balmoral. Proceeding by +train to Holyhead, where they were detained a day and a night by a +violent storm, the travellers sailed on the 29th of August for +Kingstown, which was reached next morning. On landing they were +received by the Lord-Lieutenant, Lord St. Germains and Lady St. +Germains, the Archbishop of Dublin, the Duke of Leinster, &c., &c., +together with an immense number of people, lining the dock walls and +hailing her Majesty's arrival with vociferous cheers, as on her last +visit to Ireland. Enthusiasm, equal to what had been shown before, was +displayed on the railway route and the drive through the thronged +streets to the Viceregal Lodge. Not long after her arrival, the Queen, +as energetic as ever, was seen walking in the Phoenix Park, and in the +evening she took a drive in the outskirts of the city. At night Dublin +was illuminated. The next day the Queen and the Prince, with their two +elder sons, paid a State visit to the exhibition, full to overflowing +with eager gazers. The royal party were conducted to a dais, where the +Queen, seated on the throne prepared for her, received the address of +the commissioners thanking her for the support she had lent to the +undertaking by her presence, and by her contributions to the articles +exhibited. + +The Queen replied, expressing her satisfaction that the worthy +enterprise had been carried out in a spirit of energy and self- +reliance, "with no pecuniary aid but that derived from the patriotic +munificence of one of her subjects." That subject, Mr. Dargan, who had +erected the exhibition building at his own expense, was present, and +kissed hands amidst the cheers of the assembly. The Queen and the +Prince afterwards made the circuit of the whole place, specially +commending the Irish manufactures of lace, poplin, and pottery. + +In, the afternoon her Majesty and Prince Albert, to the high +gratification of the citizens of Dublin, drove out through pouring +rain to Mount Annville, the house of Mr. Dargan, saw its beautiful +grounds, and conversed with the host and hostess. His manner struck +the Queen as "touchingly modest and simple," and she wrote in her +journal, "I would have made him a baronet, but he was anxious it +should not be done." + +Every morning during their week's stay the royal pair returned +unweariedly to the exhibition, and by their interest in its +productions, stimulated the interest of others. The old engagements--a +review, visits to the castle, and the national schools--occupied what +time was left. + +On Saturday, the 3rd of September, a beautiful day succeeding +miserable weather, the Queen drove slowly through the Dublin streets, +"unlined with soldiers," feeling quite sorry that it was the last day +after what she called "such a pleasant, gay, and interesting tune in +Ireland." Loyal multitudes waited at the station and at Kingstown, +cheering the travellers. Lord and. Lady St. Germains went on board the +yacht, and dined with hen Majesty and Prince Albert. + +On the following morning, the _Victoria and Albert_ crossed to +Holyhead. + +A glad event at Balmoral that year was the laying of the foundation- +stone of the new house. The rite was done with all the usual +ceremonies, Mr. Anderson, then the minister of Crathie, praying for a +blessing on the work. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +THE EASTERN QUESTION--APPROACHING WAR--GROSS INJUSTICE TO PRINCE +ALBERT--DEATH OF MARIA DA GLORIA. + +The return of the Court to England was hastened by what had disturbed +the peace of the stay in the North. The beginning of a great war was +imminent. The Eastern Question, long a source of trouble, was becoming +utterly unmanageable. Russia and Turkey were about to take up arms. +Indeed, Russia had already crossed the Danube and occupied the +Principalities. + +Turkey, in a fever-heat, declared war against Russia, crossed the +Danube, and fought with desperate valour and some success at Oltenitza +and Kalafat; but matters were brought to a crisis by the nearly utter +destruction of the Turkish fleet at Sinope, one of the Turkish ports +on the shores of the Black Sea. The French and English Governments +uttered a practical protest by informing the Czar, that if his fleet +in the south made any further movement against the Turks, the English +and French fleets already in the Dardanelles would immediately enter +the Black Sea and take active steps in defence of their ally. + +In the meantime there had been some commotion in the English Cabinet. +Lord Palmerston suddenly resigned, and as quickly resumed office. The +ostensible cause of difference between him and his colleagues was the +new Reform Bill; but the real motive is believed to have been the +Government's tactics with regard to the threatened war. These changed +all at once, the change coinciding with the return of Lord Palmerston +to office, and suiting the fighting mood of the people. He was once +more the favourite of the hour, and in the popular pride and +confidence in him, a great injustice was done to another. Startled and +angered by Lord Palmerston's withdrawal from the Government, the old +clamour about Court prejudice and intrigue, and German objections to +Liberal statesmen, broke out afresh, and raged more hotly than ever. +Prince Albert was openly mentioned as the hostile influence "behind +the throne," and in the Cabinet of which he was a member, against the +man who was prepared to assert the dignity of England in spite of all +opposition; the man who had uniformly sided with the weak, and spoken +the truth of tyrants, let them be in ever so high places; the man at +the same time who had approved of the _coup d'état_. The most +unfounded charges of unfaithfulness to English interests, and personal +interference for the purpose of gaining his own ends, and working into +the hands of foreign Governments, were brought against the Queen's +husband. His birth as a German, and his connection with the King of +the Belgians and the Orleans family, were loudly dwelt upon. It was +treated as an offence on his part that he should attend the Cabinet +counsels of which he was a member, and be in the confidence of the +Queen, who was his loving wife. He was attacked alike by Liberals and +Protectionists; assailed, with hardly an assumption of disguise, both +in public and private, and in many of the principal newspapers. The +man who little more than two years before, at the time of the Great +Exhibition, had been hailed as a general benefactor, and praised as +the worthiest of patriots, was now almost the best-abused man in +England, pursued with false accusations and reproaches equally false. + +"One word more about the credulity of the public," wrote Prince Albert +to Baron Stockmar; "you will scarcely credit that my being committed +to the Tower was believed all over the country; nay, even 'that the +Queen had been arrested!' People surrounded the Tower in thousands to +see us brought to it." + +All this ingratitude and stupidity must have been galling to its +object, in spite of his forbearance, and, if possible, still more +exquisitely painful to the Queen, who had felt a natural and just +pride, not merely in her husband's fine qualities, but in her people's +appreciation of them. The Prince wrote in the same letter, "Victoria +has taken the whole affair greatly to heart, and was exceedingly +indignant at the attacks." And the Queen wrote with proud tender pain +to Lord Aberdeen, "In attacking the Prince, who is one and the same +with the Queen herself, the throne is assailed; and she must say she +little expected that any portion of her subjects would thus requite +the unceasing labours of the Prince." + +This unscrupulous accusation was grave enough to demand a refutation +in Parliament, which Lord Aberdeen and Lord John Russell were ready to +give as soon as the House should meet. + +During this trying winter, the Queen heard of the melancholy death of +her sister queen and girlish acquaintance, who had become a kinswoman +by marriage--Maria da Gloria. The two queens were the same in age-- +thirty-four--and each had become the mother of eight children, but +there the similarity ceased. At the birth of her last child--dead +born--the Queen of Portugal ended a life neither long nor happy, +though she had been fortunate in her second husband. Queen Maria da +Gloria lacked Queen Victoria's reasonableness and fairness. The Queen +of Portugal started on a wrong course, and continued with it, +notwithstanding the better judgment of her husband. She supported the +Cabrals--the members of a noble Portuguese family, who held high +offices under her government--in ruling unconstitutionally and +corruptly. She consented to her people's being deprived of the liberty +of the press, and burdened with taxes, till, though her private life +was irreproachable, she forfeited their regard. In 1846 civil war +broke out, and the Cabrals were compelled to resign; the Count of +Soldanha and his party took the place of the former ministers. But the +insurrection spread until it was feared the Queen and her husband +would be driven out of the country. Suddenly the tide turned; the +better portion of the army declared for the Queen, her cause was +upheld by the English Government, and peace and the royal authority +were restored. But in spite of a pledge that the Cabrals should be +excluded from the Government, the elder brother again became Premier, +with the old abuse of power. A second revolution was accomplished by +Soldanha, to whose control Maria da Gloria had to yield, much against +the grain. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Don Pedro, still a +minor, with the King-Consort his father for regent, an arrangement +which proved satisfactory to the distracted kingdom. + +A different event was the premature death of perhaps the most +beautiful, and the most fortunate, in the eyes of the world, of the +Queen's fair bridesmaids. Lady Sarah Villiers, who had become a +princess by her marriage with the son of one of the richest, most +aristocratic subjects in Europe, Prince Nicholas Esterhazy--of diamond +notoriety, died at Torquay in her thirty-second year. + +When Parliament met in January, 1854, the Prince was triumphantly +vindicated by the leaders on both sides, but it was not till his death +that his character was done full justice to. In the meantime the cloud +had broken, and the royal couple rejoiced unaffectedly. The Queen +wrote to Baron Stockmar that there was "an immense concourse" of +people assembled, and they were very friendly when she went to the +House of Lords. The anniversary of the marriage was hailed with fresh +gratitude and gladness, and with words written to Germany that fall +pathetically on our ears to-day. "This blessed day is full of joyful, +tender emotions," are her Majesty's words. "Fourteen happy and blessed +years have passed, and I confidently trust many more will, and find us +in old age as we are now, happy and devotedly united. Trials we must +have; but what are they if we are together?" + +It was on this occasion that there was a family masque, of which +Baroness Bunsen, who was present, has given a full description. She +tells how, between five and six o'clock in the evening, the company +followed the Queen and the Prince to a room where a red curtain was +let down. They all sat in darkness till the curtain was drawn aside, +"and the Princess Alice, who had been dressed to represent 'spring,' +recited some verses taken from Thomson's "Seasons," enumerating the +flowers which the spring scatters around, and she did it very well, +spoke in a distinct and pleasing manner, with excellent modulation, +and a tone of voice like that of the Queen. Then the curtain was drawn +up, and the whole scene changed, and the Princess Royal represented +'summer,' with Prince Arthur lying upon some sheaves, as if tired with +the heat of the harvest work; the Princess Royal also recited verses. +Then again there was a change, and Prince Alfred, with a crown of +vine-leaves and a panther's skin, represented 'autumn,' and recited +also verses and looked very well. Then there was a change to a winter +landscape, and the Prince of Wales represented 'winter,' with a white +beard and a cloak with icicles or snow-flakes (or what looked like +such), and the Princess Louise, warmly clothed, who seemed watching +the fire; and the Prince also recited well a passage altered from +Thomson.... Then another change was made, and all the seasons were +grouped together, and far behind, on high, appeared the Princess +Helena, with a long veil hanging on each side down to her feet, and a +long cross in her hand, pronouncing a blessing on the Queen and Prince +in the name of all the seasons. These verses were composed for the +occasion. I understood them to say that St. Helena, remembering her +own British extraction, came to utter a blessing on the rulers of her +country; and I think it must have been so intended, because Helena the +mother of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, was said to have +discovered the remains of the cross on which our Saviour was +crucified, and so when she is painted she always has a cross in her +hand. But grandpapa understood that it was meant for Britannia +blessing the royal pair. At any rate, the Princess Helena looked very +charming. This was the close; but when the Queen ordered the curtain +to be drawn back, we saw the whole royal family, and they were helped +to jump down from their raised platforms; and then all came into the +light and we saw them well; and the baby, Prince Leopold, was brought +in by his nurse, and looked at us all with big eyes, and wanted to go +to his papa, Prince Albert. At the dinner-table the Princesses Helena +and Louise and Prince Arthur were allowed to come in and stand by +their mamma, the Queen, as it a was festival day.... In the evening +there was very fine music in St. George's Hall, and the Princess Royal +and Princess Alice, and the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred, were +allowed to stop up and hear it, sitting to the right and left of the +chairs where sat the Queen and Prince Albert and the Duchess of Kent." +Some of the graceful figures in the pretty masque were given, with +modifications, by the sculptor's art. Four are reproduced in the +engravings in this book, that of the Princess Royal at page 146, that +of Princess Alice at page 190, that of the Prince of Wales at page +153, and that of Prince Alfred at page 224, Volume First. + +On the 7th of February Baron Brunnow, who had been Russian ambassador +in England for fifteen years, quitted London. Notes were dispatched on +the 27th from London and Paris to St. Petersburg, calling on Russia to +evacuate the Principalities, a summons to which the Czar declined to +reply. War was declared in a supplemental gazette, and on the 31st of +March the declaration was read, according to ancient usage, from the +steps of the Royal Exchange by the Sergeant-at-Arms of the City of +London, to a great crowd that wound up the ceremony by giving three +cheers for the Queen. Part of the troops had already embarked, their +marching and embarkation being witnessed by multitudes with the utmost +interest and enthusiasm. The chief sight was the departure of the +Guards, the Grenadiers leaving by gaslight on the winter morning, the +Fusiliers marching to Buckingham Palace, where at seven o'clock the +Queen and the Prince, with their children, were ready to say good-bye. +"They formed line, presented arms, and then cheered us very heartily, +and went off cheering," the Queen wrote to the King of the +Belgians.... "Many sorrowing friends were there, and one saw the shake +of many a hand. My best wishes and prayers went with them all." It was +a famous scene, which is remembered to this day. Another episode was +that of the Duchess of Cambridge and her daughter, the Princess Mary, +taking leave of the brigade with which the Duke of Cambridge, the only +son and brother, left. + +Her Majesty and the Prince started for Osborne in the course of the +next fortnight, to visit the superb fleet which was to sail from +Spithead under Sir Charles Napier. "It will be a solemn moment," the +Queen wrote again to Lord Aberdeen; "many a heart will be very heavy, +and many a prayer, including our own, will be offered up for its +safety and glory." In spite of the bad weather, which marred the +arrangements, the Queen sailed from Portsmouth in the _Fairy_, +and passing the _Victory_, with its heroic associations, went +through the squadron of twenty great vessels, amidst the booming of +the guns, the manning of the yards, and the cheers of the sailors. The +following day the little _Fairy_, with its royal occupants, +played a yet more striking part. At the head of the outward-bound +squadron, it sailed with the ships for several miles, then stopped for +the fleet to pass by, the Queen standing waving her handkerchief to +the flag-ship. Her Majesty was, as she said, "very enthusiastic" about +her army and navy, and wished she had sons in both of them, though she +foresaw how she would suffer when she heard of the losses of her brave +men. If she had not sons in either service, her cousin, the Duke of +Cambridge, was with the Guards for a time, and her young nephews, +Prince Victor of Hohenlohe and Prince Ernest Leiningen, were with +their ships. The Queen paid the same compliment of giving a farewell +greeting to the second division of the fleet. + +When the address to the Throne in reply to the Queen's message +announcing the declaration of war was presented, her Majesty and the +Prince were accompanied to the House for the first time by the Prince +of Wales, a boy of thirteen. + +In the middle of the worry, the season was gay as if no life-blood was +drained in strong currents from the country; and Varna, with its +cholera swamps, where the troops had encamped on Turkish soil, was not +present to all men's minds. The Queen set an example in keeping up the +social circulation without which there would be a disastrous collapse +of more than one department of trade. On May-day, Prince Arthur's +birthday, there was a children's ball, attended by two hundred small +guests, at Buckingham Palace. Sir Theodore Martin quotes her Majesty's +merry note, inviting the Premier to come and see "a number of happy +little people, including some of his grandchildren, enjoying +themselves." Among the grandchildren of Lord Aberdeen were the young +sons of Lord Haddo--sinking under a long wasting illness--George, +sixth Earl of Aberdeen, who, when he came to man's estate, served as +an ordinary seaman in a merchant ship, where his rank was unsuspected, +and who perished by being washed overboard on a stormy night; and the +Honourable James Gordon, who died from the bursting of his gun when he +was keeping his terms at Cambridge. + +The Queen honoured Count Walewski, the French ambassador, by her +presence at one of the most brilliant of costume balls. A great Court +ball was followed by a great Court concert, at which Lablache sang +again in England after an interval of many years. Among the visitors +to London in June were poor Maria da Gloria's sons, Coburgs on the +father's side, young King Pedro of Portugal, and his brother, the Duke +of Oporto, fine lads who were much liked wherever they went. + +The Queen and the Prince spent her Majesty's birthday at Osborne, and +commemorated it to their children by putting them in possession of the +greatest treasure of their happy childhood--the Swiss cottage in the +grounds, about a mile from the Castle, in which youthful princes and +princesses played at being men and women, practised the humbler duties +of life, and kept natural history collections and geological +specimens, as their father and uncle had kept theirs in the museum at +Coburg. Another great resource consisted of the plots of ground--among +which the Princess Royal's was a fair-sized garden, ultimately nine in +number, where the amateur gardeners studied gardening in the most +practical manner, and had their tiny tool-house, with the small spades +and rakes properly grouped and duly lettered, "Prince Alfred" or +"Princess Louise," as the case might be. A third idea, borrowed like +the first from Coburg, was the miniature fort, with its mimic +defences, every brick of which was made and built, and the very +cannon-balls founded, by the two sons destined to be soldiers--the +Prince of Wales and Prince Arthur. + +Before the end of the season cholera broke out in London. Among its +victims was Lord Jocelyn, eldest son of Lord Roden, and husband of +Lady Fanny Cowper. He had been on guard at the palace, and died after +an illness of not more than two hours' duration in the drawing-room of +his mother-in-law, Lady Palmerston. + +The Queen came up to town to prorogue Parliament in person. Afterwards +her Majesty and the Prince spent his birthday at Osborne, when one of +the amusements, no doubt with a view to the entertainment of the +children as well as of the grown-up people, was Albert Smith's "Ascent +of Mont Blanc," which was then one of the comic sights of London. + +Early in September Prince Albert, in compliment to the alliance +between England and France, went, by the Emperor's invitation, to +visit the French camp at St. Omer, and was absent four or five days. +The Prince's letters were as constant and lover-like as ever. + +On the 15th of September the Court arrived at Balmoral, and the same +day the Queen received the news of the sailing of the English and +French soldiers for the Crimea. An anxious but brief period of +suspense followed. Six days later came the tidings of the successful +landing, without opposition, in the neighbourhood of Eupatoria. + +Lord Aberdeen came on a visit to Balmoral, and had just left when the +glad tidings arrived of the victory of the Alma, followed immediately +by a false report of the fall of Sebastopol. + +During this year's stay in the north, her Majesty met for the first +time a remarkable Scotchman whom she afterwards honoured with her +friendship. Both the Queen and Dr. Macleod describe the first sermon +he preached before her, on Christian life. He adds, "In the evening, +after _daundering_ in a green field with a path through it which +led to the high-road, and while sitting on a block of granite, full of +quiet thoughts, mentally reposing in the midst of the beautiful +scenery, I was roused from my reverie by some one asking me if I was +the clergyman who had preached that day. I was soon in the presence of +the Queen and Prince, when her Majesty came forward and said with a +sweet, kind, and smiling face, 'We wish to thank you for your sermon.' +She then asked me how my father was, what was the name of my parish, +&c.; and so, after bowing and smiling, they both continued their quiet +evening walk alone." [Footnote: Life of Dr. Norman Macleod.] + +The Court returned from Balmoral by Edinburgh. At Hull, and again at +Grimsby, the Queen and the Prince inspected the docks, of which he had +laid the foundation stones. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN--FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE--THE DEATH OF THE +EMPEROR NICHOLAS. + +In the beginning of November England heard with mingled triumph and +pain of the repulsed attack on the English at Balaclava on the 25th of +October, and of the charge of the Light Brigade. + +The number of the English soldiers in the field fell lower and lower. +The Queen wrote to King Leopold, "We have but one thought, and so has +the nation, and that is--Sebastopol. Such a time of suspense, anxiety, +and excitement, I never expected to see, much less to feel." + +On the 13th of November telegrams arrived with the news of the battle +of Inkermann, fought against terrible odds on the 5th. + +The Queen wrote herself to Lord Raglan to tell of her "pride and joy" +at receiving the intelligence of "the glorious, but alas! bloody +victory of the 5th." She conferred upon him the baton of a Field- +Marshal. Her Majesty also addressed a kind and sympathising letter to +the widow of Sir George Cathcart. + +The Queen wrote with high indignation to the King of the Belgians +after the battle of Inkermann: "They (the enemy) behaved with the +greatest barbarity; many of our poor officers who were only slightly +wounded were brutally butchered on the ground. Several lived long +enough to say this. When poor Sir G. Cathcart fell mortally wounded, +his faithful and devoted military secretary (Colonel Charles Seymour) +... sprang from his horse, and with one arm--he was wounded in the +other--supported his dying chief, when three wretches came and +bayoneted him. This is monstrous, and requisitions have been sent by +the two commanders-in-chief to Menschikoff to remonstrate...." + +The winter of 1854-55 was a sorrowful and care-laden time. Little or +no progress was made in the war, while in the meanwhile the sufferings +of the soldiers from a defective commissariat, a rigorous climate, and +the recurring ravages of cholera, were frightful. The very winds and +waves seemed to fight against the allies and to side with "Holy +Russia." Never had the Black Sea been visited by such storms and +wrecks. + +From the palace to the cottage, women's fingers worked eagerly and +unweariedly knitting comforters and muffatees to protect the throats +and wrists of the shivering men. We have heard that the greatest lady +in the land deigned thus to serve her soldiers. We have been told of +a cravat worked in crochet by a queen's fingers which fell to the +share of a gallant young officer in the trenches--the same brave lad +who had carried, unscathed, the colours of his regiment to the heights +of the Alma. + +The hospitals were in as disorganised a state as the commissariat, and +Mr. Sydney Herbert, well-nigh in despair, had the bright inspiration +of sending to the seat of war Florence Nightingale, the daughter and +co-heiress of a Derbyshire squire, with a staff of nurses. + +Such reformation of abuses was wrought by a capable devoted woman, +such order brought out of disorder, such comfort and consolation +carried to wounded and dying men, that the experiment became a +triumphant success. Many were the stories told of the soldiers' +boundless reverence for the woman who had left country and friends and +all the good things that wealth and rank can command to relieve her +fellow-creatures; how one of them was seen to kiss her shadow on the +wall of his ward as she passed; how the convalescents engaged in +strange and wonderful manufactures of gifts to offer to her. + +A second large instalment of nurses was sent out after the first, the +latter led by Mary Stanley, daughter of the Bishop of Norwich, and +sister of the Dean of Westminster, who had already been a sister to +the poor in her father's diocese. + +The Queen wrote again to Lord Raglan, "The sad privations of the army, +the bad weather, and the constant sickness, are causes of the deepest +concern and anxiety to the Queen and the Prince. The braver her noble +troops are, the more patiently and heroically they bear all their +trials and sufferings, the more miserable we feel at their long +continuance. The Queen trusts that Lord Raglan will be _very +strict_ in seeing that no unnecessary privations are incurred by +any negligence of those whose duty it is to watch over their wants. + +"The Queen heard that their coffee was given them green instead of +roasted, and some other things of this kind, which have distressed +her, as she feels so anxious that they should be as comfortable as +circumstances can admit of. The Queen earnestly trusts that the large +amount of warm clothing sent out has not only reached Balaclava, but +has been distributed, and that Lord Raglan has been successful in +procuring the means of hutting for the men. Lord Raglan cannot think +how much we suffer for the army, and how painfully anxious we are to +know that their privations are decreasing.... The Queen cannot +conclude without wishing Lord Raglan and the whole of the army, in the +Prince's name and her own, a happy and _glorious_ new year." + +No sooner had Parliament reassembled than Mr. Roebuck brought forward +his famous motion for the appointment of a committee to inquire into +the state of the army and the management of the War Department of the +Government. + +Lord John Russell resigned office, and there was a threatened +resignation of the whole Ministry, an ill-timed step, which was only +delayed till Mr. Roebuck's motion was carried, by a large majority, +not amidst the cheers, but to the odd accompaniment of the derisive +laughter of the Liberal members who had voted for the motion. Lord +Aberdeen's Ministry immediately resigned office; and after an abortive +attempt on the part of Lord Derby, at the request of the Queen, to +form a new Ministry, Lord Lansdowne and Lord John Russell were in +succession asked to take the leadership, but each in his turn had to +own his inability to get the requisite men to act under him. In +summoning Lord John Russell to become Premier, the Queen had expressed +a wish that Lord Palmerston--the man to whom the country looked as the +only proper war minister--should take office. The wish, especially +flattering and acceptable to Lord Palmerston, because it indicated +that old differences were forgotten, was in marked keeping with a +certain magnanimity and candour--excellent qualities in a sovereign-- +which have been prominent features in her Majesty's character. + +Lord John Russell having been as unsuccessful as his predecessors in +forming a Ministry, Lord Palmerston was sent for by the Queen and +offered the premiership, and the most popular minister of the day was +soon able, to the jubilation of the country, to construct a Cabinet. + +On the 10th of February, the anniversary of the Queen's marriage-day, +there was this year, as usual, a home festival, with the nursery drama +of "Little Red Riding Hood" performed by the younger members of the +family, and appropriate verses spoken by Princess Alice, who seems to +have been the chosen declaimer among the princes and princesses. But +beneath the rejoicing there were in the elders anxiety, sympathetic +suffering, and the endurance of undeserved suspicion. The committee +carrying out the inquiry proposed by Mr. Roebuck's motion, conceived +most unjustly that the Prince's hostile influence prevented them from +obtaining the information they desired. The Queen's health was +suffering from her distress on account of the hardships experienced by +her soldiers, so that when Lord Cardigan returned to England, repaired +to Windsor, and had the royal children upon his knee, they said, "You +must hurry back to Sebastopol and take it, else it will kill mamma!" + +On the 2nd of March the strange news burst upon Europe, exciting +rather a sense of solemnity than any less seemly feeling, of the +sudden death of the Emperor Nicholas, former guest and fervent friend +of the Queen--for whom she seems to have retained a lingering, rueful +regard--grasper at an increase of territory, disturber of the peace of +Europe, dogged refuser of all mediation. He had an attack of +influenza, but the real cause of his death is said to have been bitter +disappointment and mortification at his failure to drive the allies +out of the Crimea. The "Generals, January and February," on whom he +had counted to work his will, laid him low. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +INSPECTION OF THE HOSPITAL AT CHATHAM--VISIT OF THE EMPEROR AND +EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH--DISTRIBUTION OF WAR MEDALS. + +On the 3rd of March, the Queen and the Prince, with the Prince of +Wales, Prince Alfred and the Duke of Cambridge, visited the hospital +at Chatham, to which many of the wounded and sick soldiers had been +brought home. The whole of the invalids who were in a condition to +leave their beds "were drawn up on the lawn," each having a card +containing his name and services, his wounds, and where received. Her +Majesty passed along the line, saying a few kind words to those +sufferers who particularly attracted her notice, or to those whose +services were specially commended. It is easy to imagine how the +haggard faces would brighten and the drooping figures straighten +themselves in that royal and gentle presence. + +In the course of the month, at an exhibition and sale of water-colour +drawings and pictures by amateurs, in aid of a fund for the widows and +orphans of officers in the Crimea, the artistic talent of which there +have been many proofs in the Queen's and the Prince's children, was +first publicly shown. A water-colour drawing by the Princess Royal, +already a fine girl of fifteen--whose marriage was soon to be mooted, +in which she had represented a woman weeping over a dead grenadier, +displayed remarkable merit and was bought for a large price. + +On the 16th of April the Emperor and Empress of the French arrived in +England on a visit to the Queen. The splendid suite of rooms in +Windsor Castle which includes the Rubens, Zuccarelli, and Vandyck +rooms, were destined for the imperial guests. And we are told that, by +the irony of fate, the Emperor's bedroom was the same that had been +occupied on previous occasions by the late Emperor Nicholas and King +Louis Philippe. Sir Theodore Martin refers to a still more pathetic +contrast which struck the Queen. He quotes from her Majesty's journal +a passage relating to a visit paid by the old Queen Amélie to Windsor +two or three days before. "It made us both so sad to see her drive +away in a plain coach with miserable post-horses, and to think that +this was the Queen of the French, and that six years ago her husband +was surrounded by the same pomp and grandeur which three days hence +would surround his successor." + +Prince Albert received the travellers at Dover in the middle of a +thick mist which had delayed the _corvette_, hidden the English +fleet, and somewhat marred what was intended to have been the +splendour of the reception. After the train had reached London, the +drive was through densely crowded streets, in which there was no lack +of enthusiasm for the visitors. + +The strangers did not reach Windsor till past seven. The Queen had +been waiting for them some time in one of the tapestry rooms near the +guard-room. "The expectation and agitation grew more intense," her +Majesty wrote in her diary. "The evening was fine and bright. At +length the crowd of anxious spectators lining the road seemed to move; +then came a groom; then we heard a gun, and we moved towards the +staircase. Another groom came. Then we saw the advanced guard of the +escort; then the cheers of the crowd burst forth. The outriders +appeared, the doors opened, I stepped out, the children and Princes +close behind me; the band struck up "Partant pour la Syrie," the +trumpets sounded, and the open carriage, with the Emperor and Empress, +Albert sitting opposite to them, drove up, and they got out. + +"I cannot say what indescribable emotions filled me, how much all +seemed like a wonderful dream. These great meetings of sovereigns, +surrounded by very exciting accompaniments, are always very agitating. +I advanced and embraced the Emperor, who received two salutes on +either cheek from me, having first kissed my hand. I next embraced the +very gentle, graceful, and evidently very nervous Empress. We +presented the Princes (the Duke of Cambridge and the Prince of +Leiningen, the Queen's brother) and our children (Vicky, with very +alarmed eyes, making very low curtsies); the Emperor embraced Bertie; +and then we went upstairs, Albert leading the Empress, who in the most +engaging manner refused to go first, but at length with graceful +reluctance did so, the Emperor leading me, expressing his great +gratification at being here and seeing me, and admiring Windsor." +[Footnote: Life of the Prince Consort.] + +Her Majesty was pleased with the Emperor; his low soft voice and quiet +manner were very attractive. She was delighted with the Empress, of +whom she repeatedly wrote with admiration and liking. "She is full +courage and spirit," the Queen described her visitor, "yet so gentle, +with such innocence and _enjouement_, that the _ensemble_ is +most charming. With all her great liveliness, she has the prettiest +and most modest manner." There were morning walks during the +visitors' stay, and long conversations about the war. A deputation +from the Corporation of London came down to Windsor, and presented the +Emperor with an address. There was a review of the Household troops in +the Great Park, to which the Queen drove with the Empress. The +Emperor, the Prince, and the Duke of Cambridge rode. There was a +tremendous enthusiastic crowd in the Long Walk, and considerable +pushing at the gates. The Queen was alarmed because of the spirited +horse the Emperor rode. + +The day ended with a ball in the Waterloo Room, when the Queen danced +a quadrille with the Emperor, who, she wrote, "danced with great +dignity and spirit. How strange" she added "to think that I, the +grand-daughter of George III., should dance with the Emperor Napoleon, +nephew of England's great enemy, now my nearest and most intimate +ally, in the Waterloo Room, and this ally only sixteen years ago +living in this country in exile, poor and unthought of." + +A Council of War was held the day after the Emperor's arrival, at +which the Queen was not present. It was attended by the Emperor, the +Prince, Lords Palmerston, Panmure, Hardinge, Cowley (English +ambassador in Paris), Count Walewski (French ambassador in London), +Marshal Vaillant, &c., &c. It met at eleven, and had not separated at +two, the hour of luncheon, after which a chapter of the Order of the +Garter--for which special toilettes were indispensable, was to be +held. The Empress went and told Lord Cowley how late it was, in vain. +She advised the Queen to go to them. "I dare not go in, but your +Majesty may; it is your affair." The Queen passed through the +Emperor's bedroom, which was next to the council-room, knocked, and +entered to ask what was to be done, perhaps a solitary instance of a +queen having to go in search of her guests. Both the Emperor and the +Prince rose and said they would come, but business was so enchaining +that still they delayed, and the ladies had to take luncheon alone. + +The Emperor was invested with the Order of the Garter in the Throne- +room. The forms were the same as those followed in the investiture of +Louis Philippe, and no doubt the one scene recalled the other vividly +enough. Bishop Wilberforce was present and gives some particulars: "A +very full chapter. The Duke of Buckingham (whose conduct had not been +very knightly) came unsummoned, and was not asked to remain to dinner. +The Emperor looked exulting and exceedingly pleased." After the +chapter, the Emperor sent for the Bishop, that he might be presented. +His lordship's opinion was that Louis Napoleon was "rather mean- +looking, small, and a tendency to _embonpoint_; a remarkable way, +as it were, of swimming up a room, with an uncertain gait; a small +grey eye, looking cunning, but with an aspect of softness about it +too. The Empress, a peculiar face from the arched eye-brows, blonde +complexion; an air of sadness about her, but a person whose +countenance at once interests you. The banquet was magnificent. At +night," ends Bishop Wilberforce, "the Queen spoke to me. 'All went off +very well, I think; I was afraid of making some mistake; you would not +let me have in writing what I was to say to him. Then we put the +riband on wrong, but I think it all went off well on the whole.'" + +The Emperor and Empress were invited to a banquet at Guildhall. They +went from Buckingham Palace, to which the Queen and Prince Albert had +accompanied them. The Queen wrote in her journal that their departure +from Windsor made her sad. The passing through the familiar rooms and +descending the staircase to the mournful strains of "Partant pour la +Syrie" (composed by the Emperor's mother, Queen Hortense, and heard by +her Majesty fourteen different times that April day), the sense that +the visit about which there had been so much excitement was nearly +over, the natural doubt how and when the group would meet again, +touched her as with a sense of foreboding. + +The Emperor and Empress drove from Buckingham Palace to Guildhall in +six of the Queen's State carriages, the first drawn by the famous +cream-coloured horses. The whole route was packed with people, who +gave the visitors a thorough ovation. The City hall was decorated with +the flags of England, France, and Turkey; and the lion and the eagle +conjointly supported devices which bore the names "Alma, Balaclava, +and Inkermann." At the _déjeuner_ sherry was served which had +reached the venerable age of one hundred and nine years, was valued at +£600 the butt, and had belonged to the great Napoleon. The same +evening, the Queen and the Prince, with their guests, went in State to +the Italian Opera, where _Fidelio_ was performed. "We literally +drove through a sea of human beings, cheering and pressing near the +carriage." The illuminated streets bore many devices--of N.E. and +V.A., which the Emperor remarked made the word "Neva"--a coincidence +on which he appears to have dwelt with his share of the superstition +of the Buonapartes. The Opera-house and the royal box were richly +decorated for the occasion. On entering, her Majesty led the Emperor, +and Prince Albert the Empress, to the front of the box, amidst great +applause. The audience was immense, a dense mass of ladies and +gentlemen in full dress being allowed to occupy a place behind the +singers on the stage. + +The next day, a beautiful April day, the Queen discovered was the +forty-seventh birthday of the Emperor; and when she went to meet him +in the corridor, she wished him joy and gave him a pencil-case. He +smiled and kissed her hand, and accepted with empressment two violets-- +the Buonapartes' flower--brought to him by Prince Arthur. All along +the thronged road to Sydenham, cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" and "Vive +l'Impératrice!" alternated with cheers for the Queen. The public were +not admitted while the royal party were in the palace, but they +gathered twenty thousand strong on the terrace; and when her Majesty, +with her guests, came out on the balcony to enjoy the beautiful view, +such shouts of loyalty and welcome filled the spring air as struck +even ears well accustomed to public greetings. After luncheon the +Queen and her visitors returned to the Palace, having to pass through +an avenue of people lining the nave, to reach the balcony from which +the strangers were to see the fine spectacle of the fountains playing. +The Queen owned afterwards she was anxious; yet, she added, "I felt as +I leant on the emperor's arm, that I was possibly a protection for +him. All thoughts of nervousness for myself were lost. I thought only +of him; and so it is, Albert says, when one forgets oneself, one loses +this great and foolish nervousness." A sentence worthy of him and of +her. + +Alas for fickle fortune and the changes which time brings! The present +writer was accidentally present on the occasion of the Emperor and +Empress's last visit to the Crystal Palace. They came from Chislehurst +without any announcement, when they were not expected, on an ordinary +shilling day in autumn, the company happening to be few. A slight stir +and one or two policemen coming to the front, suggested that some +theft had been committed, and that the offender was about to be taken +into custody and removed from the building. Then an official walked +bareheaded down the cleared nave, and behind him came a little yellow- +skinned shrunken man in plain clothes, on whose arm a lady in a simple +black silk walking-dress and country hat leant lightly, as if she were +giving instead of receiving support. He made a slight attempt to +acknowledge the faint greetings of the spectators, some of them +ignorant of the identity of the visitors, all of them taken by +surprise. She smiled and bowed from side to side, a little +mechanically, as if anxious to overlook no courtesy and to act for +both. It was not long after the battle of Sedan and the imprisonment +at Wilhelmshohe, and the hand of death was already upon him. The +couple hurried on, as if desirous of not being detained, and could not +have tarried many minutes in the building when a few straggling cheers +announced their departure. + +In the afternoon of the 20th of April a second council relating to the +war in the Crimea was held, at which the Queen was present. With her +large interest in public affairs, her growing experience, and her +healthy appetite for the work of her life, she enjoyed it exceedingly. +"It was one of the most interesting scenes I was ever present at," she +wrote in her journal. "I would not have missed it for the world." + +On Saturday, the 21st of April, the visitors left, after the Emperor +had written a graceful French sentence in the Queen's album, and an +admonitory verse in German, which had originally been written for +himself, in the Prince of Wales's autograph book. The Queen +accompanied her visitors to the door, and parted from them with kindly +regret. As they drove off she "ran up" to see the last of the +travellers from the saloon they had just quitted. "The Emperor and +Empress saw us at the window," she wrote, "turned round, got up, and +bowed.... We watched them, with the glittering escort, till they could +be seen no more...." The Prince escorted the Emperor and Empress to +Dover. The Queen wrote in a short memorandum her view of the Emperor's +character, and what she expected from the visit in a political light. +Through the good sense of the paper one can see how the confiding +friendly nature had survived the rough check given to it by Louis +Philippe's manoeuvres and dissimulation. + +On the 1st of May the Academy opened with Millais's "Rescue of +children from a burning house," and with a remarkable picture by a +young painter who has long since vindicated the reception it met with. +It was Mr. F. Leighton's "Procession conveying Cimabue's Madonna +through the streets of Florence." + +On the 18th of May her Majesty distributed medals to some of the +heroes of the war still raging. The scene was both picturesque and +pathetic, since many of the recipients of the honour were barely +recovered from their wounds. The presentation took place in the centre +of the parade of the Horse Guards, where a dais was erected for the +ceremony, while galleries had been fitted up in the neighbouring +public offices for the accommodation of members of the royal family +and nobility. Barriers shut off the actors in the scene, and a great +gathering of officers, from the crowd which filled every inch of open +space and flowed over into St. James's Park. + +The Queen, the Prince, with many of the royal family, the Court, the +Commander-in-Chief, the Secretary for War, and "a host of generals +and admirals," arrived about eleven o'clock. The soldiers who kept the +ground formed four deep, making three sides of a square, and the men +to be decorated passed up the open space, until "the Queen stood face +to face with a mass of men who had suffered and bled in her cause." + +The Deputy-Adjutant-General read over the list of names, and each +person, answering to the call, presented to an officer a card on which +was inscribed his name, rank, wounds, and battles. As the soldiers +passed in single file before the Queen, Lord Panmure handed to her +Majesty the medal, which she gave in turn to the medal-holder. He +saluted and passed to the rear, where friends and strangers gathered +round him to inspect his trophy. + +The first to receive the medal were the Queen's cousin and +contemporary, the Duke of Cambridge, Lords Lucan, Cardigan, Major- +General Scarlett, Sir John Burgoyne, Sir De Lacy Evans, and Major- +General Torrens. It is needless to say how keenly the public were +moved by the sight of their brave defenders, several of them scarred +and mutilated, many tottering from weakness, some wearing on their +sleeves bands of crape, tokens of mourning for kinsmen lying in +Russian earth. + +To every wounded man, officer or private, her Majesty spoke, some of +those addressed blushing like girls under their bronze, and the tears +coming into their eyes. The idea of personally presenting the medals +to the soldiers was the Queen's own, and she must have been amply +rewarded by the gratification she bestowed. + +Three officers unable to walk were wheeled past her Majesty in bath- +chairs. Among them was young Sir Thomas Troubridge, both of whose feet +had been carried off by a round shot, while he had continued +commanding his battery till the battle was over, refusing to be taken +away, only desiring his shattered limbs to be raised in order to check +the loss of blood. The Queen leant over Sir Thomas's chair and handed +him his medal, while she announced to him his appointment as one of +her aides-de-camp. He replied, "I am amply repaid for everything." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +DEATH OP LORD RAGLAN--VISIT OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT TO THE +EMPEROR AND EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH--FALL OF SEBASTOPOL. + +A Sardinian contingent had now, by a stroke of policy on the part of +Count Cavour, the Sardinian Minister, joined the English and French in +arms in the Crimea; but an unsuccessful attack, made with heavy loss +by the combined forces of the English and French on Sebastopol, filled +the country with disappointment and sorrow. The attack was made on the +18th of June, a day which, as the anniversary of Waterloo, had been +hitherto associated with victory and triumph. + +Lord Raglan had never approved of the assault, but he yielded to the +urgent representations of General Pelissier. The defeat was the last +blow to the old English soldier, worn by fatigue and chagrin. He was +seized with illness ending in cholera, and died in his quarters on the +29th of June, eleven days after the repulse. He was in his sixty- +seventh year. The Queen wrote to Lady Raglan the day after the tidings +of the death reached England. + +During the summer the Queen received visits from King Leopold and his +younger children, and from her Portuguese cousins. During the stay of +the former in England scarlet fever broke out in the royal nurseries. +Princess Louise, Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold, and finally Princess +Alice, were attacked; but the disease was not virulent, and the +remaining members of the family escaped the infection. + +In the early morning of the 16th of August, the Russians marched upon +the French lines, and were completely routed in the battle of the +Tchernaya, which revived the allies' hopes of a speedy termination of +the war. + +In the meantime, the Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the +Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, paid a visit to the Emperor +and Empress of the French, near Paris. The palace of St. Cloud was set +apart for the use of the Queen and the Prince. + +Her Majesty landed at Boulogne during the forenoon of the 18th of +August. She was received by the Emperor, who met her on the gangway, +first kissed her hand, and then kissed her on both cheeks. He led her +on shore, and rode by the side of her carriage to the railway station. + +Paris, where no English sovereign had been since the baby Henry VI. +was crowned King of France, was not reached till evening. The city had +been _en fête_ all day with banners, floral arches, and at last +an illumination. Amidst the clatter of soldiers, the music of brass +bands playing "God save the Queen," and endless cheering, her Majesty +drove through the gathering darkness by the Bois de Boulogne to St. +Cloud. To the roar of cannon, the beating of drums, and the echoing of +_vivats_, she was greeted and ushered up the grand staircase by +the Empress and the Princess Mathilde. Everybody was "most civil and +kind," and in the middle of the magnificence all was "very quiet and +royal." + +The next day was Sunday, and after breakfast there was a drive with +the Emperor through the beautiful park, where host and guests were +very cheerful over good news from Sebastopol. The English Church +service was read by a chaplain from the Embassy in one of the palace +rooms. In the afternoon the Emperor and the Empress drove with their +guests to the Bois de Boulogne, and to Neuilly--so closely associated +with the Orleans family--lying in ruins. General Canrobert, just +returned from the Crimea, was an addition to the dinner party. + +On Monday the weather continued lovely. The Emperor fetched his guests +to breakfast, which, like luncheon, was eaten at small round tables, +as in her Majesty's residences in England. She remarked on the cookery +that it was "very plain and very good." After breakfast the party +started in barouches for Paris, visiting the Exposition des Beaux Arts +and the Palais d'Industrie, passing through densely crowded streets, +amidst enthusiastic shouts of "Vive l'Empereur!" "Vive la Reine +d'Angleterre!" At the Elysée the _corps diplomatique_ were +presented to the Queen. In the meantime, the Emperor himself drove the +boy Prince of Wales in a curricle through Paris. Afterwards the Queen +and Prince Albert, in the company of the Emperor, visited the +beautiful Sainte Chapelle and the Palais de Justice. On the way the +Emperor pointed out the _conciergerie_ as the place where he had +been imprisoned. + +Nôtre Dame, where the Archbishop of Paris and his clergy met the +visitors, and the Hôtel de Ville, followed in the regular order of +sightseeing. + +The Queen dwells not only on the kindness but on the quietness of the +Emperor as a particular "comfort" on such an occasion. + +_Les Demoiselles de St. Cyr_ was acted in the evening. In the +Salle de Mars all the company passed before the Queen, the Empress +presenting each in turn. The Emperor and Empress, preceded by their +gentlemen, always took the Queen and the Prince to their rooms. + +On, Tuesday Versailles was the visitors' destination. They went in +many carriages. Troops and national guards, and especially gendarmes, +were to be seen everywhere. The gardens and the fountains, with +throngs of company, were much admired. + +The Queen visited the two Trianons. At the larger the Emperor showed +her the room and bed provided for her, in the expectation of her +visiting Paris, by "poor Louis Philippe;" Madame Maintenon's sedan- +chair, by which Louis XIV. was wont to walk; and the little chapel in +which "poor Marie (Louis Philippe's daughter) was married to Alexander +of Wurtemberg in 1838," two years before the Queen's marriage. + +At Little Trianon the Empress (who had a passion for every relic of +Marie Antoinette) joined the party, and luncheon was eaten in one of +the cottages where princes and nobles were wont to play at being +peasants. + +In the evening the Emperor, with his guests, paid a State visit to the +opera-house in the Rue Lepelletier. Part of the performance was a +representation of Windsor Castle, with the Emperor's reception there, +when "God save the Queen" was splendidly sung, and received with +acclamation. The Emperor's happy animation, in contrast to his usual +impassiveness, was remarked by the audience. + +Wednesday's visit, in the continuously fine August weather, was to the +French Exhibition, which the Queen and the Prince were so well +calculated to appreciate. They rejoiced in the excellent manner in +which England was represented, particularly in pottery. The specially +French productions of Sèvres, Goblins, and Beauvais were carefully +studied. The Queen also examined the French Crown jewels, the crown +bearing the renowned Regent diamond, which, though less large than the +Koh-i-noor, is more brilliant. The Emperor presented the Prince with a +magnificent Sèvres vase, a souvenir of the Exhibition of 1851. The +Tuileries was visited, and luncheon taken there in rooms containing +pictures and busts or Napoleon I., Josephine, &c., &c. The Queen +received the Prefect and consented to attend the ball to be given in +her honour. + +After a visit to the British Embassy, the Queen and the Prince, with +the Princess Royal and one of the ladies of the suite, took a drive +incognito through Paris, which they enjoyed exceedingly. They went in +an ordinary _remise_, the three ladies wearing common bonnets and +mantillas, and her Majesty having a black veil over her face. + +On Thursday morning the Queen rested, walking about the gardens with +her young daughter, and sketching the Zouaves at the gate. The +afternoon was spent at the Louvre, where the Queen mentions the heat +as "tropical." + +After dinner at the Tuileries, the party stood laughing together at an +old-fashioned imperial cafetière which would not let down the coffee, +listening to the music, the carriages, and the people in the distance, +and talking of past times; as how could people fail to talk at the +Tuileries! The Emperor spoke of having known Madame Campan (to whose +school his mother was sent for a time), and repeated some of the old +court dresser's anecdotes of Marie Antoinette and the Great +Revolution. + +In her Majesty's full dress for the ball given to her by the City of +Paris, she wore a diadem in which the Koh-i-noor was set. Through the +illuminated, crammed streets, the Queen proceeded to the Hotel de +Ville, and entered among flags, flowers, and statues, "like the +Arabian Nights," the Emperor said. + +The royal visitors occupied chairs on a dais. One quadrille and one +valse were danced, the Emperor being the Queen's partner, while Prince +Albert danced with Princess Mathilde (the Empress was in delicate +health); Prince Napoleon and Madame Haussman (the wife of the Prefect +of the Seine), and Prince Adalbert of Bavaria and Lady Cowley (wife of +the English ambassador) completing the set. + +Several Arabs in long white burnouses were among the guests, and +kissed the hands of the Queen and the Emperor. Her Majesty made the +tour of the stately suite of rooms, lingering in the one in which +"Robespierre was wounded, Louis Philippe proclaimed, and from the +windows of which Lamartine spoke for so many hours in 1848." + +On Friday there was a second visit to the Exhibition, and in the +afternoon a grand review of troops in the Champ de Mars, which the +Queen admired much, regretting that she had not been on horseback, +though the day was not fine. From the Champ de Mars the visitors drove +to the Hôtel des Invalides, and there occurred the most striking scene +in the memorable visit, of which the passages from the Queen's journal +in the "Life of the Prince Consort," give so many graphic, interesting +details. Passing between rows of French veterans, the Queen and the +Prince went to look by torchlight at the great tomb, in which, +however, all that was mortal of Napoleon I. had not yet been laid. The +coffin still rested in a side chapel, to which her Majesty was taken +by the Emperor. The coffin was covered with black velvet and gold, and +the orders, hat, and sword of "le Petit Caporal" were placed at the +foot. The Queen descended for a few minutes into the vault, the air of +which struck cold on the living within its walls. + +The Emperor took his guests in the evening to the Opéra Comique. It +was not a State visit, but "God save the Queen" was sung, and her +Majesty had to show herself in front of the Emperor's private box. On +Saturday the royal party went to the forest of St. Germain's, and a +halt was made at the hunting-lodge of La Muette. The _Grand +Veneur_ and his officials in their hunting-dress of dark-green +velvet, red waistcoats, high boots, and cocked hats, received the +company. The dogs were exhibited, and a _fanfare_ sounded on the +huntsmen's horns. + +The strangers repaired to the old palace of St. Germain's, where her +Majesty saw the suite of rooms which had served as a home for her +unhappy kinsman, James II. It is said she went also to his tomb, and +stood by it in thoughtful silence for a few minutes. On the return +drive to St. Cloud detours were made to Malmaison, where the Emperor +remembered to have seen his grandmother, the Empress Josephine, and to +the fortress of St. Valérien. + +The same night there was a State ball at Versailles. At the top of the +grand staircase stood the Empress--"like a fairy queen or nymph," her +Majesty writes, "in a white dress trimmed with bunches of grass and +diamonds, ..." wearing her Spanish and Portuguese orders. The +enamoured Emperor exclaimed in the hearing of his guests, "Comme tu es +belle!" (how beautiful you are!) The long Galerie de Glaces, full of +people, was blazing with light, and had wreaths of flowers hanging +from the ceiling. From the windows the illuminated trellis was seen +reflected in the splashing water of the fountains. The balconies +commanded a view of the magnificent fireworks, among which Windsor +Castle was represented in lines of light. + +The Queen danced two quadrilles, with the Emperor and Prince Napoleon, +Prince Albert dancing with Princess Mathilde and the Princess of +Augustenburg. Among the guests presented to her Majesty was Count +Bismarck, Prussian Minister at Frankfort. + +The Queen waltzed with the Emperor, and then repaired to the famous +Oeil-de-Boeuf, hung with Beauvais tapestry. After the company had gone +to supper, the Queen and the Emperor's procession was formed, and +headed by guards, officers, &c. &c, they passed to the theatre, where +supper was served. The whole stage was covered in, and four hundred +people sat in groups of ten, each presided over by a lady, at forty +small tables. Innumerable chandeliers and garlands of flowers made the +scene still gayer. The boxes were full of spectators, and an invisible +band was playing. The Queen and Prince Albert, with their son and +daughter, the Emperor and the Empress, Prince Napoleon, Princess +Mathilde, and Prince Adalbert of Bavaria, sat at a small table in the +central box. Her Majesty seems to have been much struck with this +Versailles ball, which was designed and arranged by the Empress from a +plate of the time of Louis XV. It was said there had been no ball at +Versailles since the time of Louis XVI. The last must have been the +ball in the Orangery, on the night that the Bastille fell. + +Sunday was Prince Albert's birthday, which was not forgotten among +these brilliant doings. Loving hands laid out the flower-decorated +table with its gifts. At luncheon the Emperor presented the Prince +with a picture by Meissonier. The Empress gave a _pokal_, or +mounted cup, carved in ivory. During a quiet drive with the Emperor +through the park in the morning, the Queen, with her characteristic +sincerity, courageously approached a topic which was a burden on her +mind, on which Baron Stockmar had long advised her to act as she was +prepared to do. She spoke of her intercourse with the Orleans family, +on which the French ambassador in London had laid stress as likely to +displease the Emperor. She said they were her friends and relations, +and that she could not drop them in their adversity, but that politics +were never touched upon between her and them. He professed himself +perfectly satisfied, and sought in his turn to explain his conduct in +the confiscation and forced sale of the Orleans property. + +The English Church service was read in a room at St. Cloud as before. +In the afternoon the Emperor took his guests to the memorial Chapelle +de St. Ferdinand, erected on the spot where the late Duc d'Orleans was +killed. + +On Monday, the 27th of August, the Queen wrote in her diary her deep +gratitude for "these eight happy days, for the delight of seeing such +beautiful and interesting places and objects," and for the reception +she had met with in Paris and France. The Emperor arrived to say the +Empress was ready, but could not bring herself to face the parting, +and that if the Queen would go to her room it would make her come. +"When we went in," writes her Majesty, "the Emperor called her: +'Eugénie, here is the Queen,' and she came," adds her Majesty, "and +gave me a beautiful fan, and a rose and heliotrope from the garden, +and Vicky a beautiful bracelet, set with rubies and diamonds, +containing her hair...." + +The morning was beautiful as the travellers, accompanied by the +Emperor and Empress, drove for the last time through the town of St. +Cloud, with its Zouaves and wounded soldiers from the Crimea, under +the Arc de Triomphe, where the ashes of the great Napoleon had passed, +to Paris and the Tuileries. There was talk of future meetings at +Windsor and Fontainbleau. (And now of the places which the Queen +admired so much, St. Cloud and the Tuileries are in ruins like +Neuilly, while the Hôtel de Ville has perished by the hands of its own +children.) Leave was taken of the Empress not without emotion; + +At the Strasbourg railway station the Ministers and municipal +authorities were in attendance, and the cordiality was equal to the +respect shown by all. + +Boulogne, to which the Emperor accompanied his guests, was reached +between five and six in the afternoon. There was a review of thirty- +six thousand infantry, besides cavalry, on the sands. The Queen +describes the beautiful effect of the background of calm, blue sea, +while "the glorious crimson light" of the setting sun was gilding the +thousands of bayonets, lances, &c. It was the spot where Napoleon I. +inspected the army with which he was prepared to invade England; while +Nelson's fleet, which held him in check, occupied the anchorage where +the Queen's squadron lay. Before embarking, her Majesty and Prince +Albert drove to the French camps in the neighbourhood. + +At last, when it was only an hour from midnight, in splendid +moonlight, through a town blazing with fireworks and illuminations, +with bands playing, soldiers saluting, and a great crowd cheering as +if it was noonday, the Queen and the Prince returned to their yacht, +accompanied by the Emperor. As if loth to leave them, he proposed to +go with them a little way. The parting moment came, the Queen and the +Emperor embraced, and he shook hands warmly with the Prince, the +Prince of Wales, and the Princess Royal. Again at the side of the +vessel, her Majesty pressed her late host's hand, and embraced him +with an, "Adieu, sire." As he saw her looking over the side of the +ship and watching his barge, he called out, "Adieu, Madame, au +revoir," to which the Queen answered, "Je l'espère bien." + +On the 6th of September the Court went to Scotland, staying a night at +Holyrood, as usual in those years. On the Queen's arrival she drove +through the old castle of Balmoral, the new house being habitable, +though much of the building was still unfinished. An old shoe was +thrown after her Majesty, Scotch fashion, for luck, as she entered the +northern home, where everything charmed her. + +On the 10th of September the Duchess of Kent, who was staying at +Abergeldie, dined with the Queen. At half-past ten despatches arrived +for her Majesty and Lord Granville, the Cabinet Minister in +attendance. The Queen began reading hers, which was from Lord +Clarendon, with news of the destruction of Russian ships. Lord +Granville said, "I have still better news," on which he read, "'From +General Simpson. Sebastopol is in the hands of the allies.'" "God be +praised for it," adds the Queen. + +Great was the rejoicing. Prince Albert determined to go up Craig Gowan +and light the bonfire which had been ready the year before, had been +blown down on the day of the battle of Inkermann, and was at last only +waiting to be lit. All the gentlemen, in every species of attire, all +the servants, and gradually the whole population of the little +village, keepers and gillies, were aroused and started, in the autumn +night, for the summit of the hill. The happy Queen watched from below +the blazing light above. Numerous figures surrounded it, "some +dancing, all shouting; Ross (the Queen's piper) playing his pipes +(surely the most exultant of pibrochs), and Grant and Macdonald firing +off guns continually," the late Sir E. Gordon's old Alsatian servant +striving to add his French contribution to the festivities by lighting +squibs, half of which would not go off. When Prince Albert returned he +described the health-drinking in whiskey as wild and exciting. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +BETROTHAL OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL--QUEEN'S SPEECH TO THE SOLDIERS +RETURNED FROM THE CRIMEA--BALMORAL. + +An event of great importance to the Queen and her family was now +impending. A proposal of marriage for the Princess Royal--still only +fifteen years of age--had been made by the Prince of Prussia, the heir +of the childless king, in the name of the Prince's only son, Prince +Frederick William, a young man of four-and-twenty, nearly ten years +the Princess's senior. From the friendship which had long existed +between the Queen and the Prince and the Princess of Prussia, their +son was well-known and much liked in the English royal family, and the +youthful Princess Royal was favourably inclined to him. The proposal +was graciously received, on certain conditions. Of course the marriage +of the young Princess could not take place for some time. She had not +even been confirmed. She ought to be allowed to know her mind fully. +The couple must become better acquainted. It was agreed at first that +nothing should be said to the Princess Royal on the subject till after +her confirmation. But when the wooer arrived to pay a delightfully +private visit to the family in their Highland retreat, the last +interdict was judged too hard, and he was permitted to plead his cause +under the happiest auspices. + +We have pleasant little glimpses in her Majesty's journal, and Prince +Albert's letters, of what was necessarily of the utmost moment to all +concerned; nay, as the contracting parties were of such high estate, +excited the lively sympathies of two great nations. The Prince writes +in a half tender, half humorous fashion, of the young couple to Baron +Stockmar, "The young man, 'really in love,' 'the little lady' doing +her best to please him." The critical moment came during a riding +party up the heathery hill of Craig-na-Ban and down Glen Girnock, +when, with a sprig of white heather for "luck" in his hand, like any +other trembling suitor, the lover ventured to say the decisive words, +which were not repulsed. Will the couple ever forget that spot on the +Scotch hillside, when they fill the imperial throne of Charlemagne? +They have celebrated their silver wedding-day with loud jubilees, may +their golden wedding still bring welcome memories of Craig-na-Ban and +its white heather. + +The Court had travelled south to Windsor, and in the following month, +in melancholy contrast to the family circumstances in which all had +been rejoicing, her Majesty and the Prince had the sorrowful +intelligence that her brother, the Prince of Leiningen, while still +only in middle age, just over fifty, had suffered from a severe +apoplectic attack. + +In November the King of Sardinia visited England. His warm welcome was +due not only to his patriotic character, which made Victor Emmanuel's +name a household word in this country, but to the fact that the +Sardinians were acting along with the French as our allies in the +Crimea. He was royally entertained at Windsor, saw Woolwich and +Portsmouth, received an address at Guildhall, and was invested with +the Order of the Garter. He left before five the next morning, when, +in spite of the early hour, the intense cold, and a snowstorm, the +Queen took a personal farewell of her guest. + +In the beginning of 1896 the Queen and the Prince were again wounded +by newspaper attacks on him, in consequence of his having signed his +name, as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, among the other officers of +the Guards, to a memorial to the Queen relating to the promotion and +retirement of the officers. + +On the 31st of January her Majesty opened Parliament amidst much +enthusiasm, in a session which was to decide the grave question of +peace or war. In March the welcome news arrived that the Empress of +the French had given birth to a son. + +On the 20th of March the ceremony of the confirmation of the Princess +Royal took place in the private chapel, Windsor. The Archbishop of +Canterbury and the Bishop of Oxford, Lord High Almoner, officiated, +in the presence of the Queen and the royal family, the Ministers, +Officers of State, &c. Prince Albert led in the Princess; her +Godfather, King Leopold, followed with the Queen. Bishop Wilberforce +made a note of the scene in a few words. "To Windsor Castle. The +confirmation of Princess Royal. Interesting. She devout, composed, +earnest. Younger sister much affected. The Queen and Prince also." + +On the 30th of March peace was signed. London became aware of it by +the firing of the Park and the Tower guns at ten o'clock at night. The +next morning the Lord Mayor, on the balcony of the Mansion House, read +a despatch from the Secretary of State, to a large crowd assembled in +the street, who received the tidings with loud cheers. At noon his +Lordship, preceded by the civic functionaries, went on foot to the +Exchange and read the despatch there. + +The Tower guns were again fired, the church-bells rang merry peals, +flags were hung out from all the public buildings. A few days +afterwards the Queen conferred on Lord Palmerston the Order of the +Garter--a frank and cordial acknowledgment of his services, which the +high-spirited statesman received with peculiar pleasure. + +On the 18th of April her Majesty and Prince Albert went to Aldershot +to commemorate the completion of the camp and review the troops, when +the Queen spent her first night in camp, in the pavilion prepared for +her use. On one of the two days she wore a Field-Marshal's uniform, +with the Star and Order of the Garter, and a dark blue riding habit. +Within a week, in magnificent weather, Her Majesty and Prince Albert +inspected a great fleet at Spithead. + +After Easter Lord Ellesmere, in his last appearance in the House of +Lords, moved the address to the Queen on the peace, and spoke the +feelings of the nation when he expressed in the words of a poet the +country's deep debt of gratitude to Florence Nightingale. On the 8th +of May the Lords and Commons went in procession to Buckingham Palace +to present their addresses to the Queen. The same evening she gave a +State ball--the first in the new ball-room--to celebrate the peace. + +Lord Dalhousie returned in this month of May from India, where he had +been Governor-General. He was a hopeless invalid, while still only in +his forty-fifth year. The moment the Queen heard of his arrival, she +wrote to him a letter of welcome, for which her faithful servant +thanked her in simple and touching words, as for "the crowning honour +of his life." He could not tell what the end of his illness might be, +but he ventured to say that her Majesty's most gracious words would be +a balm for it all. + +On the 19th of May the Queen laid the foundation of the military +hospital at Netley, which she had greatly at heart. + +In June a serious accident, which might have been fatal, occurred to +the Princess Royal while her promised bridegroom was on a visit to +this country. Indeed he was much in England in those days, appearing +frequently in public along with the royal family, to the gratification +of romantic hearts that delighted to watch young royal lovers. She was +sealing a letter at a table when the sleeve of her light muslin dress +caught fire and blazed up in a moment. Happily she was not alone. The +Princess's governess, Miss Hildyard, was at the same table, and +Princess Alice was receiving a lesson from her music-mistress in the +room. By their presence of mind in wrapping the hearthrug round the +Princess Royal, who herself showed great self possession under the +shock and pain of the accident, her life was probably saved. The arm +was burnt from below the elbow to the shoulder, though not so as to be +permanently disfigured. Lady Bloomfield has a pretty story about this +accident. She has been describing the Princess as "quite charming. Her +manners were so perfectly unaffected and unconstrained, and she was +full of fun." The writer goes on to say, "When she, the Princess, +burnt her arm, she never uttered a cry; she said 'Don't frighten +mamma--send for papa first.'" She wrote afterwards to her music- +mistress, dictating the letter and signing it with her left hand, to +tell how she was, because she knew the lady, who had been present when +the accident happened, would be anxious. + +King Leopold, his younger son, and his lovely young daughter, Princess +Charlotte, were among the Queen's visitors this summer, and a little +later came the Prince and Princess of Prussia to improve their +acquaintance with their future daughter-in-law. + +In July the Queen and the Prince were again at Aldershott to review +the troops returned from the Crimea. But the weather, persistently +wet, spoilt what would otherwise have been a joyous as well as a +glorious scene. During a short break in the rain, the Crimean +regiments formed three sides of a square round the carriage in which +the Queen sat. The officers and four men of each of the troops that +had been under fire "stepped out," and the Queen, standing up in the +carriage, addressed them. "Officers, non-commissioned officers, and +soldiers, I wish personally to convey through you to the regiments +assembled here this day my hearty welcome on their return to England +in health and full efficiency. Say to them that I have watched +anxiously over the difficulties and hardships which they have so nobly +borne, that I have mourned with deep sorrow for the brave men who have +fallen in their country's cause, and that I have felt proud of that +valour which, with their gallant allies, they have displayed on every +field. I thank God that your dangers are over, while the glory of your +deeds remains; but I know that should your services be again required, +you will be animated with the same devotion which in the Crimea has +rendered you invincible." + +When the clear, sweet voice was silent, a cry of "God save the Queen!" +sprang to every lip. Helmets, bearskins, and shakos were thrown into +the air; the dragoons waved their sabres, and a shout of loyal +acclamation, caught up from line to line, rang through the ranks. + +The next day, in summer sunshine, the Queen and her City of London +welcomed home the Guards. In anticipation of a brilliant review in the +park, she saw them march past from the central balcony of Buckingham +Palace, as she had seen them depart on the chill February morning more +than two years before: another season and another scene--not +unchastened in its triumph, for many a once-familiar face was absent, +and many a yearning thought wandered to Russian hill and plain and +Turkish graveyard, where English sleepers rested till the great +awakening. + +An old soldier figured before the Queen and the Prince in +circumstances which filled them with sorrow and pity. Lord Hardinge, +the Commander-in-Chief, was having an audience with the Queen, when he +was suddenly struck by paralysis. He resigned his post, to which the +Duke of Cambridge was appointed. Lord Hardinge died a few months +afterwards. + +After several yachting excursions, marred by stormy weather, the Court +went north, and reached Balmoral on the 30th of August. The tower and +the offices, with the terraces and pleasure-grounds, were finished, +and every trace of the old house had disappeared. The Balmoral of to- +day, though it still lacked what has become some of its essential +features, stood before the Queen. We are fain to make it stand before +our readers as it is now. + +The road to Balmoral may be said to begin with the Strath at Aberdeen. +The farther west the railway runs, the higher grow the mountains and +the narrower waxes the valley. Yet the Highlands proper are held to +commence only at Ballater, the little northern town with its gray +square, and its pleasant inn by the bridge over the rushing Dee. The +whole is set between the wooded hills of Pannanich and Craigendarroch, +the last-named from the oak wood which crowns its summit. The Prince +of Wales's house, Birkhall, stands back from the road on a green +eminence with the mountain rising behind, and in front the river Muich +running down to join the Dee. + +At Ballater the railway ends, and two picturesque roads follow the +course of the river, one on each side, the first passing Crathie, the +other going through the fir and birch woods of Abergeldie on the same +side as Balmoral. Both command grand glimpses of the mountains, which +belong to the three great ranges of the district--Cairngorm, +Glengairn, and Loch-na-Gar. + +Approaching on the Crathie side, the stranger is struck with the +frequent tokens of a life that was once the presiding genius of this +place, which passing away in its prime, has left the shadow of a great +grief, softened by the merciful touch of time. The haunting presence, +mild in its manliness and gentle in its strength, of a princely +benefactor common to all, has displaced the grim phantoms of old +chieftains and reigns in their stead. It hovers over the dearly loved +Highland home with its fitting touch of stateliness in the middle of +its simplicity, over the forest where a true sportsman stalked the +deer, over the streams and lochs in which he fished, and the paths he +trod by hill and glen. We are made to remember that Balmoral was the +Prince Consort's property, that he bought it for his possession, as +Osborne was the Queen's, and that it was by a bequest in his will that +it came, with all its memories, to his widow. Three different +monuments to the Prince, on as many elevations above the castle, at +once attract the eye. The highest and most enduring, seen from many +quarters and at considerable distances, is a gable-like cairn on the +summit of a hill. It is here that such of the Prince's sons as are in +the neighbourhood, and all the tenantry and dependents who can comply +with the invitation, assemble on the Prince Consort's birthday and +drink to his memory. + +Lower down stands a representation of the noble figure of the Prince, +attended by his greyhound, Eos. On another spur of the same hill is an +obelisk, erected by the tenantry and servants to the master who had +their interests so deeply at heart. + +The castle, like its smaller predecessor of which this pile of +building has taken the place, stands in a haugh or meadow at the foot +of a hill, within a circle of mountain-tops. The porter's ledge and +gate might belong to the hunting-seat of any gentleman of taste and +means; only the fact that, even when her Majesty is not in residence, +a constable of police is in attendance, marks the difference between +sovereign and subject. + +Within the gate the surroundings are still wild and rural, in keeping +with nature free and unshackled, and have a faint flavour of German +parks where the mowing-machine is not always at work, but a sweet +math of wild flowers three or four feet high is supposed to cheat the +dweller in courtly palaces into a belief that he too is at liberty to +breathe the fresh air without thought or care, and roam where he will, +free from the fetters of form and etiquette. + +Great innocent moon-daises, sprightly harebells, sturdy heather, bloom +profusely and seem much at home within these royal precincts, under +the brow of the hills and within sight and sound of the flashing Dee. +Gradually the natural birch wood shows more traces of cultivation, and +is interspersed with such trees and shrubs as suit the climate, and +the rough pasture gives place to the smooth lawn, with a knot of +bright flower-beds on one side. + +The house is built of reddish granite in what is called the baronial +style, with a sprinkling of peaked gables and pepper-box turrets, and +a square tower with a clock which is said to keep the time all over +the parish. Above the principal entrance are the coats of arms, +carved, coloured, and picked out with gold. There are two bas-reliefs +serving to indicate the character of the building--a hunting-lodge +under the patronage of St. Hubert, supported by St. Andrew of Scotland +and St. George of England, the stag between whose antlers the sacred +cross sprang, forming part of the representation. The other bas-relief +shows groups of men engaged in Highland games. + +Within doors many a relic of the chase appears in antlered heads +surmounting inscriptions in brass of the date of the slaying of the +stag and the name of the slayer. The engravings on the walls are +mostly of mountain landscapes and sporting scenes, in which Landseer's +hand is prominent, and of family adventures in making this ascent or +crossing that ford. + +The furniture is as Scotch as may be--chairs and tables, with few +exceptions, of polished birch hangings and carpets with the tartan +check on the velvet pile, the royal "sets" in all their bewildering +variety: "royal Stewart," strong in scarlet; "Victoria," with the +check relieved on a white ground; "Albert," on a deep blue, and +"hunting Stewart," which suddenly passes into a soft vivid green, +crossed by lines of red and yellow. + +Drawing-room, dining-room, billiard-room, and library are spacious +enough for royalty, while small enough for comfort when royalty is in +happy retreat in little more than a large family circle rusticating +from choice. The corridors look brown and simple, like the rest of the +house, and lack the white statuary of Osborne, and the superb vases, +cabinets, and pictures of Buckingham Palace and Windsor. By the +chimney-piece in the entrance hall rest the tattered colours once +borne through flood and field by two famous regiments, one of them +"the Cameronians." + +In the drawing-room is a set of chairs with covers in needlework sewed +by a cluster of industrious ladies-in-waiting. In the library hangs a +richly wrought wreath of flowers in porcelain, an offering from +Messrs. Minton to the Queen. On the second story are the private rooms +of her Majesty and the different members of the royal family. Perhaps +the ballroom, a long hall, one story in height, running out from the +building like an afterthought, is one of the most picturesque features +of the place. The decorations consist of devices placed at intervals +on the walls. These devices are made up of Highland weapons, Highland +plaids, Highland bonnets bearing the chief's feather or the badge of +the clan. Doubtless tufts of purple heather and russet bracken, with +bunches of the coral berries of the rowan, will supplement other +adornments as the occasion calls for them; and when the lights gleam, +the pipers strike up, and the nimble dancers foot it with grace and +glee through reel [Footnote: "Yesterday we had the Gillies' Ball, at +which Arthur distinguished himself and was greatly applauded in the +Highland reels. Next to Jamie Gow, he was the 'favourite in the +room.'"--Extract from one of the Prince Consort's letters.] and sword- +dance, the effect must be excellent of its kind. For long years the +balls at Balmoral have been mostly kindly festivals to the humble +friends who look forward to the royal visits as to the galas of the +year, the greater part of which is spent in a remote solitude not +without the privations which accompany a northern winter. + +The parish church of Crathie, a little, plain, white building, well +situated on a green, wooded knoll, looks across the Dee to Balmoral. +The church is notable for its wide, red-covered gallery seats, to +which the few plain pews in the area below bear a small proportion. +The Queen's arms are in front of the gallery, which contains her seat +and that of the Prince of Wales. Opposite are two stained-glass +windows, representing King David with his harp, and St. Paul with the +sword of the Spirit and the word of God, gifts of the Queen in memory +of her sister, the Princess of Hohenlohe, and of Dr. Norman Macleod. +Famous speakers and still more famous hearers have worshipped together +in this simple little country church. Macleod, Tulloch, Caird, +Macgregor--the foremost orators in the Church of Scotland--have taken +their turn with the scholarly parish minister, while in the pews, +bearing royalty company, have sat statesmen and men of letters of whom +the world has heard: Lord Derby, Mr. Gladstone, Dean Stanley, Sir +Arthur Helps, &c., &c. + +The old churchyard in which John Brown, the Queen's trusty Scotch +servant, faithful as a squire of old, sleeps, lies down in the low +land near the Dee. John Brown's house, solid and unpretending like the +man himself, which he only occupied once, when his coffin lay for a +night in the dining-room, is in the neighbourhood. + +The Queen has white cottages not far from the castle gate, built on +the model of the Osborne cottages, pretty and convenient homes of +keepers, keepers' widows, &c., &c., with the few artisans whose +services are necessary for the small population. There are other +cottages of the old, homely sort, containing no more than "the butt +and the benn" of stereotyped Scotch architecture, with the fire made +of "peats" or of sticks on the hearth-floor. In some of these, the +walls of the better rooms are covered with good plates and photographs +of every member of the royal family, with whose lineaments we are +familiar, from the widowed Queen to the last royal couple among her +grandchildren. These likenesses are much-valued gifts from the +originals. + +As a nucleus to the cottages, there is _the_ shop or Highland +store with a wide door and a couple of counters representing two +branches of trade in the ordinarily distinct departments of groceries +and haberdashery. Probably this is the one shop in her Majesty's +domains in which, as we have evidence in her journal, [Footnote: "Life +in the Highlands"--Queen's journal. "Albert went out with Alfred for +the day, and I walked out with the two girls and Lady Churchill, +stopped at the shop and made some purchases for poor people and +others. Drove a little way, got out and walked up the hill to +_Balnacroft_, Mrs. P. Farquharson's, and she walked round with us +to some of the cottages to show me where the poor people lived, and to +tell them who I was.... I went into a small cabin of old Kitty Kear's, +who is eighty-six years old, quite erect, and who welcomed us with a +great air of dignity. She sat down and spun. I gave her, also, a warm +petticoat; she said, 'May the Lord ever attend ye and yours, here and +hereafter, and may the Lord be a guide to ye and keep ye from all +harm.' ... We went into three other cottages--to Mrs. Symons's +(daughter-in-law to the old widow living next door) who had an 'unwell +boy,' then across a little burn to another old woman's, and afterwards +peeped into Blair's, the fiddler. We drove back and got out again to +visit old Mrs. Grant (Grant's mother), who is so tidy and clean, and +to whom I gave a dress and a handkerchief; and she said, 'You're too +kind to me, you're over kind to me, ye give me more every year, and I +get older every year.' After talking some time to her, she said, 'I am +happy to see ye looking so nice.' She had tears in her eyes, and +speaking of Vicky's going said, 'I'm very sorry, and I think she is +sorry hersel'.'..."] she avails herself of the feminine privilege of +shopping. For the Queen can live the life of a private lady--can show +herself the most considerate and sympathetic of noble gentlewomen in +this primitive locality. She can walk or drive her ponies, or visit on +foot her commissioner or her minister, or look in at her school, or +call on her sick, aged, and poor, and take to them the comforts she +has provided for them, the tokens of her remembrance they prize so +much. She can enjoy their simple friendliness and native shrewdness. +She can read to them words of lofty promise and tender consolation. +She can do all as if she were not crowned Queen and ruler of a great +kingdom. In hardly any other part of her empire would such pleasant +familiar intercourse and gentle personal charities be possible for +her. The association has been deepened and strengthened by a duration +of more than thirty years. The Queen came while still a young wife to +Balmoral, and she has learnt to love and be loved by her neighbours in +the long interval which leaves her a royal widow of threescore. Her +children were fair-haired little boys and girls, making holiday here, +playing at riding and shooting, getting into scrapes like other +children, [Footnote: There is a story told of one of the little +princes having chased an old woman's hen and been soundly scolded by +her for the offence. Her neighbours remonstrated with her, and her +heart failed her when, a few days afterwards, she saw the Prince +Consort coming up the path to her house leading the small offender. +But the visit was one of courteous deprecation, in order that the +little hunter of forbidden game might personally apologise for his +delinquency.] prattling to the old women in "mutches" and "short +gowns," whose houses were so charmingly queer and convenient, with the +fires on the hearths to warm cold little toes, and the shadowy nooks +ready for hide-and-seek. These children are now older than their +mother was when she first came up Dee-side, heads of houses in their +turn, but they have not forgotten the friends of their youth. + +The rustic community is pervaded in an odd and fascinating manner with +the fine flavour of a Court. It has, as it were, a touch of Arcady. +Among tales of the great storms and fragments of old legends, curious +reflections of high life and gossip of lords and ladies crop up. Not +only are noble names and distinguished personages, everyday sounds and +friendly acquaintances in this privileged region, but when the great +world follows its liege lady here, it is to live in _villiagiatura_, to +copy her example in adapting itself to the ways of the place and in +cultivating the natives. Courtiers are only courtly in being frankly at +ease with the whole human race. Ladies-in-waiting and maids of honour +lose their pride of rank and worldly ambition--if they ever had any, +stroll about, drop into this or that cottage at will, and have their +cronies there as in loftier localities. We hear of this or that +marriage, which has yet to be announced in the _Morning Post_; how a +noble duke, who was conveniently in attendance on the Prince, once +walked with a fair and gentle lady, whose father was in waiting on the +Queen, through the birch woods and by the brawling Dee, and a marriage, +only too shortlived, came of it. And we end by listening to the piteous +details of the swift fading away of the much-loved young duchess. Other +names, with which the Court Calendar has made us familiar, are +constantly coming to the surface in the conversation, generally in +association with some act of cheery good fellowship. The son of an earl +found a dog for his mother at one of these cottage hearths, and never +returned to the neighbourhood without punctually reporting himself to +tell its old mistress how well her former pet was thriving--that it had +its dinner with the family in the dining-room, and drove every day with +the countess in her carriage. + +The fine old white house of Abergeldie, with its single-turreted +tower, has become the Scotch home of a genial prince and a beautiful +princess, who, we may remember, remained steadfastly settled there +during the darkening, shortening days of a gloomy autumn, in devoted +watch over her lady-in-waiting lying sick, nigh unto death with fever. +Abergeldie has another cherished memory, that of the good old Duchess +of Kent, for whom Prince Albert first rented the castle, who often +stayed in it, accompanied by her son, the Prince of Leiningen, her +daughter, the Princess of Hohenlohe, or some member of their families. +The peculiar cradle which used to be swung across the Dee here, +conveying passengers as well as parcels, has been removed in +consequence of the last disaster which befell its progress. An earlier +tragedy of a hapless bride and bridegroom who perished in making the +passage is still remembered. Remoter traditions, like that of the +burning of a witch on Craig-na-Ban, linger in the neighbourhood. + +Beyond Balmoral, in the Braemar direction, stretches the fine deer- +forest--a great fir-wood on broken ground--of Ballochbuie, a remnant of +the old forest of Mar, where a pretended hunting expedition meant a +projected rebellion. It is said an earl of that name bestowed it on a +Farquaharson in exchange for so small a matter as a plaid. It is now +part of the estate of Balmoral. The hills of Craig Nortie and Meal +Alvie lie not far off, while on the opposite side rise Craig-na-Ban +and Craig Owsel. + +Of all the Queen's haunts, that which she has made most her own, where +she has stayed for a day or two at a time, seeming to prefer to do so +when the hills have received their first powdering of snow, [Footnote: +"A little shower of snow had fallen, but was succeeded by brilliant +sunshine. The hills covered with snow, the golden birch-trees on the +lower brown hills, and the bright afternoon sky, were indescribably +beautiful"--Extract from the Queen's journal.] almost every year +during her residence in Aberdeenshire, is that which includes Alt-na- +Giuthasach and the Glassalt Shiel. This retreat is now reached by a +good carriage-road over a long tract of moorland among brown hills, +opening now and then in different directions to show vistas closed in +by the giant heads and shoulders--here of dark Loch-na-Gar, there of +Ben Macdhui, both of them presenting great white splashes on their +seamed and scarred sides--wide patches of winter snow on this July +day, far more than usual at the season, which will not melt now while +the year lasts. "Burns," the Girnoch and the Muich, trot by turns +along with us, singing their stories, half blythe, half plaintive. +Once or twice a lowly farmhouse has a few grass or oat-fields spread +out round it, with the solitude of the hills beyond. A cross-road to +such a house was so bad that a dog-cart brought up to it, had been +unyoked and left by the side of the main road, while its occupants +trudged to their destination on foot, leading with them the horse, +which needed rest and refreshment still more than its masters. The +blue waters of Loch Muich come in sight with bare precipitous hills +round; a little wood clothes the mouth of the pass and the loch, and +helps to shelter Alt-na-Ginthasach. The hut is now the Prince of +Wales's small shooting-lodge. The modest blue stone building, with its +brown wooden porch and its offices behind, is built on a knoll, and +commands a beautiful view of the loch and the steep rocky crags to +those who care for nature at the wildest. The only vestige of soft +green is the knoll on which the hut stands. All the rest is bleak and +brown, or purple when the heather is in bloom. The hills, torn by the +winter torrents, are glistening after a summer shower with a hundred +silver threads in the furrows of the watercourses. + +There are fences and gates to the royal domicile, but there is hardly +an attempt to alter its character within, unless by a round plot of +rhododendrons offering a few late blossoms. But all nature, however +stern and savage, smiles on a July day. The purple heather-bell is in +bloom, the tiny blue milkwort and the yellow rock-rose help to make a +summer carpet which is rendered still gayer by many a pale peach- +coloured orchis and by an occasional spray of wild roses, deeper in +the rose than the same flower is in the low countries, or by a tall +white foxglove. Loch Muich may be desolation itself when the heather +and bracken are sere, when the lowering sky breathes nothing save +gloom, and chill mist-wreaths creep round its precipices; but when the +air is buoyant in its tingling sharpness, when the dappled white +clouds are reflected in water--blue, not leaden, and there is enough +sunshine to cast intermittent shadows on the hillsides and the loch, +though a transient darkness and a patter of raindrops vary the scene, +it has its day and way of blossoming. + +The Queen's house or shiel of the Glassalt stands near the head of the +two miles long loch, just beyond the point where the Glassalt burn +comes leaping and dashing down the hillside. Here, too, is a small +sheltering fir and birch plantation, though not large enough to hide +the full view of the sentinel hills. A "roundel" of _Alpenrosen_, +or dwarf rhododendrons, is the only break in the growth of moss and +heather. The loch is so near the house that a stone thrown by a +child's hand from the windows of the principal rooms would fall into +the watery depths. + +The interior is almost as simple and limited in accommodation as Alt- +na-Giuthasach was when the Queen described it in her journal. The +dining-room and drawing-room might, in old fashioned language, be +called "royal closets"--cosy and sweet with chintz hangings and covers +to chairs and couches, a small cottage piano, a book-tray in which +Hill Burton's "History of Scotland" and Sir Walter Scott's "Tales of a +Grandfather," find their place among Scotch poetry old and new. The +engravings on the walls tell of that fidelity to the dead which +implies truth to the living. There are likenesses of the Prince--who +died before this house was built, as in the great palaces; the Duchess +of Hesse--best known in the north as Princess Alice; the Princess of +Hohenlohe, with her handsome matronly face, full of sense and +kindness, and her young daughter, Princess Elise, who passed away in +the springtime of her life. In these rustic sitting-rooms and the +adjacent bedrooms and dressing-rooms we come again on many a portrait +of the humble friends of the family--the dogs which we seem to know so +well; the early group of little Dash and big Nero, and Hector with the +parrot Lorey; Cairnach, Islay, Deckel, &c. [Footnote: An anecdote of +the royal kennels states that when no notice has been given, the +servants shall know of her Majesty's presence in the vicinity, and +will say among themselves, "The Queen is at Frogmore" by the actions +of the dogs, the stir and excitement, the eager listening, sniffing of +the air, wagging of tails, and common desire to break bounds and +scamper away to greet their royal mistress.] + +Behind the house a winding footpath leads up the hill to the rocky +cleft from which issues in a succession of white and foamy twists and +downward springs, the Falls of the Glassalt. Turning round from the +spectacle, the stranger looks down on the loch in its semicircle of +mountains. Gaining the crest of the hill and descending the edge on +the opposite side, the foot of the grim giant Loch-na-Gar is reached. + +Among the visitors at Balmoral in 1858 was Florence Nightingale. The +Queen had before this presented her with a jewel in remembrance of her +services in the Crimea. The design was as follows: a field of white +enamel was charged with a St. George's cross in ruby red enamel, from +which shot rays of gold. This field was encircled by a black band +bearing the scroll "Blessed are the merciful." The shield was set in a +framework of palm-branches in green enamel tipped with gold, and +united at the bottom by a riband of blue enamel inscribed "Crimea" in +gold letters. The cypher V.R. surmounted by a crown in diamonds, was +charged upon the centre of the cross. On the back was a gold tablet +which bore an inscription from the hand of her Majesty. + +While the Queen was in Scotland the marriage in Germany of one of the +daughters of the Princess of Hohenlohe took place. Princess Adelaide, +like her sister Princess Elise, possessed of many attractions, became +the wife of Prince Frederick of Schleswig Holstein Sonderberg- +Augustenberg, the brother of Prince Christian, destined to become the +husband of Princess Helena. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +DEATH OF THE PRINCE Of LEININGEN--BIRTH OF PRINCESS BEATRICE--BESTOWAL +OF THE VICTORIA CROSS--INDIAN MUTINY. + +The court returned to Windsor in October, and in November a severe +blow struck the Queen in the death of her brother, the Prince of +Leiningen. A second fit of apoplexy ended his life while his sister, +the Princess of Hohenlohe, watched by his death-bed. Prince Leiningen +was fifty-two years of age. He had served in the Bavarian army, and +was a man of recognised influence among his countrymen in the German +troubles of 1848, which cost him his principality. He had married in +1829, when he was twenty-seven years of age and when the Queen was +only a little girl of ten, Marie (née) Countess of Kletelsberg. He +left two sons, the eldest of whom, Prince Ernest, entered the English +navy. + +Her Majesty's references to the death in her letters to King Leopold +are very pathetic. "Oh! dearest uncle, this blow is a heavy one, my +grief very bitter. I loved my dearest, only brother, most tenderly." +And again, "We three were particularly fond of each other, and never +felt or fancied that we were not real _geschwister_ (children of +the same parents). We knew but one parent, _our_ mother, so +became very closely united, and so I grew up; the distance which +difference of age placed between us entirely vanished...." The aged +Duchess of Kent was "terribly distressed, but calm and resigned." + +Baron Stockmar was with the royal family at this time. It was his last +visit to England. His company, always earnestly coveted, especially by +the Prince, was apt to be bestowed in an erratic fashion +characteristic of the man. Some one of the royal children would +unexpectedly announce, "Papa, do you know the Baron is in his room," +which was the first news of his arrival. + +During the stay of the Court at Osborne in December, the graceful gift +of the _Resolute_ was made by the Americans to the Queen, and +accepted by her Majesty in person, with marked gratification. The +_Resolute_ was one of the English ships which had gone to the +north seas in search of Sir John Franklin. It had been abandoned in +the ice, found by an American vessel, taken across the Atlantic, +refitted, and by a happy thought offered as a suitable token to the +Queen. + +On the 14th of April, 1857, the Queen's fifth daughter and ninth and +last child was born at Buckingham Palace. A fortnight afterwards the +Duchess of Gloucester, the last of George the III. and Queen +Charlotte's children, died in her eighty-third year. The Queen wrote +of her to King Leopold, who must have been well acquainted with her in +his youth, "Her age, and her being a link with bygone times and +generations, as well as her great kindness, amiability, and +unselfishness, rendered her more and more dear and precious to us all, +and we all looked upon her as a sort of grandmother." Sixty-two years +before, when the venerable Princess was a charming maiden of eighteen, +she had gloried in the tidings of her princely cousin's laurels, won +on the battlefields of Flanders. More than twenty years afterwards, +when Princess Charlotte descended the staircase of Carlton House after +her marriage with Prince Leopold, "she was met at the foot with open +arms by the Princess Mary, whose face was bathed in tears." The first +wedding had removed the obstacle to the second, which was celebrated a +few weeks later. The Duchess lived for eighteen years happily with her +husband, then spent more than twenty years in widowhood. She ended her +long life at Gloucester House, Park Lane. At her earnest request, she +was buried without pomp or show with her people in the family vault at +Windsor. + +Before the late Duchess of Gloucester's funeral, Prince Albert, +according to a previous pledge, opened, on the 5th of May, the great +Art Exhibition at Manchester, to which the Queen contributed largely. + +On the announcement to Parliament of the Princess Royal's approaching +marriage, the House of Commons voted in a manner gratifying to the +Queen and the Prince a dowry of forty thousand, with an annuity of +eight thousand a year to the Princess. + +At Osborne the Queen had a flying visit from one of her recent +enemies, the Archduke Constantine, the Admiral-in-Chief of the Russian +navy. + +On the 14th of June, the young Archduke Maximilian of Austria arrived. +He was an object of peculiar interest to the Queen and the Prince, as +the future husband of their young cousin, Princess Charlotte of +Belgium. He seemed in every way worthy of the old king's careful +choice for his only daughter. Except in the matter of looks, he was +all that could have been wished--good, clever, kind. But man proposes +and God disposes; so it happened that the marriage attended by such +bright and apparently well-founded hopes resulted in one of the most +piteous tragedies that ever befell a noble and innocent royal pair. +Another bridegroom, Prince Frederick William, was in England to meet +the Archduke, and a third was hovering in the background in the person +of Don Pedro of Portugal, whose marriage with Princess Stephanie of +Hohenzollern Prince Albert had been requested to negotiate. Marriage- +bells were in the air, and that must indeed have been a joyous +christening at which two of the bridegrooms were present. Prince +Frederick William of Prussia acted as godfather to his future little +sister-in-law, while his betrothed bride was one of the godmothers. +The infant was named as her Majesty explained to King Leopold: "She is +to be called Beatrice, a fine old name, borne by three of the +Plantaganet princesses, and her other names will be Mary (after poor +Aunt Mary), Victoria (after mamma and Vicky, who with Fritz Wilhelm +are to be the sponsors), and Feodore (the Queen's sister)." Her +Majesty's last baby was a beautiful infant, soon to exhibit bright and +winning ways, the pet plaything of her brothers and sisters, and +especially of her father. + +On the 25th of June the Queen conferred on Prince Albert, by letters +patent, the title of "Prince Consort." The change was desirable, to +insure the proper recognition of his rank, as her Majesty's husband, +at foreign courts. + +On the following day, the 26th, the interesting ceremony of the first +bestowal of the Victoria Cross took place in Hyde Park before many +thousands of spectators. The idea was to provide a decoration which +might be earned by officers and soldiers alike, as it should be +conferred for a single merit--the highest a soldier could possess, yet +in its performance open to all--devoted, unselfish courage. Thus arose +the most coveted and honourable of English orders, which confers more +glory on its wearer than the jewelled star of the Order of the Garter +gives distinction. In excellent keeping with the motive of the +creation, the Maltese cross is of the plainest material, iron from the +cannon taken at Sebastopol; in the centre is the crown, surmounted by +the lion; below it the scroll "For Valour." On the clasp are branches +of laurel; the cross hangs suspended from it by the letter V--a red +riband being for the army, a blue for the navy. The decoration +includes a pension of ten pounds a year. The arrangements for the +ceremony were similar to those at the distribution of the medals, +except that her Majesty was on horseback. She rode a grey roan, and +wore a scarlet jacket with a black skirt. Stooping from her seat on +horseback, she pinned the cross on each brave man's breast, while the +Prince saluted him with "a gesture of marked respect." [Footnote: +"Life of the Prince Consort."] Prince Frederick William was with the +royal party. + +A few days afterwards, the Queen, the Prince, their two elder +daughters and two elder sons and Prince Frederick William of Prussia, +a large party, paid a visit to Manchester, staying two nights at +Worsley Hall. They inspected the great picture exhibition, received +addresses, and traversed the streets to Peel Park, where a statue to +her Majesty had been recently erected, the whole amidst much +rejoicing. + +In the end of June, King Leopold arrived with his daughter on a +farewell visit before her marriage, so that there were two young +brides comparing experiences and anticipating what the coming years +would bring, under her Majesty's wing. The princesses were nearly of +an age, neither quite seventeen. They had been playmates and friends +since childhood, but the fates in store for them were very different. + +In the second week of July the freedom of the City of London was +presented to Prince Frederick William of Prussia; the Prince Consort +was sworn in master of the Trinity House, and the Queen and the Prince +visited the camp at Aldershott. On the 27th the marriage of the +Princess Charlotte of Belgium and the Archduke Maximilian was +celebrated at Brussels. The Prince went abroad for a few days, to make +one in the group of friends and relations, among whom was the old +French Queen Amélie, the grandmother of the bride. Queen Victoria +wrote to King Leopold, that she was present with them in spirit, and +that she could not have given a greater proof of her love than she had +shown in urging her husband to go. "You cannot think how much this +costs me," she added, "or how completely forlorn I am and feel when he +is away, or how I count the hours till he returns. All the numerous +children are as nothing to me when he is away. It seems as if the +whole life of the house and the home were gone." + +On the 6th of August, the Emperor of the French's yacht, with the +Emperor and Empress on board, arrived on the English coast, and a +private visit of a few days' length was paid to the Queen and the +Prince at Osborne. On the 19th of August Her Majesty and the Prince, +with six of their children, in the royal yacht, paid an equally +private visit to Cherbourg, in the absence of the Emperor and Empress. +During the short stay there was a long country drive to an old +chateau, when darkness overtook the adventurous party, and all was +agreeably fresh and foreign. + +By the beginning of September terrible tidings arrived from India. The +massacre of the English women and children at Cawnpore, after the +surrender of the fort, and the perilous position of the garrison at +Lucknow, darkened the usually joyous stay at Balmoral, to which the +Princess Royal was paying her last visit. Another source of distress +to the Queen and the Prince, when the mutiny began to be put down, was +the indiscriminate vengeance which a section of the rulers in India +seemed inclined to take on the natives for the brutalities of the +rebels. At length Lucknow was relieved, and England breathed freely +again, though the country had to mourn the death of Havelock. Sir +Colin Campbell completed the defeat of the enemy, and the first steps +were taken to put an end to the complications of government in India, +by bringing the great colony directly under the rule of the Queen, and +causing the intermediate authority of the East India Company to cease. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL. + +In the end of 1857 there were many preparations for the marriage of +the Princess Royal in the month of January in the coming year. In the +interval a calamity occurred at Claremont which revived the +recollection of the great disaster in the early years of the century, +and was deeply felt by the Queen and the Prince Consort. The pretty +and gentle Victoire, Duchesse de Nemours, the Queen and the Prince +Consort's cousin, and his early playfellow, had given birth to a +princess, and appeared to be recovering, in spite of her presentiment +to the contrary. The Queen had gone to see and congratulate her. The +old Queen Amélie and the Duc de Nemours had been at Windsor full of +thankfulness for the happy event. The Duchess was sitting up in bed, +looking cheerfully at the new dress in which she was to rejoin the +family circle next day, when in a second she fell back dead. + +Another shock was the news of the Orsini bomb, which exploded close to +the Emperor and Empress of the French as they were about to enter the +opera-house. + +The marriage of the Princess Royal was fixed for the 25th of January, +1858. On the 15th the Court left Windsor for Buckingham Palace, when +the Queen's diary records the sorrow with which the young bride +relinquished many of the scenes and habits of her youth. One sentence +recalls vividly the kindly family ties which united the royal +children. Her Majesty writes, "She slept for the last time in the same +room with Alice." In the course of the next few days all the guests +had assembled, including, King Leopold and his sons, the Prince and +Princess of Prussia, the Duke of Saxe Coburg, with minor princes and +princesses, to the number of nearly thirty, so that even Buckingham +Palace was hardly large enough to hold the guests and their suites. At +the nightly dinner party from eighty to ninety covers were laid. But +one old friend was absent, to the regret of all, and not least so of +the bride. Baron Stockmar was too ill to accept the invitation to be +present at the ceremony. One of his sons was to accompany the Princess +to Berlin as her treasurer. + +"Such bustle and excitement," wrote the Queen, and then she describes +an evening party with a "very gay and pretty dance" on the 18th, when +Ernest, Duke of Coburg, said, "It seemed like a dream to him to see +Vicky dance as a bride, just as I did eighteen years ago, and I am +still (so he said) looking very young. In 1840 poor dear papa (late +Duke of Coburg) danced with me, as Ernest danced with Vicky." In +truth, neither the father nor the mother of the bride of seventeen had +reached the age of forty. + +The first of the public festivities were three of the four State +visits to Her Majesty's Theatre, "when the whole of the boxes on one +side of the grand tier had been thrown into one" for the royal company +gracing the brilliant audience--which, as on a former occasion, filled +the back of the stage as well as the rest of the house. The plays and +operas were, _Macbeth_, in which Helen Faucit acted, [Footnote: +Another great actress had just passed away in her prime. Mademoiselle +Rachel had died in the beginning of this month, near Cannes.] _Twice +Killed, The Rose of Castille, Somnambula_. At the first +performance, the Queen sat between the King of the Belgians and the +Prince of Prussia. After the play, "God save the Queen" was sung with +much enthusiasm. + +As when her own marriage had occurred, all the nation sympathised with +Her Majesty. It was as if from every house a cherished young daughter +was being sent with honour and blessing. The Princess Royal, always +much liked, appealed especially to the popular imagination at this +time because of her extreme youth, her position as a bride, and the +circumstance that she was the first of the Queen's children thus to +quit the home-roof. But, indeed, we cannot read the published passages +in the Queen's journal that refer to the marriage without a lively +realisation of the touch of nature which makes the whole world kin, +without a sense that good true hearts beat alike everywhere, and that +strong family affection--an elixir of life--is the same in the palace +as in the cottage. + +In fine frosty weather, on Saturday, the 23rd, the Prince Consort, +after a walk in Buckingham Palace Gardens with the Queen and the child +so soon to be parted from them, started to bring the bridegroom, who +had landed in England that morning. He arrived in the middle of the +day, and was received in the presence of the Court. The Queen found +him looking pale and nervous, but no doubt alive to her warm greeting, +at the bottom of the grand staircase. At the top a still sweeter +reward awaited him, for the Princess Royal, with her fifteen years' +old sister, Princess Alice, to keep her company, stood there. + +On the 24th, all the gifts to the young couple, which the Queen calls +"splendid," were shown in the large drawing-room--the Queen's, the +Prince Consort's, the Duchess of Kent's, &c., on one table; the +Prussian and other foreign gifts on another. Of the bride-groom's +gift--a single string of large pearls, said to have been worth five +thousand pounds, her Majesty remarks that they were the largest she +ever saw. The Queen gave a necklace of diamonds, the Prince Consort a +set of diamonds and emeralds, the Prince of Wales a set of diamonds +and opals, the King and Queen of Prussia a diamond tiara, the Prince +of Prussia a diamond and turquoise necklace, King Leopold a Brussels +lace dress, valued at a thousand pounds. On a third table were the +candelabra which the Queen and the Prince gave to their son-in-law. +The near relations of the bride and bridegroom brought the young +couple into the room, and witnessed their pleasure at the magnificent +sight. Before the Sunday service the Princess Royal gave the Queen a +brooch with the Princess's hair, clasping her mother in her arms as +she did so, and telling her--precious words for such a mother to hear, +nobly fulfilled in the days to come--that she hoped to be worthy to be +her child. + +Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, preached an eloquent sermon. + +"Very busy, interrupted and disturbed every instant," the record runs +on. Many can enter into the feelings which prompted the Queen and the +Prince, after the duties of hospitality were discharged, to accompany +their child to her room for the last time, and to kiss and bless her +while she clung to them. It is necessary to remember that every rank +has its privations. Not the least penalty of such a station as that +which the Princess Royal was to occupy arose from the fact that its +many and weighty obligations precluded the hope of her returning +frequently or for any length of time to the home where she had been so +happy, which she was so grieved to quit, though social customs have +improved in this respect, and royal marriages no longer mean, as a +matter of course, banishment for life from the bride's native country. + +On the wedding morning, the Queen declared very naturally that she +felt as if she were being married over again herself, "only much more +nervous," since now it was for another, and a dearer than herself, +that her heart was throbbing. Besides, she said, she had not "that +blessed feeling, elevating and supporting, of giving herself up for +life to him whom she loved and worshipped--then and ever." She was +comforted by her daughter's coming to her while the Queen was +dressing, showing herself quiet and composed. The day was fine, with a +winter sun shining brightly, as all England, especially all London +knew, for many a pleasure-seeker was abroad betimes to enjoy the +holiday. The marriage was to take place, like the Queen's marriage, in +the little Chapel Royal of St. James's. Before setting out, a final +daguerreotype was taken of the family group, father, mother, and +daughter, "but I trembled so," the Queen writes, "my likeness has come +out indistinct." + +In the drive from Buckingham Palace to St James's, the Princess Royal +in her wedding dress was in the carriage with her Majesty, sitting +opposite to her, when "the flourish of trumpets and the cheering of +thousands" made the Queen's motherly heart sink. In the bride's +dressing-room, fitted up for the day, to which the Queen took the +Princess, were the Prince Consort and King Leopold, both in field- +marshals' uniform, and carrying batons, and the eight bridesmaids, +"looking charming in white tulle, with wreaths and bouquets of pink +roses and white heather." + +Her Majesty left the bride and repaired to the royal closet, where she +found the Duchess of Kent and the Duchess of Cambridge with her son +and daughter. Old and new relations were claiming the Queen at the +same time. Her thoughts were perpetually straying back to that former +wedding-day. She spared attention from her daughter to bestow it on +her mother, "looking so handsome in violet velvet, trimmed with ermine +and white silk and violets." And as the processions were formed, her +Majesty exclaimed, perhaps with a vague pang, referring to the good +old Duchess still with her, and still able to play her part in the +joyful ceremony, "How small the _old_ royal family has become!" +Indeed, there were but two representatives--the Duchesses of Kent and +Cambridge. The Princess Mary of Cambridge, the farthest removed from +the throne, walked first of the English royal family, her train borne +by Lady Arabella Sackville West; then the Duke of Cambridge; the +Duchess of Cambridge followed, her train borne by Lady Geraldine +Somerset. The Duchess of Kent, with her train borne the Lady Anna +Maria Dawson, walked next to the present royal family. They were +preceded by Lord Palmerston, bearing the sword of state. The Prince of +Wales, and Prince Alfred, fresh from his naval studies, lads of +sixteen and fourteen, in Highland costumes, were immediately before +the Queen, who walked between Prince Arthur and Prince Leopold, +children of eight and five years of age. Her Majesty's train was of +lilac velvet, petticoat of lilac and silver moiré--antique, with a +flounce of Honiton lace; corsage ornamented with diamonds, the Koh-i- +noor as a brooch; head-dress, a magnificent diadem of diamonds and +pearls. The three younger princesses--Alice, Helena, and Louise, girls +of fifteen, twelve, and ten--went hand-in-hand behind their mother. +They wore white lace over pink satin, with daisies and blue +cornflowers in their hair. + +Most of the foreign princes were already in the chapel, which was full +of noble company, about three hundred peers and peeresses being +accommodated there. White and blue prevailed in the colours of the +ladies dresses, blue in compliment to Prussia. At the altar, set out +with gold plate of Queen Anne's reign, were the Archbishop of +Canterbury, the Bishops of London, Oxford, and Chester, and the Dean +of Windsor. As the Queen entered, she and the Princess of Prussia +exchanged profound obeisances. Near her Majesty were her young princes +and princesses; behind her the Duchess of Kent; opposite her the +Princess of Prussia, with the foreign princes behind her. + +The drums and trumpets and the organ played as the bridegroom's and +the bride's processions approached, and the Queen describes the +thrilling effect of the music drawing nearer and nearer. The +bridegroom entered between his supporters, his father and brother-in- +law, the Prince of Prussia and Prince William of Baden. Prince +Frederick William, soldierly and stately, wore the blue uniform of a +Prussian general, with the insignia of the Black Eagle, and carried in +his hand his polished silver helmet. He looked pale and agitated, but +was quite master of himself. He bowed low to the Queen and to his +mother, then knelt with a devotion which attracted attention. The +bride walked as at her confirmation, between her father and godfather-- +her grand-uncle King Leopold. Her blooming colour was gone, and she +was pale almost as her white dress of moiré and Honiton lace, with +wreaths of orange and myrtle blossoms. Her train was borne by eight +bridesmaids--daughters of dukes, marquises, and earls--Lady Susan +Clinton, Lady Emma Stanley, Lady Susan Murray, Lady Victoria Noel, +Lady Cecilia Gordon Lennox, Lady Katherine Hamilton, Lady Constance +Villiers, and Lady Cecilia Molyneux. + +One can well conceive that the young princess looked "very touching +and lovely, with such an innocent, confiding, and serious expression, +her veil hanging back over her shoulders." + +As the Princess advanced to the altar, she paused and made a deep +obeisance to her mother, colouring high as she did so, and the same to +the Princess of Prussia. The bridegroom when he took the bride's hand +bent one knee. + +Once more as the Prince Consort gave her daughter away, her Majesty +had a bright vision of her own happy marriage on that very spot; again +she was comforted by her daughter's self-control, and she could +realise that it was beautiful to see the couple kneeling there with +hands joined, the bridesmaids "like a cloud of maidens hovering near +her (the bride) as they knelt." + +When the ring was placed on the Princess's finger cannon were fired, +and a telegram was sent off to Berlin that the same compliment might +be paid to the pair there. The close of the "Hallelujah Chorus" was +sung at the end of the ceremony. + +The usual congratulations followed. The bride flung herself into her +mother's arms and was embraced by her again and again, then by her +bridegroom and her father. Prince Frederick William kissed first the +hand and then the cheek of his father and mother, saluted the Prince +Consort and King Leopold foreign fashion, and was embraced by the +Queen. Princess Frederick William would have kissed her father-in- +law's hand, but was prevented by his kissing her cheek. The bride and +bridegroom left the chapel hand-in-hand to the sound of Mendelssohn's +"Wedding March." The register was signed in the Throne-room first by +the young couple, then by their parents, and afterwards by all the +princes and princesses--including the Maharajah Duleep Singh +"resplendent in pearls." + +The newly wedded pair drove to Buckingham Palace, to which the Queen +and the Prince Consort followed, with the Prince and Princess of +Prussia, through an immense multitude, amidst ringing cheers. The +whole party showed themselves on the balcony before the window over +the grand archway, where the Queen had appeared on so many memorable +occasions. First her Majesty with her children came out, then the +Queen led forward the bride, who stood hand-in-hand with her +bridegroom; afterwards the rest of the circle joined them. It was a +matter of lively satisfaction to her Majesty and the Prince Consort to +witness the loyal, affectionate interest which the people took in +their daughter, and the Queen and the Prince were ready to gratify the +multitude by what is dear to every wedding crowd, "a sight of the +bride and bridegroom." + +The wedding cake was six feet high. The departure of the couple for +Windsor, where they were to spend their honeymoon, was no more than a +foreshadowing of that worse departure a week later. The Queen and the +Princess of Prussia accompanied their children to the grand entrance; +the Prince Consort escorted his daughter to her carriage. The bride +wore a while _épinglé_ dress and mantle trimmed with grebe, a +white bonnet with orange blossoms, and a Brussel's lace veil. + +At the family dinner after the excitement and fatigue of the day were +over, the Queen felt "lost" without her eldest daughter. In the +evening a messenger arrived from Windsor, bringing a letter from the +bride telling how the Eton boys had dragged the carriage from the +station to the castle, though she might not know that they, had flung +up their hats in the air, many of them beyond recovery, the wearers +returning bareheaded to their college. When the Queen and the Prince +read this letter all London was illuminated, and its streets filled +with huzzaing spectators. At the palace the evening closed quietly +with a State concert of classic music. + +The Princess Royal's honeymoon so far as a period of privacy was +concerned, did not last longer than the Queen's. Two days after the +marriage the Court followed the young couple to Windsor, where a +chapter of the Order of the Garter was held, and Prince Frederick +William was created a knight, a banquet being held in the Waterloo +Gallery. On the 29th of January, the Court-including the newly married +pair-returned to Buckingham Palace, and in the evening the fourth +state visit was paid to Her Majesty's Theatre, when _The Rivals_ +and _The Spitalfields Weaver_ were given. The bride was in blue +and white, the Prussian colours, and wore a wreath of sweet peas on +her hair. + +On the 30th of January, the addresses from the City of London and +other cities and towns of the Empire, many of them accompanied by +wedding gifts, were received, and there was a great and of course +specially brilliant Drawing-room, which lasted for four hours. On +Sunday the thought of the coming separation pressed heavily on those +loving hearts, "but God will carry us through, as He did on the 25th," +wrote the Queen reverently, "and we have the comfort of seeing the +dear young people so perfectly happy." + +On Monday, the Queen in noting that it was the last day of their dear +child's being with them, admitted she was sick at heart, and the poor +young bride confided to her mother, "I think it will kill me to take +leave of dear papa." + +Tuesday, the 2nd of February, was dark and cold, with snow beginning +to fall, unpropitious weather for a long journey, unless in the Scotch +saying which declares that a bride is happy who goes "a white gate" +(road:) All were assembled in the hall, not a dry eye among them, the +Queen believed. "I clasped her in my arms, and blessed her, and knew +not what to say." The royal mother shared all good mother's burdens. +"I kissed good Fritz, and pressed his hand again and again. He was +unable to speak, and the tears were in his eyes." One more embrace of +her daughter at the door of the open carriage, into which the Prince +Consort and the Prince of Wales went along with the Prince and +Princess Frederick William, the band struck up, and they were gone. + +The embarkation was at Gravesend. The Londoners assembled in crowds to +see the last of their Princess on her route to the coast by the +Strand, Cheap, and London Bridge. Many persons recall to this day the +sorrowful scene in the cheerless snowy weather. This was the reverse +side of all the splendid wedding festivities-the bride of seventeen +quitting family, home, and native country, sitting grave and sad +beside her equally pale, and silent father--the couple so tenderly +attached, on the eve of the final parting. At Gravesend, where young +girls, in spite of the snow, strewed flowers before the bride's steps, +the Prince waited to see the ship sail--not without risk in the +snowstorm--for Antwerp. But no daughter appeared for a last look; the +passionate sorrow of youth hid itself from view. + +Away at Buckingham Palace the Queen could not bear to look at the +familiar objects--all linked with one vanished presence. The very baby +princess, so great a darling in the household, only brought the +thought of how fond her elder sister had been of her; how but +yesterday the two had played together. + +The Princess wrote home from the steamer, and every telegram and +letter, together with the personal testimony of Lady Churchill and +Lord Sydney, who had accompanied the travellers to Berlin, conveyed +the most gratifying and consoling intelligence of the warm welcome the +stranger had met with, and how well she bore herself in difficult +circumstances. "Quiet and dignified, but with a kind word to say of +everybody; on the night of her public entry into Berlin and reception +at Court, when she polonaised with twenty-two princes in succession." +[Footnote: Lady Bloomfield.] The Princess Frederick William continued +to write "almost daily, sometimes twice a day," to her mother, and +regularly once a week to her father. And another fair young daughter +was almost ready to take the Princess Royal's place at the Queen's +side. From the date of her sister's marriage, the Prince Consort's +letters and the Queen's journal tell that the Princess Alice, with her +fine good sense and unselfishness, almost precocious at her age, was a +great help and comfort in the royal circle. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +DEATH OF THE DUTCHESS D'ORLEANS--THE PRINCE CONSORT'S VISIT TO +GERMANY--THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT'S VISIT TO PRINCE AND PRINCESS +FREDERICK WILLIAM AT BABELSBERG. + +In February, Lord Palmerston's ministry resigned after a defeat on the +Conspiracy Bill, and Lord Derby, at the Queen's request, formed a +short-lived Cabinet. The Prince of Wales was confirmed on Maundy +Thursday in the chapel at Windsor. + +In April, the young Queen of Portugal, Princess Stéphanie of +Hohenzollern, visited England with her father on her way to her +husband--to whom she had been married by proxy--and her future home. +Her charm and sweetness greatly attracted the Queen and the Prince. In +May, only seven months after the death of Victoire, Duchesse de +Nemours, the sympathies of her Majesty and the Prince Consort were +awakened afresh for the Orleans family. Helene, Duchesse d'Orleans, +died suddenly from the effects of influenza at Cranbourne House, +Richmond. How many of the large family party with which the Queen had +been so delighted when she visited Chateau d'Eu had already passed +away--the old King, Queen Louise, the Duchesse de Nemours, and now the +Duchesse d'Orleans! Her two young sons--the elder the Comte de Paris, +not yet twenty--were specially adopted by Queen Amélie. + +In the end of May the Prince started for a short visit to Germany, +with the double intention of getting a glimpse of his daughter, and +revisiting his country for the first time after thirteen years +absence. He accomplished both purposes, and heard "the watchman's +horn" once more before he retired to rest in the old home. He sent +many a loving letter, and tender remembrance to England in +anticipation of his speedy return. On his arrival in London he was met +by the Queen at the Bricklayers' Arms station. + +In the course of a very hot June, the Queen and the Prince went to +Warwickshire, which she had known as a young girl, in order to pay a +special visit to Birmingham. They were the guests for two nights of +Lord and Lady Leigh, at Stoneleigh. Her Majesty had the privilege of +seeing Birmingham without a particle of smoke, while a mighty +multitude of orderly craftsmen, with their wives and children, stood +many hours patiently under the blazing sun, admiring their banners and +flags, and cheering lustily for their Queen. One of the objects of the +visit was that her Majesty might open a people's museum and park at +Aston for the dwellers in the Black country. The royal party drove +next day to one of the finest old feudal castles in England--Warwick +Castle, with its noble screen of woods, mirroring itself in the Avon-- +and were entertained at luncheon by Lord and Lady Warwick. In the +evening, in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, the Queen and the +Prince returned to Buckingham Palace. + +This season as usual, there was a visit from the King of the Belgians +and several of his family. + +The first Atlantic cable was laid, and lasted just long enough for the +exchange of messages of proud congratulation on the wonderful +annihilation of distance between Europe and America, so far as the +thoughts of men were concerned. + +After a month's stay at Osborne, during one of the warmest Julys ever +known in this country, when the condition of the river Thames +threatened to drive the Parliament from Westminster, the Queen and the +Prince Consort, with the Prince of Wales and their suites, paid a +state visit to Cherbourg. The great fort was nearly completed, and the +harbour was full of French war-vessels as her Majesty steamed in, on +the evening of the 4th of August, receiving such a salute from the +ships and the fortress itself as seemed to shake earth and sky. The +Emperor and Empress, who arrived the same day, came on board at eight +o'clock, and were cordially received by the Queen and the Prince, +though the relations between France and England were not quite so +assured as when their soldiers were brothers-in-arms in the Crimea. +After the visitors left, the Queen's journal records that she went +below and read, and nearly finished "that most interesting book 'Jane +Eyre.'" + +When the Queen and the Prince landed next day, which was fine, they +were received by the Emperor and Empress, entered with them one of the +imperial carriages, and drove through the town to the Prefecture, +where the party breakfasted or rather lunched. In the afternoon the +fort with its gigantic ramparts and magnificent views was visited. +There was a State dinner in the evening, in the French ship +_Bretagne_. The Emperor received the Queen at the foot of the +ladder. The dinner was under canvas on deck amidst decorations of +flowers and flags. The Queen sat between the Emperor and the Duke of +Cambridge; the Empress sat between the Prince Consort and the Prince +of Wales. The speechmaking, to which one may say all Europe was +listening, was a trying experience. The Emperor, though he changed +colour, spoke well "in a powerful voice," proposing the health of the +Queen, the Prince, and the royal family, and declaring his adherence +to the French alliance with England. The Prince replied. "He did it +very well, though he hesitated once," the Queen reported. "I sat +shaking, with my eyes riveted to the table." The duty done, a great +relief was felt, as the speechmakers, with the Queen and the Empress, +retired to the privacy of the cabin, shook hands, and compared notes +on their nervousness. + +A splendid display of fireworks was witnessed from the deck of the +_Bretagne_. In the middle of it the Queen and the Prince returned +to the yacht, escorted by the Emperor and Empress, when they took +their departure in turn. They were followed by showers of English +rockets and rounds of English cheers. + +The next morning the Emperor and Empress paid a farewell visit on +board the yacht, which sailed at last under "heavy salutes." At five +o'clock in the afternoon the beach at Osborne was reached. The sailor +Prince, whose fourteenth birthday it was, stood on the pier. All the +children, including the baby, were at the door. The dogs added their +welcome. The young Prince's birthday-table was inspected. There was +still time to visit the Swiss Cottage, to which Princess Alice and the +Queen drove the other members of the family. The children's castle, +where they had lunched in honour of the day, was gay with flags. +Prince Alfred with Princess Alice was promoted to join the royal +dinner party. The little princes, Arthur and Leopold, appeared at +dessert. "A band played," writes the Queen, "and after dinner we +danced, with the three boys and the three girls and the company, a +merry country-dance on the terrace--a delightful finale to the +expedition! It seemed a dream that this morning at twelve we should +have been still at Cherbourg, with the Emperor and Empress on board +our yacht." + +On the 11th of August, the Queen and the Prince arrived in the yacht +at Antwerp, on their way to Germany, to pay their first eagerly +anticipated visit to the Princess Royal--then a wife of six months +standing--in her Prussian home. + +The travellers proceeded by railway to Malines, where they were met by +King Leopold with his second son, and escorted to Verviers in a +progress which was to be as far as possible without soldiers, salutes, +addresses; and at Aix-la-Chapelle the Prince of Prussia joined the +party. The halt for the night was at Dusseldorf, where the Prince and +Princess of Hohenzollern were waiting. The Queen and the Prince +Consort quitted their hotel to dine with the Hohenzollern family, in +whose members they were much interested. The Queen made the +acquaintance of a young son who is now Prince of Roumania, and a +handsome girl-princess who has become the wife of the Comte de +Flanders, King Leopold's younger son. + +The next day, long looked forward to as that which was to bring about +a reunion with the Princess Royal, was suddenly overclouded by the +news of the sad, unexpected death of the Prince's worthy valet, +"Cart," who had come with him to England, and been in his service +twenty-nine years--since his master was a child of eight The Prince +entered the room as the Queen was dressing, carrying a telegram, and +saying "My poor Cart is dead." Both felt the loss of the old friend +acutely. "All day long," wrote the Queen, "the tears would rush into +my eyes." She added, "He was the only link my loved one had about him +which connected him with his childhood, the only one with whom he +could talk over old times. I cannot think of my dear husband without +Cart." It was no day for sorrow, yet the noble, gentle hearts bled +through all their joys. + +Before seven the royal party, including the Prince of Prussia, were on +their way through Rhenish Prussia. As the train rushed by the railway +platform at Buckeburg there stood the aged Baroness Lehzen, the +Queen's good old governess, waving her handkerchief. In the station at +Hanover were the King and Queen of Hanover, Princess Frederick Charles +of Prussia, and her Majesty's niece, the Princess Feodore of +Hohenlohe, a charming girl of nineteen, with her betrothed husband, +the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, a widower of thirty-two. + +The Queen then made the acquaintance of one of the cradles of her +race, driving out to the country palace of Herrenhausen, which had +been the home of the Electress Sophia, and where George I. was +residing when he was summoned to be king of England. At five o'clock, +in the heat and the dust, her Majesty resumed her journey, "with a +racking headache." At Magdeburg Prince Frederick William appeared, +"radiant," with the welcome intelligence that his Princess was at the +Wildpark station. "There on the platform stood our darling child, with +a nosegay in her hand." The Queen described the scene. "She stepped +in, and long and warm was the embrace, as she clasped me in her arms; +so much to say, and to tell, and to ask, yet so unaltered; looking +well, quite the old Vicky still! It was a happy moment, for which I +thank God!" It was eleven o'clock at night before the party reached +Babelsberg--a pleasant German country house, with which her Majesty +was much pleased. It became her headquarters for the fortnight during +which her visit lasted. In addition to enjoying the society of her +daughter, the Queen became familiar with the Princess's surroundings. +Daily excursions were made to a succession of palaces connected with +the past and present Prussian royal family. In this manner her Majesty +learnt to know the King's palace in Berlin, while the poor King, a +wreck in health, was absent; Frederick the Great's Schloss at Potsdam; +his whimsical Sans Souci with its orange-trees, the New Palais, and +Charlottenburg with its mausoleum. The Queen also attended two great +reviews, gave a day to the Berlin Museum, and met old Humboldt more +than once. Among the other guests at Babelsberg were the Duke of Saxe- +Coburg and Baron Stockmar. The Prince Consort's thirty-ninth birthday +was celebrated in his daughter's house. At last with struggling tears +and a bravely said "_Auf baldiges wiedersehn_" (to a speedy +meeting again), the strongly attached family party separated. The +peculiar pang of separation to the Queen, she expressed in words which +every mother will understand. "All would be comparatively easy were it +not for the one thought, that I cannot be with her (the Princess +Royal), at that very critical moment when every other mother goes to +her child." + +The royal travellers stayed over the Sunday at Deutz, and again saw +Cologne illuminated, the cathedral like "a mass of glowing red fire." +On reaching Osborne on the 31st of August, the Queen and the Prince +were met by Prince Alfred--who had just passed his examination and +been appointed to a ship--"in his middy's jacket, cap, and dirk." + +On their way to Scotland the Queen and the Prince Consort, accompanied +by the Princesses Alice and Helena, visited Leeds, for the purpose of +opening the Leeds Town Hall. The party stayed at Woodley House, the +residence of the mayor, who is described in her Majesty's journal as a +"perfect picture of a fine old man." In his crimson velvet robes and +chain of office he looked "the personification of a Venetian doge." +The Queen as usual made "the tour of the town amidst a great concourse +of spectators." She remarked on the occasion, "Nowhere have I seen the +children's names so often inscribed. On one large arch were even +'Beatrice and Leopold,' which gave me much pleasure...." a result +which, had they known it, would have highly gratified the loyal +clothworkers. After receiving the usual addresses, the Queen knighted +the mayor, and by her command Lord Derby declared the hall open. + +While her Majesty was at Balmoral, the marriages of a niece and nephew +of hers took place in Germany--Princess Feodore, the youngest daughter +of the Princess of Hehenlohe, married the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen; and +Ernest, Prince of Leiningen, the eldest son of the late Prince of +Leiningen, who was in the English navy, married Princess Marie Amélie +of Baden. + +More of the English royal children were taking flight from the parent +nest. Mr. Bruce, Lord Elgin's brother, was appointed Governor to the +Prince of Wales, and was about to set out with him on a tour in Italy. +Prince Alfred was with his ship at Malta. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +BIRTH OF PRINCE WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA--DEATH OF PRINCE HOHENLOHE-- +VOLUNTEER REVIEWS--SECOND VISIT TO COBURG--BETROTHAL OF PRINCESS +ALICE. + +One of the beauties of the Queen's early Court, Lady Clementina +Villiers, daughter of the Earl of Jersey, died unmarried at her +father's seat of Middleton Park in 1858. She was as good and clever as +she was beautiful. Like her lovely sister, Princess Nicholas +Esterhazy, Lady Clementina died in the prime of life, being only +thirty-four years of age. + +On the 27th of January, 1859, the Queen and the Prince received the +good news of the birth of their first grandchild, a fine boy, after +great suffering on the part of the young mother. He had forty-two +godfathers and godmothers. + +In April Princess Alice was confirmed. Her Majesty's estimate of her +daughter's character was amply borne out in the years to come. "She is +very good, gentle, sensible, and amiable, and a real comfort to me." +Without her sister, the Princess Royal's, remarkable intellectual +power, Princess Alice had fine intelligence. She was also fair to see +in her royal maidenhood. The two elder sons were away. The Prince of +Wales was in Italy, Prince Alfred with his ship in the Levant. At home +the volunteer movement, which has since acquired such large +proportions, was being actively inaugurated. The war between Austria +and France, and a dissolution of Parliament, made this spring a busy +and an anxious time. The first happy visit from the Princess Royal, +who came to join in celebrating her Majesty's birthday at Osborne, +would have made the season altogether joyous, had it not been for a +sudden and dangerous attack of erysipelas from which the Duchess of +Kent suffered. The alarm was brief, but it was sharp while it lasted. + +In June her Majesty opened the new Parliament, an event which was +followed in a fortnight by the resignation of Lord Derby's Ministry, +and Lord Palmerston became Prime Minister with a strong Cabinet. + +At the close of the season the sad news arrived of the sudden death +from diphtheria of the year-old wife, the young Queen of Portugal. + +In August the Queen and the Prince made one of their yachting +excursions to the Channel Islands. The Duchess of Kent's seventy-third +birthday was kept at Osborne. During the autumn stay of the Court at +Balmoral, the Prince presided over the British Association for the +Promotion of Science, which met that year at Aberdeen. He afterwards +entertained two hundred members of the association, filling four +omnibuses, in addition to carriages, at a Highland gathering at +Balmoral. The day was cold and showery, but with gleams of sunshine. +It is unnecessary to say that the attendance was large, and the games +and dancing were conducted with much spirit. In honour of the country, +the Prince and his sons appeared in kilts, the Queen and the +Princesses in royal Stewart tartan skirts and shawls over black velvet +bodices. + +In 1859 the Queen made no less than three successful ascents of +Highland mountains, Morvem, Lochnagar, and at last Ben Macdhui, the +highest mountain in Scotland, upwards of four thousand feet. On the +return of the royal party they went from Edinburgh to Loch Katrine, in +order to open the Glasgow Waterworks, the conclusion of a great +undertaking which was marred not inappropriately by a very wet day. +The Queen and the Prince made a detour on their homeward route, as +they had occasionally done before, visiting Wales and Lord Penryn at +Penryn Castle. + +This year saw the publication of a memorable book, "Adam Bede," for +which even its precursor, "Scenes from Clerical Life," had not +prepared the world of letters. The novel was much admired in the royal +circle. In one of the rooms at Osborne, as a pendant to a picture from +the "Faery Queen," there hangs a representation from a very different +masterpiece in English literature, of the young Squire watching Hetty +in the dairy. + +In the beginning of winter the Prince suffered from an unusually +severe fit of illness. In November the Princess Royal again visited +England, accompanied by her husband. + +There were cheery winter doings at Osborne, when the great household, +like one large family, rejoiced in the seasonable snow, in a slide +"used by young and old," and in a "splendid snow man." The new year +was joyously danced in, though the children who were wont to assemble +at the Queen's dressing-room door to call in chorus "_Prosit Neu +Jahr_," were beginning to be scattered far and wide. + +In January, 1860, the Queen opened Parliament in person, when for the +first time the Princesses Alice and Helena were present. + +On the twentieth anniversary of the Queen's wedding-day she wrote to +Baron Stockmar, "I wish I could think I had made one as happy as he +has made me." + +In April the Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenberg, the Queen's brother-in- +law, who was now an old man, died at Baden, after a long illness. He +had been an upright, unlucky German prince, trusted by his +contemporaries, a good husband and father--whose loss was severely +felt by the widowed Princess. Her sorrow was reflected in the Queen's +sympathy for her sister. + +This year's Academy Exhibition contained Millais's "Black +Brunswicker," Landseer's "Flood in the Highlands," and Phillips's +"Marriage of the Princess Royal," now in the great corridor at Windsor +Castle. "The Idyls of the King," much admired by the Prince, were the +poems of the year. + +Among the guests at Windsor Castle for Ascot week, in addition to King +Leopold, who came to look once more on the old scene, were Prince +Louis of Hesse and his younger brother. In a letter of the Prince +Consort's, written soon afterwards, he alludes to an apparent "liking" +between Prince Louis and Princess Alice. + +Sir Arthur Helps, whose subsequent literary relations with the Queen +were so friendly, was sworn in Clerk of the Council on the 23rd of +June. + +The first great volunteer review took place in Hyde Park this summer. +The Queen was present, driving with Princess Alice, Prince Arthur, and +King Leopold, while the Prince Consort rode. The display of the twenty +thousand citizen soldiers, at that time reckoned a large volunteer +force, was in every respect satisfactory. As a sequel her Majesty was +also present during fine weather, in an exceptionally wet summer, at +the first meeting of the National Rifle Association at Wimbledon, when +the first shot was fired by the Queen, the rifle being so arranged +that a touch to the trigger caused the bullseye to be hit, when the +shooter scored three points. + +At the close of the season the Prince of Wales sailed for Canada, +after he had accepted the President of the United States' invitation +to visit him at Washington. At the same time another distant colony +was to be graced by the presence of royalty; it was settled that +Prince Alfred was to land at the Cape of Good Hope. The Queen's sons +were to serve her by representing her race and rule in her far distant +dominions. + +In July the Princess Royal became the medium, in a letter home, of the +overtures of the Hesse family for a marriage between Prince Louis and +Princess Alice--overtures favourably received by the Queen and the +Prince, who were much attracted by the young suitor. Immediately +afterwards came the intelligence of the birth of the Princess Royal's +second child--a daughter. + +The eyes of all Europe began to be directed to Garibaldi as the +champion of freedom in Naples and Sicily. + +In August the Court went North, staying longer than usual in Edinburgh +for the purpose of holding a volunteer review in the Queen's Park, +which was even a greater success than that in Hyde Park. The summer +day was cloudless; the broken nature of the ground heightened the +picturesqueness of the spectacle. There was much greater variety in +the dress and accoutrements of the Highland and Lowland regiments, +numbering rather more than their English neighbours. The martial +bearing of many of the men was remarkable, and the spectators crowding +Arthur's Seat from the base to the summit were enthusiastic in their +loyalty. The Queen rejoiced to have the Duchess of Kent by her side in +the open carriage. The old Duchess had not appeared at any public +sight for years, and her presence on this occasion recalled former +days. She was not venturing so far as Abergeldie, but was staying at +Cramond House, near Edinburgh. Soon after the Queen and the Prince's +arrival at Balmoral the news reached them of the death of their aunt, +the Duchess of Kent's only surviving sister, the widow of the Grand- +Duke Constantine of Russia. + +This year the Queen and the Prince, with the Princesses Alice and +Helena, made, in fine weather, a second ascent of Ben Macdhui. + +The success of such an excursion led to a longer expedition, which +meant a night spent on the way at what was little better than a +village inn. Such a step was only possible when entire secrecy, and +even a certain amount of disguise, were maintained. Indeed, the little +innocent mystery, with all the amusement it brought, was part of the +pleasure. The company consisted of the Queen and the Prince, Lady +Churchill and General Grey, with two keepers for attendants. Their +destination, reached by driving, riding, and walking through the shiel +of the Geldie, Glen Geldie, Glen Fishie, &c, was Grantown, where the +party spent the night, and were waited on, in all unconsciousness, by +a woman in ringlets in the evening and in curl-papers in the morning. +But before Grantown was left, when the truth was known, the same +benighted chambermaid was seen waving a flag from the window of the +dining and drawing-room in one, which had been lately so honoured, +while the landlady on the threshold made a vigorous use of her pocket- +handkerchief, to the edification and delight of an excited crowd in +the street. + +The Court returned to Osborne, and on the 22nd of September the Queen, +the Prince, and Princess Alice, with the suite, sailed from Gravesend +for Antwerp _en route_ for Coburg, where the Princess Royal was +to meet them with her husband and the child-prince, whom his +grandparents had not yet seen. + +The King of the Belgians, his sons and daughter-in-law met the +travellers with the melancholy intelligence that the Prince's +stepmother, the Duchess-Dowager of Coburg, who had been ill for some +time, but was looking forward to this visit, lay in extremity. At +Verviers a telegram announced that she had died at five o'clock that +morning--a great shock to those who were hastening to see her and +receive her welcome once more. Royal kindred met and greeted the party +at each halting-place, as by Aix-la-Chapelle, Frankfort, where they +slept, the valley of the Maine and the Thuringen railway, the +travellers approached Coburg. Naturally the Queen grew agitated at the +thought of the arrival, so different from what she had expected and +experienced on her last visit, fifteen years before. At the station +were the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Prince Frederick William of Prussia, +in deep mourning. Everything was quiet and private. At the door of the +palace, in painful contrast to the gala faces and dresses of her +earlier reception, stood the Grand Duchess and the Princess Royal in +the deepest German mourning, with long black veils, the point hanging +over the forehead. Around were the ladies and gentlemen of the suites. +"A tender embrace, and then we walked up the staircase," wrote the +Queen; "I could hardly speak, I felt so moved, and quite trembled." +Her room was that which had formerly belonged to the Duchess of Kent +when she was a young Coburg princess. One of its windows looked up a +picturesque narrow street with red roofs and high gables, leading to +the market-place. His English nurse led in the Queen's first +grandchild, aged two years, "in a little white dress with black bows." +He was charming to his royal grandmother. She particularised his +youthful attractions--"A beautiful white soft skin, very fine +shoulders and limbs, and a very dear face, ... very fair curly hair." +The funeral of the Dowager-Duchess took place at seven o'clock on the +morning of the 27th September, at Gotha, and was attended by the +gentlemen of the party, while the ladies in deep mourning, wearing the +pointed veils, were present at a commemorative service in the Schloss +Kirche at Coburg. + +Then followed a quiet happy time, among the pleasures of which were +the daily visits from the little grandchild, the renewal of +intercourse with Baron Stockmar, whom Germans called the familiar +spirit of the house of Coburg; the acquaintance of the great novelist, +Auerbach; a visit to Florrschutz, the Prince's old tutor, in the +pretty house which his two pupils had built for him. + +The holiday was alarmingly interrupted by what might have been a grave +accident to the Prince Consort. He was driving alone in an open +carriage with four horses, which took fright and dashed along at full +gallop in the direction of the railway line, where a waggon stood in +front of a bar, put up to guard a level crossing. Seeing that a crash +was inevitable, the Prince leapt out, escaping with several bruises +and cuts, while the driver, who had remained with the carriage, was +thrown out when it came in contact with the railway-bar, and seriously +hurt. One of the horses was killed, the others rushed along the road +to Coburg. They were met by the Prince's equerry, Colonel Ponsonby, +who in great anxiety procured a carriage and drove with two doctors to +the spot, where he found the Prince lending aid to the injured man. +Colonel Ponsonby was sent to intercept the Queen as she was walking +and sketching with her daughter and sister-in-law, to tell her of the +accident and of the Prince's escape, before she could hear a garbled +version of the affair from other quarters. + +In deep gratitude for the Prince's preservation, her Majesty +afterwards set aside the sum deemed necessary--rather more than a +thousand pounds--to found a charity called the "Victoria Stift," which +helps a certain number of young men and women of good character in +their apprenticeship, in setting them up in trade, and marriage. + +The royal party returned at the end of a fortnight by Frankfort and +Mayence. At Coblentz, where they spent the night, her Majesty was +attacked by cold and sore throat, though she walked and drove out next +day, inspecting every object she was asked to see in suffering and +discomfort. It was her last day with the Princess Royal and "the +darling little boy," whom his grandmother was so pleased to have with +her, running about and playing in her room. The following day was cold +and wet, and the Queen felt still worse, continuing her journey so +worn out and unwell that she could only rouse herself before reaching +Brussels, where King Leopold was at the station awaiting her. By the +order of her doctor, who found her labouring under a feverish cold +with severe sore throat, she was confined to her room, where she had +to lie down and keep quiet. Never in the whole course of her Majesty's +healthful life, save in one girlish illness at Ramsgate, of which the +world knew nothing, had she felt so ailing. Happily a night's rest +restored her to a great extent; but while a State dinner which had +been invited in her honour was going on, she had still to stay in her +room, with Lady Churchill reading to her "The Mill on the Floss," and +the door open that the Queen might hear the band of the Guides. + +On the 17th of October the travellers left Brussels, and on the 17th +arrived at Windsor, where they were met by the younger members of the +family. + +On the 30th of October the great sea captain, Lord Dundonald, closed +his chequered life in his eighty-fifth year. + +In December two gallant wooers were at the English Court, as a few +years before King Pedro, the Arch-Duke Maximilian, and Prince +Frederick William were all young bridegrooms in company. On this +occasion Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt came to win Princess Alice, +and the hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern Seigmaringen was on his way +to ask the hand of Donna Antoine, sister of King Pedro. Lord Campbell +paid a visit to Windsor at this time, and made his comment on the +royal lovers. "My stay at Windsor was rather dull, but was a little +enhanced by the loves of Prince Louis of Hesse and the Princess Alice. +He had arrived the night before, almost a stranger to her" (a +mistake), "but as her suitor. At first they were very shy, but they +soon reminded me of Ferdinand and Miranda in the _Tempest_, and I +looked on like old Prospero." + +The betrothal of Princess Alice occurred within the week. Her Majesty +has given an account in the pages of her journal, transferred to the +"Life of the Prince Consort," how simply and naturally it happened. +"After dinner, whilst talking to the gentlemen, I perceived Alice and +Louis talking before the fireplace more earnestly than usual, and when +I passed to go to the other room both came up to me, and Alice in much +agitation said he had proposed to her, and he begged for my blessing. +I could only squeeze his hand and say 'Certainly,' and that we would +see him in our room, later. Got through the evening work as well as we +could. Alice came to our room ... agitated but quiet.... Albert sent +for Louis to his room, went first to him, and then called Alice and me +in...." The bride was only seventeen, the bridegroom twenty-three +years of age--but nearly two years were to elapse, with, alas! sad +changes in their course, before the marriage thus happily settled was +celebrated. + +This winter her Majesty's old servant and friend, Lord Aberdeen, died. + +In December the Empress of the French, who had recently lost her +sister, the Duchess of Alba, in order to recover health and +cheerfulness, paid a flying visit in private to England and Scotland. +From Claridge's Hotel she went for a day to Windsor to see the Queen +and the Prince. Towards the close of the year the Prince had a brief +but painful attack of one of the gastric affections becoming so common +with him. + +In January, 1861, the Queen received the news of the death of the +invalid King of Prussia at Sans Souci. His brother, the Crown Prince, +who had been regent for years, succeeded to the throne, of which the +husband of the Princess Royal was now the next heir. + +In the beginning of the year the Prince of Wales matriculated at +Cambridge. + +In February the Queen opened Parliament. The twenty-first anniversary +of the royal wedding-day falling on a Sunday, it was celebrated +quietly but with much happiness. The Queen wrote to her uncle, King +Leopold, "Very few can say with me that their husband, at the end of +twenty-one years, is not only full of the friendship, kindness, and +affection which a truly happy marriage brings with it, but of the same +tender love as in the very first days of our marriage." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +DEATH OF THE DUCHESS OF KENT. + +The Duchess of Kent was now seventy-five years of age. For the last +few years she had been in failing health, tenderly cared for by her +children. When she had been last in town she had not gone to her own +house, Clarence House, but had stayed with her daughter in the +cheerful family circle at Buckingham Palace. + +A loss in her household fell heavily on the aged Duchess. Sir George +Cooper, her secretary, to whose services she had been used for many +years, a man three years her junior, died in February, 1860. + +In March the Duchess underwent a surgical operation for a complaint +affecting her right arm and rendering it useless, so that the habits +of many years had to be laid aside, and she could no longer without +difficulty work, or write, or play on the piano, of which her musical +talent and taste had made her particularly fond. The Queen and the +Prince visited the Duchess at Frogmore on the 12th of March, and found +her in a suffering but apparently not a dangerous condition. + +On the 15th good news, including the medical men's report and a letter +from Lady Augusta Bruce, the Duchess of Kent's attached lady-in- +waiting, came from Frogmore to Buckingham Palace, and the Queen and +the Prince went without any apprehension on a visit to the gardens of +the Horticultural Society at Kensington. Her Majesty returned alone, +leaving the Prince to transact some business. She was "resting quite +happily" in her arm-chair, when the Prince arrived with a message from +Sir James Clark that the Duchess had been seized with a shivering fit-- +a bad symptom, from which serious consequences were apprehended. + +In two hours the Queen, the Prince, and Princess Alice were at +Frogmore. "Just the same," was the sorrowful answer given by the +ladies and gentlemen awaiting them. + +The Prince Consort went up to the Duchess's room and came back with +tears in his eyes; then the Queen knew what to expect. With a +trembling heart she followed her husband and entered the bedroom. +There "on a sofa, supported by cushions, the room much darkened," sat +the Duchess, "leaning back, breathing heavily in her silk dressing- +gown, with her cap on, looking quite herself" + +For a second the sight of the dear familiar figure, so little changed, +must have afforded a brief reprieve, and lent a sense of almost glad +incredulity to the distress which had gone before. But the well-meant +whisper of one of the attendants of "_Ein sanftes ende_" +destroyed the passing illusion. "Seeing that my presence did not +disturb her," the Queen wrote afterwards, "I knelt before her, kissed +her dear hand and placed it next my cheek; but though she opened her +eyes, she did not, I think, know me. She brushed my hand off, and the +dreadful reality was before me that for the first time she did not +know the child she had ever received with such tender smiles. I went +out to sob.... I asked the doctors if there was no hope; they said +they feared none whatever, for consciousness had left her.... It was +suffusion of water on the chest which had come on." + +The long night passed in sad watching by the unconscious sufferer, and +in vain attempts at rest in preparation for the greater sorrow that +was in store. + +A few months earlier, on the death of the King of Prussia, the Prince +Consort had written to his daughter that her experience exceeded his, +for he had never seen any person die. The Queen had been equally +unacquainted with the mournful knowledge which comes to most even +before they have attained mature manhood and womanhood. Now the loving +daughter knelt or stood by the mother who was leaving her without a +sign, or lay painfully listening to the homely trivial sounds which +broke the stillness of the night--the crowing of a cock, the dogs +barking in the distance; the striking of the old repeater which had +belonged to the Queen's father, that she had heard every night in her +childhood, but to which she had not listened for twenty-three years-- +the whole of her full happy married life. She wondered with the vague +piteous wonder--natural in such a case--what her mother, would have +thought of her passing a night under her roof again, and she not to +know it? + +In the March morning the Prince took the Queen from the room in which +she could not rest, yet from which she could not remain absent. When +she returned windows and doors were thrown open. The Queen sat down on +a footstool and held the Duchess's hand, while the paleness of death +stole over the face, and the features grew longer and sharper. "I fell +on my knees," her Majesty wrote afterwards, "holding the beloved hand +which was still warm and soft, though heavier, in both of mine. I felt +the end was fast approaching, as Clark went out to call Albert and +Alice, I only left gazing on that beloved face, and feeling as if my +heart would break.... It was a solemn, sacred, never-to-be-forgotten +scene. Fainter and fainter grew the breathing; at last it ceased, but +there was no change of countenance, nothing; the eyes closed as they +had been for the last half-hour.... The clock struck half-past nine at +the very moment. Convulsed with sobs I fell on the hand and covered it +with kisses. Albert lifted me up and took me into the next room, +himself entirely melted into tears, which is unusual for him, deep as +his feelings are, and clasped me in his arms. I asked if all was over; +he said, "Yes." I went into the room again after a few minutes and +gave one look. My darling mother was sitting as she had done before, +but was already white. Oh, God! how awful, how mysterious! But what a +blessed end. Her gentle spirit at rest, her sufferings over." + +By the Prince's advice the Queen went at once to the late Duchess's +sitting-room, where it was hard to bear the unchanged look of +everything, "Chairs, cushions ... all on the tables, her very work- +basket with her work; the little canary bird which she was so fond of, +singing!" + +In one of the recently published letters of Princess Alice to the +Queen, the former recalled after an interval of eight years the words +which her father had spoken to her on the death of her grandmother, +when he brought the daughter to the mother and said, "Comfort mamma," +a simple injunction which sounded like a solemn charge in the sad +months to come. + +The melancholy tidings of the loss were conveyed by the Queen's hand +to the Duchess's elder daughter, the Princess of Hohenlohe; to the +Duchess's brother, the King of the Belgians--the last survivor of his +family--and to her eldest grand-daughter, the Crown Princess of +Prussia. + +The moment the Princess Royal heard of the death she started for +England, and arrived there two days afterwards. + +The unaffected tribute of respect paid by the whole country, led by +the Houses of Parliament, to the virtues of the late Duchess, was very +welcome to the mourners. The Duchess of Kent by her will bequeathed +her property to the Queen, and appointed the Prince Consort her sole +executor. "He was so tender and kind," wrote the Queen, "so pained to +have to ask me distressing questions, but spared me so much. +Everything done so quickly and feelingly." + +The funeral took place on the 25th of March, in the vault beneath St. +George's Chapel, Windsor. The Prince Consort acted as chief mourner, +and was supported by two of the grandchildren of the late Duchess, the +Prince of Wales and the Prince of Leiningen. The pallbearers were six +ladies; among whom was Lady Augusta Bruce. Neither the Queen nor her +daughters were present. They remained, in the Queen's words, "to pray +at home together, and to dwell on the happiness and peace of her who +was gone." On the evening of the funeral the Queen and the Prince +dined alone; afterwards he read aloud to her letters written by her +mother to a German friend, giving an account of the illness and death +of the Duke of Kent more than forty years before. The Queen continued +the allowances which the Duchess of Kent had made to her elder +daughter, the Princess Hohenlohe, and to two of the duchess's +grandsons, Prince Victor Hohenlohe and Prince Edward Leiningen. Her +Majesty pensioned the Duchess's servants, and appointed Lady Augusta +Bruce, who had been like a daughter to the dead Princess, resident +bedchamber woman to the Queen. + +Frogmore had been much frequented by Queen Charlotte and her +daughters, and was the place where they held many of their family +festivals. It had been the country house of Princess Augusta for more +than twenty years. On her death it was given to the Duchess of Kent. +It is an unpretending white country house, spacious enough, and with +all the taste of the day when it was built expended on the grounds, +which does not prevent them from lying very low, with the inevitable +sheet of water almost beneath the windows. Yet it is a lovely, bowery, +dwelling when spring buds are bursting and the birds are filling the +air with music; such a sheltered, peaceful, home-like house as an +ageing woman well might crave. On it still lingers, in spite of a +period when it passed into younger hands, the stamp of the old +Duchess, with her simple state, her unaffected dignity, her +affectionate interest in her numerous kindred. The place is but a +bowshot from the old grey castle of Windsor. It was a chosen resort of +the royal children, to whom the noble, kind, grandame was all that +gracious age can be. Here the Queen brought the most distinguished of +her guests to present them to her mother, who had known so many of the +great men of her time. Here the royal daughter herself came often, +leaving behind her the toils of government and the ceremonies of rank, +where she could always be at ease, was always more than welcome. Here +she comes still, after twenty years, to view old scenes--the chair by +which she sat when the Duchess of Kent occupied it, the piano she knew +so well, the familiar portraits, the old-fashioned furniture, suiting +the house admirably, the drooping trees on the lawn, under which the +Queen would breakfast in fine weather, according to an old Kensington +--an old German--custom. + +The long verandah was wont to contain vases of flowers and statues of +the Duchess's grandchildren, and formed a pleasant promenade for an +old lady. Within the smaller, cosier rooms, with the softly tinted +pink walls covered with portraits, was led the daily life which as it +advanced in infirmity necessarily narrowed in compass, while the State +rooms remained for family and Court gatherings. The last use made of +the great drawing-room by its venerable mistress was after her death, +when she lay in state there. + +Half-length portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Kent are in the place +usually occupied by the likenesses of the master and mistress of the +house. Among the other pictures are full-length portraits of the Queen +and Prince Albert in their youth, taken soon after their marriage-- +like the natural good end to the various pictures of her Majesty in +her fair English childhood and maidenhood, with the blonde hair +clustering about the open innocent forehead, the fearless blue eyes, +the frank mouth. The child, long a widow in her turn, a mother, +grandmother, great-grandmother, must look with strange mingled +feelings on these shadows of her early, unconscious self. + +There are innumerable likenesses of the Queen's children such as a +loving grandmother would delight to accumulate, from the baby Princess +Royal with the good dog Eos curled round by her side, the child's tiny +foot on the hound's nose, to the same Princess a blooming girl-bride +by the side of her bridegroom, Prince Frederick William of Prussia. + +The Duchess's other children and grandchildren are here on canvas, +with many portraits of her brothers and sisters and their children. A +full-length likeness of the former owner of Frogmore, Princess +Augusta, Fanny Burney's beloved princess, hangs above a chimneypiece; +while on the walls of another room quaintly painted floral festoons, +the joint work of the painter, Mary Moser, and the artistic Princess +Elizabeth, are still preserved. + +Frogmore was for some years the residence of Princess Christian of +Schleswig-Holstein. When she removed to Cumberland House, the +furniture which had belonged to the Duchess of Kent was brought back, +and the place restored as much as possible to the condition in which +she had left it, which implies the presence of many cherished relics-- +such as the timepiece which was the last gift of the Queen and the +Prince, and a picture said to have been painted by both representing +Italian peasants praying beside a roadside calvary. There are numerous +tokens of womanly tastes in the gay, bright fashion of the Duchess's +time, among them a gorgeously tinted inlaid table from the first +Exhibition, and elaborate specimens of Berlin woolwork, offerings from +friends of the mistress of the house and from the ladies of her suite. +In one of the simply furnished bedrooms of quiet little Frogmore, as +it chanced, the heir of the Prince of Wales first saw the light. For +here was born unexpectedly, making a great stir in the little +household, Prince Victor Albert of Wales. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +LAST VISIT TO IRELAND--HIGHLAND EXCURSIONS--MEETING OF THE PRINCE OF +WALES AND THE PRINCESS ALEXANDRA OF DENMARK--DEATH OF THE KINO OF +PORTUGAL AND HIS BROTHERS + +In the retirement of Osborne the Queen mourned her mother with the +tender fidelity which her people have learnt to know and reverence. + +In April the Court returned to Buckingham Palace, when the Queen +announced the marriage of the Princess Alice to the Privy Council It +was communicated to Parliament, and was very favourably received. The +Princess had a dowry of thirty thousand, and an annuity of six +thousand pounds from the country. + +The Queen's birthday was celebrated at Osborne without the usual +festivities. During the Whitsun holidays Prince Louis, who was with +the family, had the misfortune to be attacked by measles, which he +communicated to Prince Leopold. The little boy had the disease +severely, and it left bad results. + +In June King Leopold and one of his sons paid the Queen a lengthened +visit of five weeks. The Princess Royal, with her husband and +children, arrived afterwards, and there was a happy family meeting, +tinged with sorrow. + +In July the most exalted Order of the Star of India was instituted, +and conferred first on the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, Lord Clyde, Sir +John Lawrence, &c., &c. That summer saw the death of two statesmen who +had been men of mark in the Crimean war--Count Cavour, the Sardinian +Prime Minister, and Lord Herbert of Lea. The royal visitors in London +and at Osborne included the Archduke Maximilian and his young wife, +and the King of Sweden and his son. + +Towards the close of August the Queen went to Frogmore with the Prince +and Princess Alice, in order to keep the birthday of the late Duchess +of Kent, whose remains had been already removed from St. George's +chapel to the mausoleum prepared for them in the grounds of her former +home. The Queen wrote of the first evening at Frogmore as "terribly +trying;" but it comforted her in the beautiful morning to visit the +grand simple mausoleum, and to help to place on the granite +sarcophagus the wreaths which had been brought for the purpose. + +The day after the return of Prince Alfred from the West Indies, the +Queen and the Prince, their second son and the Princesses Alice and +Helena, sailed from Holyhead in the _Victoria and Albert_ for +Kingstown. This visit to Ireland meant also the royal presence on a +field-day in the Curragh camp, where the Prince of Wales was serving, +and a run down to Killarney in very hot weather. At the lakes the +Queen was the guest of Lord Castleross and Mr. Herbert. The wild +luxuriant scenery, the size and beauty of the arbutus-trees, and the +enthusiastic shriek of the blue-cloaked women, made their due +impression. In a row on one of the lakes her Majesty christened a +point. The Prince's birthday came round during the stay in Ireland, +and was marked by the usual loving tokens, though the Queen noted +sadly the difference between this and other anniversaries: the lack of +festivities, the absence from home, the separation from the younger +children, and the missing the old invariable gift from the Duchess of +Kent. + +Balmoral was reached in the beginning of September. Prince Louis came +speedily, and another welcome guest, Princess Hohenlohe, who travelled +north with Lady Augusta Bruce. Dr. Norman Macleod gives a glimpse of +the circumstances and the circle. He preached to the Queen, and she +thanked him for the comfort he gave her. Lady Augusta Bruce talked to +him of "that noble, loving woman, the Duchess of Kent, and of the +Queen's grief." He found the Queen's half-sister "an admirable woman" +and Prince Alfred "a fine gentlemanly sailor." + +The Queen's greatest solace this year was in long days spent on the +purple mountains and by the sides of the brown lochs, and in a second +private expedition, like that of the previous year to Grantown, when +she slept a night at the Ramsay Arms in the village of Fettercairn, +and Prince Louis and General Grey were consigned to the Temperance +Hotel opposite. The whole party walked out in the moonlight and were +startled by a village band. The return was by Blair, where the Queen +was welcomed by her former host and hostess, the Duke and Duchess of +Athole. Her Majesty had a look at her earlier quarters, at the room in +which the little Princess Royal had been put to bed in two chairs, and +saw Sandy Macara, grown old and grey. + +After an excursion to Cairn Glaishie, her Majesty recorded in her +journal, "Alas! I fear our last great one." Six years afterwards the +sorrowful confirmation was given to words which had been written with +a very different meaning, "It was our last one." + +The Prince of Wales was on a visit to Germany, ostensibly to witness +the manoeuvres of the Prussian army, but with a more delicate mission +behind. He was bound, while not yet twenty, to make the acquaintance +of the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, not quite seventeen, with the +probability of their future marriage--a prospect which, to the great +regret of the Prince Consort, got almost immediately into the +newspapers. The first meetings of the young couple took place at +Speyer and Heidelberg, and were altogether promising of the mutual +attachment which was the desired result. + +On the 18th of October the King of Prussia was crowned at Könisburg--a +splendid ceremonial, in which the Princess Royal naturally, as the +Crown Princess, bore a prominent part. + +On the return of the Court to Windsor, Prince Leopold, then between +eight and nine years of age, was sent, with a temporary household, to +spend the winter in the south of France for the sake of his health. + +Suddenly a great and painful shock was given to the Queen and the +Prince by the news of the disastrous outbreak of typhoid fever in +Portugal among their royal cousins and intimate friends, the sons of +Maria de Gloria. When the tidings arrived King Pedro's brother, Prince +Ferdinand, was already dead, and the King ill. Two more brothers, the +Duke of Oporto and the Duke of Beja, were in England, on their way +home from the King of Prussia's coronation. The following day still +sadder news arrived--the recovery of the young king, not more than +twenty-five, was despaired of. His two brothers started immediately +for Lisbon, but were too late to see him in life. The younger, the +Duke of Beja, was also seized with the fatal fever and died in the +course of the following month. The Queen and the Prince lamented the +King deeply, finding the only consolation in the fact that he had +rejoined the gentle girl-wife for whose loss he had been inconsolable. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + +THE DEATH OF THE PRINCE CONSORT. + +The news of the terrible mortality in the Portuguese royal family, +especially the death of the King, to whom the Prince was warmly +attached, had seriously affected his health, never strong, and for the +last few years gradually declining, with gastric attacks becoming more +frequent and fits of sleeplessness more confirmed. At the same time +the Prince's spirit was so unbroken, his power of work and even of +enjoyment so unshaken, while the patience and unselfishness which +treated his own bodily discomfort as a matter of little moment had +grown so much the habit of his mind, that naturally those nearest to +him failed in their very love to see the extent of the physical +mischief which was at work. Nevertheless there is abundant evidence +that the Queen was never without anxiety on her husband's account, and +Baron Stockmar expressed his apprehensions more than once. + +Various causes of care troubled the Prince, among them the +indisposition contracted by the Princess Royal at the coronation of +her father-in-law, the King of Prussia, and the alarming illness at +Cannes of Sir Edward Bowater, who had been sent to the south of France +in charge of Prince Leopold. After a fortnight of sleeplessness, +rheumatic pains, loss, of appetite, and increasing weakness, the +Prince drove in close wet weather to inspect the building of the new +Military Academy at Sandhurst, and it is believed that he there +contracted the germs of fever. But he shot with the guests at the +Castle, walked with the Queen to Frogmore and inspected the mausoleum +there, and visited the Prince of Wales at Cambridge afterwards. + +Then the affair of the _Trent_ suddenly demanded the Prince's +close attention and earnest efforts to prevent a threatened war +between England and America. In the course of the civil war raging +between the Northern and Southern states the English steamer +_Trent_ sailed with the English mails from Savannah to England, +having on board among the other passengers several American gentlemen, +notably Messrs. Mason and Slidell, who had run the blockade from +Charlestown to Cuba, and were proceeding to Europe as envoys sent by +the Confederates to the Courts of England and France. A federal vessel +fired on the English steamer, compelling her to stop, when the +American Captain Wilkes, at the head of a large body of marines, +demanded the surrender of Mason and Slidell, with their companions. In +the middle of the remonstrances of the English Government agent at the +insult to his flag and to the neutral port from which the ship had +sailed, the objects of the officer's search came forward and +surrendered themselves, thus delivering the English commander from his +difficulty. + +But the feeling in England was very strong against the outrage which +had been committed, and it was only the most moderate of any political +party who were willing to believe--either that the American Government +might not be cognisant of the act done in its name, or that it might +be willing to atone by honourable means for a violation of +international law--enough to provoke the withdrawal of the English +ambassador from Washington, and a declaration of war between the two +countries. + +Cabinet councils were summoned and a dispatch prepared. A draft of the +dispatch was forwarded to Windsor to be read by the Queen, when it +struck both her and, the Prince that it was less temperate and +conciliatory than it might have been, while still consistent with +perfect dignity. The Prince Consort's last public work for his Queen +and country was to amend this draft. He rose as usual at seven +o'clock, and faint and ill as he was, scarcely able to hold a pen, +drew out an improved version of the dispatch, which was highly +approved of by the Ministers and favourably received by the American +Government. As the world knows, the President, in the name of his +countrymen, declared that Captain Wilkes had acted without official +instructions, and ordered the release of the gentlemen who had been +taken prisoners. + +In the meantime the shadows were darkening round the royal home which +had been so supremely blest. The Prince was worse. Still he walked out +on one of the terraces, and wrapped in a coat lined with fur he +witnessed a review of the Eton College volunteers, from which his +absence would have been remarked. The ill-omened chilly feeling +continued, but there were guests at the Castle and he appeared at +dinner. On Sunday, the 1st of December, the Prince walked out again on +the terrace and attended service in the chapel, insisting "on going +through all the kneeling," though very unwell. + +Next morning something was said by the doctors of low fever. No wonder +the Queen was distressed after the recent calamity at Lisbon, but +concealing her feelings as such watchers must, she strove to soothe +and amuse her sick husband. The members of the household who had been +at Lisbon arrived with the particulars of the young King of Portugal's +death. After listening to them the Prince said "that it was well his +illness was not fever, as that, he felt sure, would be fatal to him." + +One of the guests at the Castle was Lord Palmerston. In spite of his +natural buoyancy of temperament he became so much alarmed by what he +heard that he suggested another physician should be called in. Her +Majesty had not been prepared for this step, and when she appealed to +the two medical men in attendance, Sir James Clark and Dr. Jenner, +they comforted her by their opinion that there was nothing to alarm +her, and that the low fever which had been feared might pass off. + +The next few days were spent in alternations of hope and fear. Which +of us is so happy as not to have known that desperate faith when to +doubt would be to despair? The Prince liked to be read to, but "no +book suited him." The readers were the Queen and Princess Alice, who +sought to cheat themselves by substituting Trollope for George Eliot, +and Lever for Trollop, and by speaking confidently of trying Sir +Walter Scott "to-morrow." To-morrow brought no improvement. Sir James +Clark, though still sanguine, began to drop words which were not +without their significance. He _hoped_ there would be no fever, +which all dreaded, with too sure a presentiment of what would follow. +The Prince _must_ eat, and he was to be told so; his illness was +likely to be tedious, and completely starving himself would not do. + +As if the whole atmosphere was heavy with sorrow, and all the tidings +which came from the world without in these days only reflected the +ache of the hearts within, the news came from Calcutta of the death of +the wife of the Governor-General, beautiful, gifted Lady Canning, so +long the Queen's lady-in-waiting and close companion. + +The doctors began to sit up with the patient, another stage of the +terrible illness. When her Majesty came to the Prince at eight in the +morning she found him sitting up in his dressing-room, and was struck +with "a strange wild look" which he had, while he talked in a baffled +way, unlike him, of what his illness could be, and how long it might +last. But that day there was a rally; he ate and slept a little, +rested, and liked to be read to by Princess Alice. He was quite +himself again when the Queen came in with his little pet child, +Princess Beatrice, in whom he had taken such delight. He kissed her, +held her hand, laughed at her new French verses, and "dozed off," as +if he only wanted sleep to restore him. + +The doctor in attendance was anxious that the Prince should undress +and go to bed, but this he would not do. Throughout the attack, with +his old habit of not giving way and of mastering his bodily feelings +by sheer force of will, he had resisted yielding to his weakness and +submitting to the ordinary routine of a sick-room. After it was too +late the doctor's compliance with the Prince's wishes in this respect +was viewed by the public as rash and unwise. On this particular +occasion he walked to his dressing-room and lay down there, saying he +would have a good night--an expectation doomed to disappointment. His +restlessness not only kept him from sleeping, it caused him to change +his room more than once during the night. + +The morning found him up and seated in his sitting-room as before. But +he was worse, and talked with a certain incoherence when he told the +Queen that he had been listening to the little birds, and they had +reminded him of those he had heard at the Rosenau in his childhood. +She felt a quick recoil, and when the doctors showed that their +favourable opinion of the day before had undergone a change, she went +to her room and it seemed to her as if her heart would break. + +Fever had now declared itself unmistakably. The fact was gently broken +to the Queen, and she was warned that the illness must run its course, +while the knowledge of its nature was to be kept from the Prince. She +called to mind every thought that could give her courage; and Princess +Alice, her father's true daughter, capable of rising to heights of +duty and tenderness the moment she was put to the test, grew brave in +her loving demotion, and already afforded the support which the +husband and father was no longer fit to give. + +Happily for her Majesty, the daily duties of her position as a +sovereign, which she could not lay aside though they were no longer +shared by the friend of more than twenty years, still occupied a +considerable portion of her time. But she wrote in her diary that in +fulfilling her task she seemed to live "in a dreadful dream." Do we +not also know, many of us, this cruel double life in which the +obligations which belong to our circumstances and to old habits +contend for mastery with new misery? When she was not thus engaged the +Queen sat by her husband, weeping when she could do so unseen. + +On the 8th of December the Prince appeared to be going on well, though +the desire for change continued strong in him, and he was removed at +his earnest request to larger and brighter rooms, adjoining those he +had hitherto occupied. According to Lady Bloomfield one of the rooms-- +certainly called "the Kings' rooms"--into which the Prince was +carried, was that in which both William IV. and George IV. had died; +and the fact was remembered and referred to by the new tenant, when he +was placed where he too was destined to die. The Queen had only once +slept there, when her own rooms were being painted, and as it +happened, that single occasion was on the night before the day when +the Duchess of Kent had her last fatal seizure. + +The Prince was pleased with the greater space and light and with the +winter sunshine. For the first time since his illness he asked for +music, "a fine chorale." A piano was brought into the room, and his +daughter played two hymns--one of them "_Ein fester burg ist unser +Gott_" to which he listened with tears in his eyes. + +It was Sunday, and Charles Kingsley preached at the Castle. The Queen +was present, but she noted sadly that she did not hear a word. + +The serious illness of the Prince Consort had become known and excited +much alarm, especially among the Cabinet Ministers. They united in +urging that fresh medical aid should be procured. Dr. Watson and Sir +Henry Holland were called in. These gentlemen concurred with the other +doctors in their opinion of the case as grave, but not presenting any +very bad symptoms. The increased tendency of the Prince to wander in +his mind was only what was to be expected. The listlessness and +irritability characteristic of the disease gave way to pleasure at +seeing the Queen and having her with him, to tender caresses, such as +stroking her cheek, and simple loving words, fondly cherished, +"_Liebes frauchen, gutes weibchen_." [Footnote: "Dear little +wife, good little wife."] The changes rung on the relationship which +had been so perfect and so satisfying. + +On the 10th and the 11th the Prince was considered better. He was +wheeled into the next room, when he called attention to a picture of +the Madonna of which he was fond; he said that the sight of it helped +him through half the day. + +On the evening of the 11th a slight change in the Prince's breathing +was perceptible and occasioned uneasiness. On the 12th it was too +evident the fever and shortness of breathing had increased, and on the +13th Dr. Jenner had to tell the Queen the symptom was serious, and +that there was a probability of congestion of the lungs. When the sick +man was wheeled into the next room as before, he failed to notice his +favourite picture, and in place of asking to be placed with his back +to the light as he had hitherto done, sat with his hands clasped, +gazing abstractedly out of the window. That night the Prince of Wales +was summoned from Cambridge, it was said by his sister, Princess +Alice, who took upon her the responsibility of bringing him to +Windsor. + +All through the night at hourly intervals reports were brought to the +Queen that the Prince was doing well. At six in the morning Mr. Brown, +the Windsor medical attendant of the family for upwards of twenty +years, who was believed to be well acquainted with the Prince's +constitution, came to the Queen with the glad tidings "that he had no +hesitation in saying he thought the Prince was much better, and that +there was ground to hope the crisis was over." There are few +experiences more piteous than that last flash of life in the socket +which throws a parting gleam of hope on the approaching darkness of +death. + +When the Queen entered the sick-room at seven o'clock on a fine winter +morning, she was struck with the unearthly beauty--another not +unfamiliar sign--of the face on which the rising sun shone. The eyes +unusually bright, gazing as it were on an unseen object, took no +notice of her entrance. + +The doctors allowed they were "very, very anxious," but still they +would not give up hope. The Queen asked if she might go out for a +breath of air, and received an answer with a reservation--"Yes, just +close by, for a quarter of an hour." She walked on one of the terraces +with Princess Alice, but they heard a military band playing in the +distance, and at that sound, recalling such different scenes, the poor +Queen burst into tears, and returned to the Castle. + +Sir James Clark said he had seen much worse cases from which there had +been recovery. But both the Queen and the doctors remarked the dusky +hue stealing over the hands and face, and there were acts which looked +like strange involuntary preparations for departure--folding of the +arms, arranging of the hair, &c. + +The Queen was in great distress, and remained constantly either in the +sick-room or in the apartment next to it, where the doctors tried +still to speak words of hope to her, but could no longer conceal that +the life which was as her life was ebbing away. In the course of the +afternoon, when the Queen went up to the Prince, after he had been +wheeled into the middle of the room, he said the last loving words, +"_Gutes frauchen_," [Footnote: "Good little wife."] kissed her, +and with a little moaning sigh laid his head on her shoulder. He dozed +and wandered, speaking French sometimes. All his children who were in +the country came into the room, and one after the other took his hand, +Prince Arthur kissing it as he did so, but the Prince made no sign of +knowing them. He roused himself and asked for his private secretary, +but again slept. Three of the gentlemen of the household, who had been +much about the Prince's person, came up to him and kissed his hand +without attracting his attention. All of them were overcome; only she +who sat in her place by his side was quiet and still. + +So long as enough air passed through the labouring lungs, the doctors +would not relinquish the last grain of hope. Even when the Queen found +the Prince bathed in the death-sweat, so near do life and death still +run, that the attendant medical men ventured to say it might be an +effort of nature to throw off the fever. + +The Queen bent over the Prince and whispered "_Es ist kleins +Frauchen_." He recognised the voice and answered by bowing his head +and kissing her. He was quite calm, only drowsy, and not caring to be +disturbed, as he had been wont to be when weary and ill. + +The Queen had gone into the next room to weep there when Sir James +Clark sent Princess Alice to bring her back. The end had come. With +his wife kneeling by his side and holding his hand, his children +kneeling around, the Queen's nephew, Prince Ernest Leiningen, the +gentlemen of the Prince's suite, General Bruce, General Grey, and Sir +Charles Phipps, the Dean of Windsor, and the Prince's favourite German +valet, Lohlein, reverently watching the scene, the true husband and +tender father, the wise prince and liberal-hearted statesman, the +noble Christian man, gently breathed his last. It was a quarter to +eleven o'clock on the 14th of December, 1861. He was aged forty-two +years. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + +THE WITHDRAWAL TO OSBORNE--THE PRINCE CONSORT'S FUNERAL. + +The tolling of the great bell of St. Paul's, borne on the wintry +midnight air, thrilled many a heart with grief and dismay, as London +was roused to the melancholy fact of the terrible bereavement which +had befallen the Queen and the country. + +To the Prince indeed death had come without terror, even without +recoil. Some time before he had told the Queen that he had not her +clinging to life, that if he knew it was well with those he cared for, +he would be quite ready to die to-morrow. He was perfectly convinced +of the future reunion of those who had loved each other on earth, +though he did not know under what circumstances it would take place. +During one of the happy Highland excursions in 1861, the Prince had +remarked to one of the keepers when talking over with him the choice +and planting of a deer-forest for the Prince of Wales, "You and I may +be dead and gone before that." "He was ever cheerful, but ever ready +and prepared," was the Queen's comment on this remark. + +But for the Queen, "a widow at forty-two!" was the lamenting cry of +the nation which had been so proud of its young Queen, of her love- +match, of her happiness as a wife. Now a subtler touch than any which +had gone before won all hearts to her, and bowed them before her feet +in a very passion of love and loyalty. It was her share in the common +birthright of sorrow, with the knowledge that she in whose joy so many +had rejoiced was now qualified by piteous human experience to weep +with those who wept--that thenceforth throughout her wide dominions +every mourner might feel that their Queen mourned with them as only a +fellow-sufferer can mourn. [Footnote: "The Queen wrote my mother, Lady +Normanby, such a beautiful letter after Normanby's death, saying that +having drunk the dregs of her cup of grief herself, she knew how to +sympathise with others."--LADY BLOOMFIELD.] All hearts went out to her +in the day of her bitter sorrow. Prayers innumerable were put up for +her, and she believed they sustained her when she would otherwise have +sunk under the heavy burden. + +On the Sunday which dawned on the first day of her Majesty's +widowhood, when the news of her bereavement--announced in a similar +fashion in many a city cathedral and country church, was conveyed to +the people in a great northern city by Dr. Norman MacLeod's praying +for the Queen as a widow, a pang of awe and pity smote every hearer; +the minister and the congregation wept together. + +The disastrous tidings had to travel far and wide: to the Princess +Royal, the daughter in whom her father had taken such pride, who had +so grieved to part from him when she left England a happy young bride, +who had been so glad to greet him in his own old home only a few +months before; to the sailor son on the other side of the globe; to +the delicate little boy so lately sent in search of health, whose +natural cry on the sorrowful tale being told to him was, "Take me to +mamma." + +Deprived in one year of both mother and husband, alone where family +relations were concerned, save for her children; with her eldest son, +the Prince of Wales, a lad of not more than twenty years, the devoted +servants of the Queen rallied round her and strove to support and +comfort her. + +In the absence of the Princess Royal and the Princess of Hohenlohe, +the Duchess of Sutherland, one of the Queen's oldest friends, herself +a widow, was sent for to be with her royal mistress. Lady Augusta +Bruce watched day and night by the daughter as she had watched by the +mother. The Queen's people did not know how sore was the struggle, how +near they were to losing her. Princess Alice wrote years afterwards of +that first dreadful night, of the next three terrible days, with a +species of horror, and wondered again and again how she and her mother +survived that time. The Queen's weakness was so great that her pulse +could hardly be felt. "She spoke constantly about God's knowing best, +but showed herself broken-hearted," Lady Bloomfield tells us. It was a +sensible relief to the country when it was made public that the Queen +had slept for some hours. + +The doctors urgently advised that her Majesty should leave Windsor and +go to Osborne, but she shrank unconquerably from thus quitting all +that was mortal of the Prince till he had been laid to rest. The old +King of the Belgians, her second father, afflicted in her affliction +as he had gloried in her happiness, added his earnest entreaty to, the +medical men's opinion, in vain, till the plea was brought forward that +for her children's sake--that they might be removed from the fever- +tainted atmosphere, the painful step ought to be taken. Even then it +was mainly by the influence of the Princess Alice that the Queen, who +had proved just and reasonable in all her acts, who had been confirmed +by him who was gone in habits of self-control and self-denial, who was +the best of mothers, gave up the last sad boon which the poorest might +claim, and consented to go immediately with her daughters to Osborne. + +But first her Majesty visited Frogmore, where the Duchess of Kent's +mausoleum had been built, that she might choose the spot for another +and larger mausoleum where the husband and wife would yet lie side by +side. It was on the 18th of December that the Queen, accompanied by +Princess Alice, drove from the Castle on her melancholy errand. They +were received at Frogmore by the Prince of Wales, Prince Louis of +Hesse, who had arrived in England, Sir Charles Phipps, and Sir James +Clark. Her Majesty walked round the gardens leaning on her daughter's +arm, and selected the place where the coffin of the Prince would be +finally deposited. Shortly afterwards the sad party left for Osborne, +where a veil must be drawn over the sorrow which, like the love that +gave it birth, has had few parallels. + +The funeral was at Windsor on the 23rd of December. Shortly before +twelve o'clock the cortège assembled which was to conduct the remains +of the late Prince Consort the short distance from the state entrance +of Windsor Castle, through the Norman Tower Gate to St. George's +Chapel. Nine mourning-coaches, each drawn by four horses, conveyed the +valets, foresters, riders, librarian, and doctors; the equerries, +ushers, grooms, gentlemen, and lords in waiting of his late Royal +Highness; and the great officers of the Household. One of the Queen's +carriages drawn by six horses contained the Prince's coronet borne by +Earl Spencer, and his baton, sword, and hat by Lord George Lennox. The +hearse, drawn by six horses, was escorted by a detachment of Life +Guards. + +The carriages of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of +Cambridge, and the Duchess of Cambridge followed. The company which +had received commands to be present at the ceremony, including the +foreign ambassadors, the Cabinet Ministers, the officers of the +household, and many of the nobility and higher clergy, entered St. +George's Chapel by the Wolsey door and were conducted to seats in the +choir. The Knights of the Garter occupied their stalls. The royal +family, with their guests, came privately from the Castle and +assembled in the chapter-room. The members of the procession moved up +the nave in the same order in which they had been driven to the South +porch. Among them were the representatives of all the foreign states +connected by blood or marriage with the late Prince, the choir, +canons, and Dean of Windsor. After the baton, sword, and crown, +carried on black velvet cushions, came the comptroller in the +Chamberlain's department, Vice-Chamberlain, and Lord Chamberlain, then +the crimson velvet coffin, the pall borne by the members of the late +Prince's suite. Garter-King-at-Arms followed, walking before the chief +mourner, the Prince of Wales, who was supported by Prince Arthur, a +little lad of eleven, and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and attended by +General Bruce. Behind came the son-in-law, the Crown Prince of +Prussia, the cousins--the sons of the King of the Belgians--with the +Duc de Nemours, Prince Louis of Hesse, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, +the Queen's nephew, Count Gleichen, and the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh. +The gentlemen in waiting on the foreign princes wound up the +procession. + +When the coffin arrived within the choir, the crown, baton, sword, and +hat were placed on it. That morning a messenger had come from Osborne +with three wreaths and a bouquet. The wreaths were simple garlands of +moss and violets woven by the three elder princesses; the bouquet of +violets, with a white camellia in the centre, was from the Queen. +These were laid between the heraldic insignia. The Prince of Wales +with his brother and uncle stood at the head, the Lord Chamberlain at +the foot, the other mourners and the pallbearers around. Minute-guns +were fired at intervals by Horse Artillery in the Long Walk. A guard +of honour of the Grenadier Guards, of which the Prince Consort had +been colonel, presented arms on the coming of the body and when it was +lowered into the grave. During the service the thirty-ninth Psalm, +Luther's Hymn, and two chorales were sung. + +The Prince of Wales bore up with a brave effort, now and then seeking +to soothe his young brother, who, with swollen eyes and tear-stained +face, when the long wail of the dirge smote upon his ear, sobbed as if +his heart were breaking. At the words-- + + "To fall asleep in slumber deep, + Slumber that knows no waking," + +part of a favourite chant of the Prince Consort's, both his sons hid +their faces and wept. The Duke of Coburg wept incessantly for the +comrade of his youth, the friend of his mature years. + +Garter-King-at-Arms proclaimed the style and title of the deceased. +When he referred to her Majesty with the usual prayer, "Whom God bless +and preserve with long life, health, and happiness," for the first +time in her reign the word "happiness" was omitted and that of +"honour" substituted, and the full significance of the change went to +the hearts of the listeners with a woeful reminder of what had come +and gone. The Prince of Wales advanced first to take his last look +into the vault, stood for a moment with clasped hands and burst into +tears. In the end Prince Arthur was the more composed of the two +fatherless brothers. + +As the company retired, the "Dead March in Saul" was pealed forth. + +The whole ceremony was modelled on the precedent of other royal +funerals, but surely rarely was mourning so keen or sorrow so deep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + +THE FIRST MONTHS OF WIDOWHOOD--MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES, ETC., +ETC. + +The Princess of Hohenlohe arrived in England on the 20th of December, +and immediately joined the Queen at Osborne before the funeral of the +Prince. The old King of the Belgians came to Osborne on the 29th of +December--one can imagine his meeting with the widowed Queen. + +On the 10th of January, 1862, occurred the terrible Hartley Colliery +accident, by which upwards of two hundred miners perished. The Queen's +grief for the Prince was not a month old when she telegraphed from +Osborne her "tenderest sympathy for the poor widows and mothers." + +The Prince of Wales left Osborne on the 6th of February in strict +privacy to accomplish the tour in the East projected for him by his +father. The Prince was accompanied by Dean Stanley, General Bruce, &c. + +In the Queen's solitude at Osborne Princess Alice continued to be the +great medium of communication between her Majesty and her Ministers. +(_Times_.) + +The opening of the second great Exhibition in the month of May must +have been full of painful associations. At the State ceremony on the +first day the royal carriages with mourning liveries were empty, but +for the Crown Prince of Prussia, Prince Oscar of Sweden, and the +Duchess of Cambridge with her daughters. Tennyson's ode was sung. It +contained the pathetic lines-- + + "O silent father of our kings to be, + Mourned in this golden hour of jubilee, + For this, for all we weep our thanks to thee." + +It was decided that the Queen's birthday should be spent at Balmoral, +a practice which became habitual. Dr. Norman Macleod was summoned +north to give what consolation he could to his sorrowing Queen. He has +left an account of one of their interviews. "May 14th. After dinner I +was summoned unexpectedly to the Queen's room; she was alone. She met +me, and, with an unutterable expression which filled my eyes with +tears, at once began to speak about the Prince.... She spoke of his +excellences, his love, his cheerfulness, how he was everything to her; +how all now on earth seemed dead to her...." + +On the 4th of June the Prince of Wales arrived in England from his +eastern tour. A melancholy incident occurred on his return--General +Bruce, who had been labouring under fever, died soon after reaching +England on the 24th of June. Another sad death happened four days +later--that of Lord Canning, Governor-General of India. He had also +just come back to England. He survived his wife only six months. + +Princess Alice's marriage, which had been delayed by her father's +death, took place at Osborne at one o'clock on the afternoon of the +1st of July, in strict privacy. The ceremony was performed by the +Archbishop of York in room of the sick Archbishop of Canterbury. The +Queen in deep mourning appeared only for the service. Near her was the +Crown Princess of Prussia--already the mother of three children--and +her Majesty's four sons. + +The father and mother, brothers and sister of the bridegroom, and +other relatives, were present. The Duke of Saxe-Coburg in the Prince +Consort's place led in the bride. Her unmarried sisters, Princesses +Helena, Louise, and Beatrice, and the bridegroom's only sister, +Princess Anna of Hesse, were the bridesmaids. Prince Louis was +supported by his brother, Prince Henry. + +The guests were all gone by four o'clock. No contrast could be greater +than that of the brilliant and glad festivities at the Princess +Royal's wedding and the hush of sorrow in which her sister was +married. The young couple went for three days to St. Clare, near Ryde, +and left England in another week. The English people never forgot what +Princess Alice had proved in the hour of need, and her departure was +followed by prayers and blessings. + +In August the Queen was at Balmoral with all her children who were in +this country. On the 21st she drove in a pony carriage, accompanied by +the elder Princes and Princesses on foot and on ponies, to the top of +Craig Lowrigan, and each laid a stone on the foundation of the Prince +Consort's cairn. On the late Prince's birthday another sad tender +pilgrimage was made to the top of Craig Gowan to the earlier cairn +celebrating the taking of the Malakoff. + +Her Majesty, whose health was still shaken and weakened, sailed on the +1st of September for Germany. She was accompanied by the Prince of +Wales, Prince Arthur, and Prince Leopold, Princesses Helena, Louise, +and Beatrice, and the Princess Hohenlohe. During the Queen's stay with +her uncle, King Leopold, at Laeken, in passing through Belgium, she +had her first interview with her future daughter-in-law, Princess +Alexandra of Denmark. The Princess with her father and mother drove +from Brussels to pay a private visit to her Majesty. + +The Queen's destination in Germany was Reinhardtsbrunn, the lovely +little hunting-seat among the Thuringian woods and mountains, which +had so taken her fancy on her first happy visit to Germany. There she +was joined by the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia and their +children, Prince Louis and Princess Alice, and Prince Alfred. + +Her Majesty could not quit Germany without revisiting Coburg, hard as +the visit must have been to her. One of the chief inducements was to +go to one who could no longer come to her, the aged Baron Stockmar, +whose talk was still of "the dear good Prince," and of how soon the +old man would rejoin the noble pupil cut off in the prime of his gifts +and his usefulness. + +Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse spent the winter with the Queen in +England, and in the month of November Princess Alexandra of Denmark +paid a short visit to her Majesty, when the Princess's youthful beauty +and sweetness won all hearts. + +Early in the morning on the 18th of December the Prince Consort's +remains were removed from the entrance of the vault beneath St. +George's Chapel to the mausoleum already prepared for them at +Frogmore. The ceremony, which was attended by the Prince of Wales, +Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold, and Prince Louis of Hesse, was quite +private. Prince Alfred had a severe attack of fever in the +Mediterranean. + +The Duchess of Sutherland presented the Queen with a Bible from "many +widows of England," and to "all those kind sister widows" her Majesty +expressed the deep and heartfelt gratitude of "their widowed Queen." + +As a consequence of the failure of the cotton crop in America, caused +by the civil war rending the country asunder, the Lancashire +operatives were in a state of enforced idleness and famine, calling +for the most strenuous efforts to relieve them. + +When Parliament was opened by commission on the 5th of February, 1863, +the Queen's speech announced the approaching marriage of the Prince of +Wales. On the 7th of March Princess Alexandra, accompanied by her +father and mother, brother and sister, arrived at Gravesend, where the +Prince of Wales met her. Bride and bridegroom drove, on the chill +spring day which ended in rain, through decorated and festive London, +where great crowds congregated to do the couple honour. + +In the afternoon at Windsor the Queen was seen seated with her two +younger daughters at a window of the castle which commanded the +entrance drive. The little party waited there in patient expectation +till it grew dark. + +On Tuesday, the 10th of March, the marriage took place in St. George's +Chapel. The Queen in her widow's weeds occupied the royal closet, from +which she could look down on the actors in the ceremony. She was +attended by the widow of General Bruce. Among the English royal family +were Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse, and the Crown Princess of +Prussia leading her little son, Prince William. + +The Prince of Wales, who wore a general's uniform with the star of the +Garter, was supported by the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and the Crown Prince +of Prussia. + +Princess Alexandra came in the last carriage with her father, Prince +Christian of Denmark, and the Duke of Cambridge. The bride's dress was +of white satin, and Honiton lace, with a silver moiré train. She had a +wreath of orange-blossoms and myrtle. She wore a necklace, earrings, +and brooch of pearls and diamonds, the gift of the Prince of Wales, +rivières of diamonds, the City of London's gift, an opal and diamond +bracelet, presented by the Queen, &c., &c. The bride's train was borne +by eight unmarried daughters of English dukes, marquises, and earls. + +Princess Alexandra was in her nineteenth, the Prince of Wales in his +twenty-second year. + +On reaching the _haut pas_, the bride made a deep reverence to +the Queen. During the service her Majesty was visibly affected. Indeed +an interested spectator, Dr. Norman Macleod, remarked as a +characteristic feature of the marriage that all the English princesses +wept behind their bouquets to see--not the Prince of Wales, not the +future king, but their brother, their father's son, standing alone +before the altar waiting for his bride. + +The bride and bridegroom on leaving the chapel occupied the second of +the twelve carriages, and were preceded by the Lord Chamberlain, &c., +&c. Her Majesty received her son and new daughter at the grand +entrance. The wedding breakfast for the royal guests was in the +dining-room, for the others in St. George's Hall. At four the Prince +and Princess of Wales left in an open carriage drawn by four cream- +coloured horses for the station, where the Crown Princess of Prussia +had already gone to bid her brother and his bride good-bye, as they +started for Osborne to spend their honeymoon. + +That night there were great illuminations in London and in all the +towns large and small in the kingdom. Thousands of hearts echoed the +poet-laureate's eloquent words-- + + Sea kings daughter from over the sea, + Alexandra. + Saxon and Norman and Dane are we, + But all of us Danes in our welcome to thee, + Alexandra. + +Among the Princess of Wales's wedding presents was a parure of +splendid opals and brilliants from a design by the late Prince +Consort, given in his name as well as in the Queen's. + +The town and country houses selected for the Prince and Princess of +Wales were Marlborough House and Sandringham. + +On the 4th of April Princess Alice's first child, a daughter, was born +at Windsor. + +On the 8th of May the Queen paid a visit to the military hospital at +Netley, in which the Prince Consort had been much interested. + +Her Majesty left England on the 11th of August for Belgium and +Germany. She was accompanied by the Princes Alfred and Leopold and the +Princesses Helena and Beatrice. Their destination was Rosenau, near +Coburg, where the Queen was again joined by the Crown Prince and +Princess of Prussia and Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse. In the +house which was so dear and so sad, the late Prince's birthplace, his +widow and children spent his birthday. During the Queen's stay in +Coburg she went to see the widow of Baron Stockmar, and Mr. +Florschütz, the late Prince's tutor. The venerable superintendent +Meyer was still alive and able to preach to her. Her Majesty's health +continued feeble, but she was able to receive visits at Rosenau from +the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria. She quitted Coburg on +the 7th of September, spending the 8th at Kranichstein, near +Darmstadt, the country house of Princess Alice and her husband. + +Later on in autumn the Queen with nearly the whole of her family was +at Balmoral and Abergeldie. The cairn on Craig Lowrigan was finished. +It formed a pyramid of granite thirty feet high, seen for many a mile. +The inscription was as follows:-- + + "TO THE BELOVED MEMORY + + of + + ALBERT, THE GREAT AND GOOD, + + PRINCE CONSORT, + + RAISED BY HIS BROKEN-HEARTED WIDOW, + + VICTORIA B., + + AUGUST 21, 1862. + + + + + He being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a + long time, for his soul pleased the Lord, + therefore hastened He to take him away + from among the wicked. + + _Wisdom of Solomon, iv. 13, 14._ + +The appropriate verse is said to have been suggested by the Princess +Royal. + +Immediately after her Majesty's arrival at Balmoral she went to Blair +to see the Duke of Athole, who was hopelessly ill with cancer in the +throat. The poor Duke bore up bravely. He had to receive the Queen in +his own room, "full of his rifles and other implements and attributes +of sport now for ever useless to him." But he was able to present the +white rose, the old tribute from the Lords of Athole to their +sovereign, and he was gratified by the gracious and kindly mark of +attention shown in her Majesty's visit. He insisted on accompanying +her to the station, where she gave him her hand, saying, "Dear Duke, +God bless you." He had asked permission that the same men who had gone +with the Queen and the Prince Consort through the glen two years +before might give her a cheer. "Oh! it was so dreadfully sad," was the +Queen's comment in her journal. + +About three weeks afterwards, on the 7th of October, the Queen had an +alarming accident. She was returning from Altnagiuthasach with two of +her daughters in the darkness of an autumn evening, when the carriage +was upset in the middle of the moorland. Her Majesty was thrown with +her face on the ground, but escaped with some bruises and a hurt to +one of her thumbs. No one else was injured. The ladies sat down in the +overturned carriage after the traces had been cut and the coachman +despatched for assistance. There was no water to be had, nothing but +claret to bathe the Queen's hand and face. In about half an hour +voices and horses' hoofs were heard. It was the ponies which had been +sent away before the accident, but the servant who accompanied them, +alarmed by the non-appearance of the Queen and by the sight of lights +moving about, rode back to reconnoitre. Her Majesty and the Princesses +mounted the ponies, which were led home. At Balmoral no one knew what +had happened; the Queen herself told the accident to her two sons-in- +law who were at the door awaiting her. + +Six days afterwards the Queen made her first appearance in public +since the Prince's death a year and nine months before, at the +unveiling of his statue in Aberdeen. She was accompanied by the Crown +Prince and Princess of Prussia, Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse, +Princesses Helena and Louise, and Princes Arthur and Leopold. The day +was one of pouring rain, and the long silent procession was sad and +strange. The Queen was trembling; she had no one as on former +occasions to direct and support her. She received the Provost's +address, and returned a written reply. She conferred the honour of +knighthood on the magistrate, the first time she had performed the +ceremony "since all was ended." + +On the 14th of December the Queen and her family visited the +mausoleum, [Footnote: Dr. Norman Macleod describes an earlier visit in +March, 1863 "I walked with Lady Augusta to the mausoleum to meet the +Queen. She was accompanied by Princess Alice. She had the key, and +opened it herself, undoing the bolts, and alone we entered and stood +in silence beside Marochetti's beautiful statue of the Prince. I was +very much overcome. She was calm and quiet."] to which she went +constantly on every return to Windsor. Princess Alice in her published +letters calls the sarcophagus--with the exquisite decorations which +were in progress, and cost more than two hundred thousand pounds paid +from her Majesty's private purse--"that wonderfully beautiful tomb" by +which her mother prayed. It became the practice to have a religious +service celebrated there in the presence of the Queen and the royal +family on the anniversary of the Prince's death. + +In December Lady Augusta Bruce left the Queen's service on her +marriage with Dean Stanley. On the night of the 23rd of December +Thackeray died. + +Prince Albert Victor of Wales was born unexpectedly at Frogmore, where +the Prince and Princess of Wales then resided occasionally, on the 8th +of January, 1864. The child was baptised in the chapel at Buckingham +Palace on the first anniversary of his parents' marriage, as the +Princess Royal had been baptised there on the first anniversary of the +Queen and Prince Albert's marriage. The Queen and the old King of the +Belgians were present among the sponsors. + +When the Queen went north this year she was accompanied by the Duke +and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg. + +On the 14th of March, 1865, her Majesty visited the Hospital for +Consumption at Brompton, walking over the different wards and speaking +to the patients. + +The news of the assassination of President Lincoln reached England in +April, when the Queen became, as she has so often been, the mouthpiece +of her subjects, writing an autograph letter expressing her horror, +pity, and sympathy to Mrs. Lincoln. + +Prince Alfred on the 6th of August, his twenty-first birthday, was +formally acknowledged heir to his childless uncle, the Duke of Saxe- +Coburg. + +Two days later the Queen embarked with Prince Leopold, the three +younger Princesses, the Duchess of Roxburgh, Lady Churchill, &c., &c., +at Woolwich for Germany. She arrived at Coburg on the 11th and went to +Rosenau. On the 26th, the birthday of the Prince Consort, perhaps the +most interesting of all the inaugurations of monuments to his memory +took place at Coburg. A gilt-bronze statue ten feet high was unveiled +with solemn ceremony in the square of the little town which Prince +Albert had so often traversed in his boyhood. After the unveiling, the +Queen walked across the square at the head of her children and handed +to the Duke of Saxe-Coburg flowers which he laid on the pedestal. Each +of her sons and daughters followed her example, till "the fragrant +mass" rose to the feet of the statue. Princess Alice writes of "the +terrible sufferings" of the first three years of the Queen's +widowhood, but adds that after the long storm came rest, so that the +daughter could tenderly remind the mother, without reopening the +wound, of the happy silver wedding which might have been this year +when the royal parents would have been surrounded by so many +grandchildren in fresh young households. + +While the Queen was in the Highlands during the autumn, her journal, +in its published portions, records a few days spent with the widowed +Duchess of Athole at her cottage at Dunkeld. This visit was something +very different from the old royal progresses. It was a private token +of friendship from the Queen to an old friend bereaved like herself. +There was neither show, nor gaiety, nor publicity. The life was even +quieter than at Balmoral. Her Majesty breakfasted with the daughter +who accompanied her, lunched and dined with the Princess, the Duchess, +and one or more ladies. There were long drives, rides, and rows on the +lochs--sometimes in mist and rain, among beautiful scenery, like that +which had been a solace in the days of deepest sorrow, tea among the +bracken or the heather or in some wayside house, friendly chats, +peaceful readings. + +This year Princess Helena was betrothed to Prince Christian of +Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, a brother of the husband of her cousin, +Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe. The family connection and the personal +character of the bridegroom were high recommendations, while the +marriage would permit the Princess to remain in England near her +mother. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + +DEATHS OF LORD PALMERSTON AND THE KING OF THE BELGIANS--THE QUEEN +AGAIN OPENS PARLIAMENT IN PERSON, &C., &C. + +The Prime Minister so long connected with the Queen, Lord Palmerston, +energetic to the last, died at Brockett Hall on the 18th of October. + +A still greater loss befell her Majesty in the month of December--a +marked month in her history. King Leopold died on the 9th at Laeken, +within a few days of attaining his seventy-sixth year, the last of a +family of nine sons and daughters. He had been cured of a deadly +disease by a painful and dangerous operation two years before. He had +suffered afterwards from a slight shock of paralysis, which had not +prevented him from coming to England to be present at the baptism of +Prince Victor of Wales, the fifth generation, counting that of George +III., which King Leopold had known in connection with the English +throne. In addition to his fine mental qualities, he was singularly +active in his habits to the end. He walked thirty miles, and shot for +six hours in winter snow, after he had entered his seventy-fifth year. +Though the Queen must have been prepared for the event, and his death +was peaceful, it was a blow to her--much of her early past perished +with her life-long friend and counsellor. + +In 1866 the Queen opened Parliament in person for the first time since +the death of the Prince Consort, and there was a great assemblage to +hail her reappearance when she entered, not by the State, but by the +Peers' entrance. There were none of the flourishes of trumpets which +had formerly announced her arrival--solemn silence prevailed. She did +not wear the robes of state, they were merely laid upon the throne. +Her Majesty was accompanied by the Princesses Helena and Louise. When +the Queen was seated on the throne the Prince of Wales took his seat +on her right, while the Princesses stood on her left. Behind the Queen +was the Duchess of Wellington, as mistress of the robes, and a lady in +waiting. Her Majesty's dress was dark purple velvet bordered with +ermine; she wore a tiara of diamonds with a white gauze veil falling +down behind. The speech, which in one passage announced the coming +marriage of Princess Helena and Prince Christian (who sat near the end +of one of the ambassadors' benches) was read by the Lord Chancellor. +The Parliament granted to Prince Alfred an annuity of fifteen thousand +pounds--voted in turn to each of his younger brothers on their coming +of age--and to Princess Helena a dowry of thirty thousand and an +annuity of six thousand pounds, similar to what had been granted to +Princess Alice and was to be voted to Princess Louise. + +In March the Queen instituted the "Albert Medal," as a decoration for +those who had saved life from shipwreck and from peril at sea, and for +the first time during five-years revisited the camp at Aldershot and +reviewed the troops. She was accompanied by Princess Helena and the +Princess Hohenlohe, who was on a visit to England. + +Queen Amélie died at Claremont on the 24th of March, aged eighty-three +years. + +On the 25th of May Prince Alfred was created Earl of Ulster, Earl of +Kent, and Duke of Edinburgh. + +The Princess Mary of Cambridge was married to the Prince of Teck on +the 12th of June, in the presence of the Queen, in the parish church +of Kew, where the bride had been confirmed, "among her own people." +Parliament granted her an annuity of five thousand pounds. + +Another marriage, that of Princess Helena, was celebrated in St. +George's Chapel, Windsor, by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the +Bishop of London, on the 7th of July. The bridegroom was supported by +Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein and Prince Edward of Saxe- +Weimar. The bride entered between her Majesty and the Prince of Wales. +The usual eight noble bridesmaids followed. Prince Christian was in +his thirty-sixth, Princess Helena in her twenty-first year. Their home +has been first at Frogmore and afterwards at Cumberland Lodge. + +While the German war which had Schleswig-Holstein for a bone of +contention was still only threatening, the Crown Princess of Prussia +lost a fine child, Prince Sigismund. + +Afterwards the Queen had the pain of seeing her married children, with +their unfailing family affection, inevitably ranged on different sides +in the war. Princess Alice trembled before the fear of a widowhood +like her mother's as the sound of the firing of the Prussian army, +which lay between the wife at home and the husband in the field, was +heard in Darmstadt. The quiet little town fell into the hands of the +enemy, and was at once poverty and pestilence stricken, small-pox and +cholera having broken out in the hospitals, where the Princess was +labouring devotedly to succour the wounded. In such circumstances, +while the standard of her husband's regiment lay hidden in her room, +Princess Louis's third daughter was both. Happily peace was soon +proclaimed. In honour of it the baby, Princess Irene, whose godfathers +were the officers and men of her father's regiment, received her name. + +This year Hanover ceased to be an independent state, and became +annexed to Prussia. + +Dr. Norman Macleod has a bright little picture of an evening at +Balmoral in 1866. "The Queen sat down to spin at a nice Scotch wheel +while I read Robert Burns to her, 'Tam o' Shanter,' and 'A man's a man +for a' that'--her favourite." + +Her Majesty sent her miniature with an autograph letter to the +American citizen, Mr. Peabody, in acknowledgment of his magnificent +gift of model lodging-houses to the Working people of London. + +In 1867 the Queen again opened Parliament in person, her speech being +read by the Lord Chancellor. + +The grievous accident of the breaking of the ice in Regent's Park, +when it was covered with skaters and spectators, took place on the +15th of January. + +"The Early Tears of the Prince Consort," the first instalment of his +"Life," brought out under the direction of General Grey, with much of +the information supplied by the Queen, was published, and afforded a +nobler memorial to the Prince than any work in stone or metal. + +On the 20th of May her Majesty laid the foundation of the Albert Hall. +She was accompanied by the Princesses Louise and Beatrice, Prince +Leopold, and Prince Christian, and received by the Lord Steward, the +Lord Chamberlain, and the Queen's elder sons. The latter presented her +with a bouquet, which she took, kissing her sons. In reply to the +Prince of Wales's speech her Majesty spoke in accents singularly +inaudible for her. She mentioned the struggle she had undergone before +she had brought herself to take part in that day's proceedings, but +said she had been sustained by the thought that she was thus promoting +her husband's designs. + +In June and July the Queen of Prussia and the Sultan of Turkey came in +turn to England. The latter was with her Majesty in her yacht at a +great naval review held in most tempestuous weather off Spithead. In +the end of July the Empress of the French paid a short private visit +to her Majesty at Osborne. + +On the 20th of August the Queen left for Balmoral. On her way north +she spent a few days with the Duke and Duchess of Roxburgh at Fleurs, +when her Majesty visited Melrose and Abbotsford. After inspecting with +great interest the memorials of Sir Walter Scott, who had been +presented to her when she was a little girl at Kensington Palace, she +complied with a request that she should write her name in the great +author's journal, adding the modest comment in her own journal that +she felt it presumption in her to do so. + +During the autumn the Queen paid an informal visit to the Duke of +Richmond's shooting lodge in Glen Fiddich. On the first evening of her +stay the break with the luggage failed to appear, and her Majesty had +to suffer some of the half-comical inconveniences of ordinary +travellers. She had to dine in her riding skirt, with a borrowed black +lace veil arranged as a head-dress, and she had to go to bed without +the necessary accompaniments to her toilette. + +In 1867 the terrible news from Mexico that the Emperor Maximilian +(Archduke of Austria and husband of the Queen's cousin, Princess +Charlotte of Belgium) had been shot by his rebel subjects, while his +wife was hopelessly insane, rendered it a mercy to all interested in +the family that old King Leopold had not lived to see the wreck of so +many hopes. + +In 1868 the Queen gave to her people the first "Leaves" from her +journal in the Highlands, which afforded most pleasant glimpses of the +wonderfully happy family life, the chief holidays of which had been +spent at Balmoral. Her Majesty sent a copy to Charles Dickens, with +the graceful inscription that it was the gift of "one of the humblest +of writers to one of the greatest." + +On the 13th of May the Queen laid the foundation stone of St. Thomas's +Hospital, and on the 20th she held a great review of twenty-seven +thousand volunteers in Windsor Park. Instead of her mother or her +little children, her daughter-in-law and grown-up daughters, the +Princess of Wales, Princess Christian, and Princess Louise, were in +the carriage with her, while in room of her husband and her brother or +cousin, her two soldier sons rode one on each side of the carriage. + +On the 5th of July her Majesty, whose health required change of air +and scene, left for Switzerland, which must have possessed a great +attraction to so ardent an admirer of mountain scenery. She went +incognito as Countess of Kent. She was accompanied by Prince Leopold +and the Princesses Louise and Beatrice. The Queen travelled in her +yacht to Cherbourg, and thence by railway to Paris, where she stayed +all day in seclusion in the house of the English Ambassador, receiving +only a private visit from the Empress Eugénie--a different experience +of Paris from the last. The Queen continued her journey in the evening +to Basle, and from Basle to Lucerne, where for nearly two months she +occupied the Pension Wallis, delightfully situated on the Hill +Gibraltar above the lake. She made numerous enjoyable excursions on +her pony "Sultan" to the top of the Rhigi, and in the little steamboat +_Winkelried_ on the lovely lake of the Four Cantons, under the +shadow of Pilatus, to William Tell's country--she even ventured as far +as the desolate, snow-crowned precipices of the Engelberg. Her Majesty +returned by Paris, driving out to St. Cloud, and being much affected +as she walked in the grounds, but not venturing to enter the house, +where she had lived with the Prince during her happy fortnight's visit +to her ally in the Crimean war. + +Three days after her arrival in England the Queen proceeded as usual +to Balmoral, where she took a lively interest in all the rural and +domestic affairs which stood out prominently in the lives of her +humbler neighbours. The passages from her journal in this and in +subsequent years are full of graphic, appreciative descriptions of the +stirring incidents of "sheep-juicing," "sheep-shearing," the +torchlight procession on "Hallowe'en," a "house-warming;" of the grave +solemnity of a Scotch communion, and the kindliness and pathos of more +than one cottage "kirstenin," death-bed, and funeral, with the simple +piteous tragedy of "a spate" in which two little brothers were +drowned. + +Considerable excitement was caused in the House of Commons during the +debate on the disestablishment of the Irish Church, by the Premier, +Mr. Disraeli, mentioning the Queen's name in connection with an +interview he had with her on his resignation of office and on the +dissolution of Parliament. The conduct of Mr. Disraeli was stigmatised +as unconstitutional both in advising a dissolution of Parliament and +in apparently attempting to shift the responsibility of the situation +from the Government to the Crown. + +The Queen lost by death this year her old Mistress of the Robes, one +of the earliest and most attached of her friends, Harriet, Duchess of +Sutherland. + +In September, 1869, her Majesty, with the Princesses Louise and +Beatrice, paid a ten days' visit to Invertrosachs, occupying Lady +Emily Macnaghten's house, and learning to know by heart Loch Katrine, +Loch Lomond, &c., &c. + +In November the Queen was in the City after a long absence, for the +double purpose of opening Blackfriars Bridge and the Holborn Viaduct. +Happily for the cheering multitudes congregated on the occasion the +day was bright and fair though cold, so that she could drive in an +open carriage accompanied by her younger daughters and Prince Leopold. +The Queen still wore deep mourning after eight years of widowhood, and +her servants continued to have a band of crape on one arm. Her Majesty +was received by the Lord Mayor, &c., &c. After Blackfriars Bridge had +been declared open for traffic her carriage passed across it, followed +by his. The same ceremony was performed at the Holborn Viaduct. + +This season the Prince of Wales revisited the East, accompanied by the +Princess. + +In 1870 the Queen signed the order in council resigning the royal +prerogative over the army. + +On the 11th May her Majesty opened the University of London. She was +received by Earl Granville and Mr. Grote. Baboo Keshub Shunder Sen was +conspicuous among the company. The Queen received an address, said in +a clear voice "I declare this building open," and the silver trumpets +sounded. + +Charles Dickens died on the 9th of June. + +The Franco-German war, in which the Crown Prince of Prussia and Prince +Louis of Hesse were both engaged with honour, happily this time on the +same side, was filling the eyes of Europe; and before many months had +passed since "_Die Wacht am Rhein_" had resounded through the +length and breadth of Germany, the Empress of the French arrived in +England as a fugitive, to be followed ere long by the Emperor. + +In the autumn at Balmoral, Princess Louise, with the Queen's consent, +became engaged to the Marquis of Lorne, eldest son of the Duke of +Argyle. The proposal was made and accepted during a walk from the +Glassalt Shiel to the Dhu Loch. + +In November the Queen visited the Empress at Chislehurst. + +During the war, while the number of the French wounded alone in +Darmstadt amounted to twelve hundred, and Princess Alice was visiting +the four hospitals daily, her second son was born. + +The death of Sir James Clark, at Bagshot, was the snapping to the +Queen of another of the links which connected the present with the +past. + +In 1871 the Queen again opened Parliament in person, with her speech +read by the Lord Chancellor. As described by an eye-witness, her +Majesty sat "quite still, her eyes cast down, only a slight movement +of the face." The approaching marriage of the Princess Louise was +announced, and reference was made to the fact that the King of Prussia +had become Emperor of Germany. + +For the first time since the death of the Prince Consort, the Queen +spent the anniversary of their marriage-day at Windsor. + +On the 21st of March Princess Louise was married in St George's +Chapel, Windsor, to the Marquis of Lorne. The bridegroom was supported +by Earl Percy and Lord Ronald Leveson-Gower. The bride walked between +the Queen and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. Her Majesty by a gesture gave +away her daughter. Princess Louise was twenty-three, Lord Lorne +twenty-six years of age. The Princess has rooms in Kensington Palace +for her London residence. + +Eight days afterwards the Queen opened the Albert Hall. + +On the 3rd of April her Majesty visited the Emperor of the French at +Chislehurst--a trying interview. + +On the 21st of June the Queen opened St. Thomas's Hospital, knighting +the treasurer. + +This summer the Emperor and Empress of Brazil visited London, while +the Tichborne trial was running its long course. + +On the Queen's return from Balmoral in November, she was met by the +alarming tidings that the Prince of Wales lay ill of typhoid fever at +Sandringham. The Queen went to her son on the 29th and remained for a +few days. The disease seemed progressing favourably, and she returned +to Windsor in the beginning of December, leaving the invalid devotedly +nursed by the Princess of Wales and Princess Alice--who had been +staying with her brother when the fever showed itself, and by the Duke +of Edinburgh. On the 8th there was a relapse, when the Queen and the +whole of the royal family were sent for to Sandringham. During many +days the Prince hovered between life and death. The sympathy was deep +and universal. The reading of the bulletins at the Mansion House was a +sight to be remembered. A prayer was appointed by the Archbishop of +Canterbury for "Albert Edward Prince of Wales, lying upon the bed of +sickness," and for "Victoria our Queen and the Princess of Wales in +this day of their great trouble." Supplications were sent up alike in +Catholic churches and Jewish synagogues. On the night of Wednesday the +14th, a date which had been dreaded as that of the Prince Consort's +death ten years before, a slight improvement took place, sleep at last +was won, and gradual recovery established. The Queen returned to +Windsor on the 19th, and wrote on the 26th of December to thank her +people for their sympathy. + +On the 8th of February, 1872, the Governor-General of India, Lord +Mayo, was assassinated. + +The 27th was the Thanksgiving Day for the Prince of Wales's recovery. +No public sight throughout her Majesty's reign was more moving than +her progress with the Prince and Princess of Wales and Princess +Beatrice to and from St. Paul's. The departure from Buckingham Palace +was witnessed by the Emperor and Empress of the French, who stood on a +balcony. The decorated streets were packed with incredible masses of +people, the cheering was continuous. The Queen wore white flowers in +her bonnet and looked happy. The Prince insisted on lifting his hat in +return for the people's cheers. The royal party were met at Temple Bar +by the Lord Mayor and a deputation from the Common Council. The City +sword was presented and received back again, when the chief magistrate +of London remounted and rode before the Queen to St. Paul's. Thirteen +thousand persons were in the City cathedral. The pew for the Queen and +the Prince was enclosed by a brass railing. The _Te Deum_ was +sung by a picked choir. There was a special prayer, "We praise and +magnify Thy glorious name for that Thou hast raised Thy servant Albert +Edward Prince of Wales from the bed of sickness." The sermon was +preached by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The return was led by the +Lord Mayor and Aldermen to the bounds of the City. When Buckingham +Palace was reached the Queen showed herself with the Prince for a +moment on the central balcony. There was an illumination in the +evening. + +On the 29th of February, as the Queen was returning from a drive in +the Park, having come down Constitution Hill and entered the +courtyard, when about to alight, a lad with a paper in one hand and a +pistol in the other rushed first to the left and then to the right +side of the carriage, with arms extended to the Queen, who sat quite +unmoved. Her Majesty's attendant, John Brown, seized the assailant. He +was a half-witted Irish lad, named Arthur O'Connor, about seventeen +years of age, who had been a clerk to an oil and colour merchant. He +had climbed over the railings. There was no ball in the pistol, which +was broken. The paper was a petition for the Fenians. The public +indignation was great against the miserable culprit, who was dealt +with as in former outrages of the kind, according to the nature of the +offence and with reference to the mental condition of the offender. +The Queen, who had been about to institute a medal as a reward for +long and faithful service among her domestics, gave a gold medal and +an annuity of twenty-five pounds to John Brown for his presence of +mind and devotion on this occasion. + +Her Majesty had gone to Balmoral for her birthday, and was still there +on the 16th of June when she heard of the death of her valued friend, +Dr. Norman Macleod. He had preached to her and dined with her so +recently as the 26th of May. What his loss was to her she has +expressed simply and forcibly in a passage in her journal.... "When I +thought of my dear friend Dr. Macleod and all he had been to me--how +in 1862, '63, '64, he had cheered and comforted and encouraged me--how +he had ever sympathised with me ... and that this too like so many +other comforts and helps was for ever gone, I burst out crying." + +On the 1st of July the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh and +Prince Leopold and the two younger princesses, visited the Albert +Memorial, Hyde Park, which was complete save for the statue. + +Three days afterwards, in very hot weather, her Majesty was present at +a great review at Aldershot. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + + +STAY AT HOLYROOD--DEATHS OF PRINCESS HOHENLOHE AND OF PRINCE FREDERICK +OF DARMSTADT--MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH. + +The Queen arrived at Holyrood on the 14th of August, and made a stay +of a few days in Edinburgh for the first time during eleven years. A +suite of rooms called the "Argyle rooms" had been freshly arranged for +her occupation. She went over Queen Mary's rooms again for the +gratification of Princess Beatrice, and with the Princess and Prince +Leopold took the old drives to Dalkeith and Leith which her Majesty +had first taken thirty years before. + +A favourite project in the past had been that her Majesty should go so +far north as to visit Dunrobin, and rooms had been prepared for her +reception. When the visit was paid the castle was in the hands of +another generation, and the Queen laid the foundation stone of a cross +erected to the memory of the late Duchess. + +Soon after her Majesty's return to Balmoral, on the 23rd September, +she had the grief to receive a telegram announcing the death of her +sister, Princess Hohenlohe. Though not more than sixty-five years of +age the Princess had been for some time very infirm. She had received +a great shock in the previous spring from the unexpected death by +fever, at the age of thirty-three, of her younger surviving daughter, +Princess Feodore, the second wife of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. + +The Emperor Napoleon III, who had long been labouring under sore +disease, laid down his wearied and vanquished life at Chislehurst on +the 9th of January, 1873. + +The coming marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh to the Grand Duchess +Marie of Russia was announced to Parliament. + +On the 2nd of April the Queen was present at the opening of the +Victoria Park. Prince Arthur was created Duke of Connaught. + +A fatal accident to the younger son of Prince and Princess Louis of +Hesse happened at Darmstadt on the 29th of May. The nurse had brought +the children to see the Princess while she was in bed, and had left +the two little boys playing beside her. The windows of the bedroom and +of a dressing-room beyond were open. Princess Louis, hearing Prince +Ernest, the elder brother, go into the dressing-room, leapt out of bed +and hurried after him. In her momentary absence Prince Frederick, +between two and three years of age, leant out of one of the bedroom +windows, lost his balance, and fell on the pavement below, receiving +terrible injuries, from which he died in a few hours, to the great +sorrow of his parents. + +In September the Queen and Princess Beatrice, with Lady Churchill and +General Ponsonby, spent a week at Inverlochy, occupying the house of +Lord Abinger at the foot of Ben Nevis, among the beautiful scenery +which borders the Caledonian Canal, and is specially associated with +Prince Charlie--in pity for whom her Majesty loved to recall the drops +of Stewart blood in her veins. + +This year more than one figure, well-known in different ways to the +Queen in former years, passed out of mortal sight--Bishop Wilberforce, +Landseer, Macready. + +In January, 1874, the Duke of Edinburgh was married at the Winter +Palace, St. Petersburg, to the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia. The Duke +was in his thirtieth, the Grand Duchess in her twenty-first year. The +royal couple arrived at Gravesend on March 7th, and entered London on +March 12th in a heavy snowstorm. In spite of the weather the Queen and +the Duchess, with the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Beatrice seated +opposite, drove slowly through the crowded streets in an open carriage +drawn by six horses. The Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess +Louise, &c., were at the windows of Buckingham Palace. The Queen went +out with the Duke and Duchess on the balcony. The Duke and Duchess's +town and country houses are Clarence House and Eastwell Park. + +In March her Majesty, accompanied by all her family in England, +reviewed the troops returned from the Ashantee War in Windsor Great +Park, and gave the orders of St. Michael and St. George to Sir Garnet +Wolseley and the Victoria Cross to Lord Gifford. + +The first volume of the "Life of the Prince Consort," by Sir Theodore +Martin, came out and made a deep impression on the general public. + +Her Majesty had for many years honoured with her friendship M. and +Madame Van de Weyer, who were the Queen's near neighbours at Windsor, +the family living at the New Lodge. In addition they had come for +several seasons to Abergeldie, when the Court was at Balmoral. M. Van +de Weyer was not only the trusted representative of the King of the +Belgians, he was a man highly gifted morally and intellectually. This +year the friendship was broken by his death. + +On the 15th of October the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh's son--was +born. + +The news of Livingstone's death reached England. + +Early in 1875 Prince Leopold, then twenty-two years of age, suffered +from typhoid fever. So great were the fears entertained for his life +that the Queen was prevented from opening Parliament in person. +Already Princess Alice in her letters had referred to her youngest +brother as having been three times given back to his family from the +brink of the grave. + +During the spring the Queen was deprived by death of her Clerk to the +Council and literary adviser in her first book, Sir Arthur Helps. +Charles Kingsley, whose work was much admired by the Prince Consort, +died also. + +On the 18th of August, when the Queen was sitting on the deck of the +royal yacht as it crossed from Osborne to Gosport, the yacht +_Mistletoe_ ran across its bows and a collision took place, the +_Mistletoe_ turning over and sinking. The sister-in-law of the +owner of the yacht was drowned. The master, an old man, who was struck +by a spar, died after he had been picked up. The rest of the crew were +rescued. Her Majesty, who was greatly distressed, aided personally in +the vain efforts to restore one of the sufferers to consciousness. + +In September the Queen, in paying a week's visit to the Duke and +Duchess of Argyle at Inverary, had the pleasure of seeing Princess +Louise in her future home. It was twenty-eight years since her Majesty +had been in the house of MacCallummore, and then her son-in-law of to- +day had been a little fellow of two years, in black velvet and fair +curls. + +Towards the end of the year the Prince of Wales left for his +lengthened progress through her Majesty's dominions in India, which +was accomplished with much éclat and success. + +In 1876 the Queen opened Parliament in person. + +On the 25th of February her Majesty, accompanied by the Princess of +Wales, Princess Beatrice, and Prince Leopold, and received by the Duke +of Edinburgh, attended a state concert given in the morning at the +Albert Hall. Since 1866 the Queen had been able gradually to hear and +enjoy again the music in which she had formerly delighted, but she had +taken the gratification in her domestic life. Her royal duties had +been only intermitted for the briefest space. Every act of beneficence +and gracious queenliness had been long ago resumed. But no place of +public amusement had seen the face of the widowed Queen. + +Lady Augusta Stanley died, after a lingering illness, on the 1st of +March. It was the close--much lamented from the highest to the lowest-- +of a noble and beautiful life. The Queen afterwards erected a +memorial cross to Lady Augusta Stanley's memory in the grounds at +Frogmore. + +On the 7th of March her Majesty, accompanied by Princess Beatrice, +opened a new wing of the London Hospital. + +Two days afterwards the statue of the Prince Consort in the Albert +Memorial was unveiled without any ceremony. The whole memorial thus +completed stood, as it stands to-day, one of the most splendid tokens +--apart from its artistic merit--of a nation's gratitude and a Queen's +love. Opinions may differ on the use of gilding and colours, as they +have been rarely employed in this Country, upon the towering facades +and pinnacles, and on the choice of the central gilt figure of the +Prince, colossal, in robes of state. But there can hardly be a doubt +as to the striking effect of the magnificent monument taken +altogether, especially when it has the advantage of a blue sky and +brilliant sunshine, and of the charm of the four white marble groups +which surround the pedestal, seen in glimpses through the lavish green +of Kensington Gardens. An engraving of the statue of the Prince is +given in Vol. I., p. 172. + +In the end of the month the Queen, travelling incognito as Countess of +Kent, having crossed to Cherbourg, arrived at Baden-Baden accompanied +by Princess Beatrice. Her Majesty visited the Princess Hohenlohe's +grave. She continued her journey to Coburg. In passing through Paris +on her return to England towards the end of April, her Majesty had an +interview with the President of the French Republic. + +On the 1st of May the Queen was proclaimed Empress of India. + +In the season the Empress of Germany and the ex-royal family of +Hanover visited England. On the 17th of August the Queen, with the +Princes Arthur and Leopold and Princess Beatrice, stayed two nights at +Holyrood for the purpose of unveiling the equestrian statue to the +late Prince in Charlotte Square. Her Majesty recalled the coincidence +that the last public appearances of both her husband and mother were +in Edinburgh--the Prince Consort in laying the foundation stone of the +new post-office in October, 1861, only six weeks before his death, the +Duchess of Kent at the summer volunteer review in 1860. The town was +gay and bright and crowded with company. In Charlotte Square the Duke +of Buccleuch, chairman of the committee, read the address, to which +the Queen read a reply. On her return to the palace she knighted the +sculptor, Sir John Steel, and Professor Oakeley, the composer of the +chorale which was sung on the occasion. In the evening there was once +more a great dinner at Holyrood--Scotts, Kerrs, Bruces, Primroses, +Murrays, &c., &c, being gathered round their Queen. + +A month afterwards at Ballater, amidst pouring rain, her Majesty +presented new colours to the 79th regiment, "Royal Scots," of which +her father was colonel when she was born. She spoke a few kind words +to the soldiers, and accepted from them the gift of the old colours, +which are in her keeping. + +On the 15th December the Queen and the Princess Beatrice paid a visit +to Lord Beaconsfield at Hughenden, lunched, and remained two hours, +during which the royal visitors planted trees on the lawn. + +In consequence of fever in the Isle of Wight her Majesty held her +Christmas at Windsor for the first time since the death of the Prince +Consort. + +On New Year's day, 1877, the Queen was proclaimed Empress of India at +Delhi. Her Majesty opened Parliament on the 8th of February. + +In September, when the war between Russia and Turkey was raging, her +Majesty, Princess Beatrice, the Duchess of Roxburgh, &c., spent a week +at Loch Maree Hotel, enjoying the fine Ross-shire scenery, making +daily peaceful excursions, to which such a telegram as told of the +bombardment of Plevna must have been a curious accompaniment. + +In February, 1878, the Queen's grandchild, Princess Charlotte of +Prussia, was married at Berlin to the hereditary Prince of Saxe- +Meiningen, at the same time that her cousin, Princess Elizabeth of +Prussia, was married to the hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg. + +On the 12th June the Queen's cousin, who had been the blind King of +Hanover, died in exile at Paris. His body was brought to England and +was buried in the royal vault below St. George's Chapel, Windsor. + +The Queen saw a naval review off Spithead in August. In the end of the +month the Queen, with Princess Beatrice and Prince Leopold, stopped at +Dunbar on the way north in order to pay a visit to the Duke and +Duchess of Roxburgh at Broxmouth. During her Majesty's stay she heard +of the death of Madame Van de Weyer at the New Lodge, and wrote in her +journal, "Another link with the past gone! with my beloved one, with +dearest Uncle Leopold, and with Belgium." + +In September a terrible accident occurred in the Thames off Woolwich, +when the _Princess Alice steamboat_ on a pleasure trip was run +down by the _Bywell Castle_, and about six hundred passengers +perished. + +In the end of the month the Queen had the misfortune to lose her old +and faithful servant Sir Thomas Biddulph, who died at Abergeldie +Mains. When she went to see him in his last illness and took his hand, +he said, "You are very kind to me," to which she answered, pressing +his hand, "You have always been very kind to me." + +The Marquis of Lorne had been appointed Governor-General of Canada, +for which he and Princess Louise sailed, arriving at Ottawa on the +23rd of November. + +Already the Queen, who was still at Balmoral, had heard of the +disastrous outbreak of diphtheria in the Darmstadt royal family. It +attacked every member in succession, the youngest, Princess Marie, a +child of four years of age, dying on the 16th of November. It was +supposed that the Duchess had caught the infection from having once, +in an abandonment of sorrow for the death of her little daughter, +forgotten the necessary precautions, and rested her head on the Duke's +pillow. Her case was dangerous from the first, and she gave orders +lest she should die, but did not seem to expect death. In her sleep +she was heard to murmur, "Four weeks--Marie--my father." On the +morning before she died she read a letter from her mother. Her last +words when waking from sleep, she took the refreshment offered her, +were, "Now I will again sleep quietly for a longer time." Then she +fell back into the slumber from which she never awoke. She died on the +14th December, exactly four weeks from the death of her child, and +seventeen years from the death of her father. She was thirty-five +years of age. Princess Alice was a woman of rare qualities and +remarkable benevolence. + +The Prince of Wales and Prince Leopold went to Darmstadt and followed +the funeral from the church to the Rosenhöhe, where all that was +mortal of Princess Alice rests beside the dust of her children. A fine +figure in white marble of the Princess, recumbent, clasping her little +daughter to her breast, has been placed close to the spot as a token +of the loving remembrance of her brothers and sisters. The engraving +represents this beautiful piece of monumental sculpture. + +In 1879 the Zulu war broke out. On the 11th of March Princess Louise +of Prussia arrived in England, and on the 13th she was married in St. +George's Chapel, Windsor, in the presence of the Queen and all the +members of the royal family and the bride's father and mother, Prince +and Princess Frederick Charles of Prussia. The bridegroom was +supported by his brothers, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of +Edinburgh. The bride walked between her father and the Crown Prince of +Germany, and was followed by eight noble bridesmaids. The Duke of +Connaught was in his twenty-ninth and Princess Louise of Prussia in +her nineteenth year. Their residence is Bagshot Park. + +Twelve days later the Queen left with Princess Beatrice and, +travelling by Cherbourg and Paris, reached Lake Maggiore on the 28th. +Immediately after their arrival the news came of the death, from +diphtheria of one of the Crown Princess of Germany's sons, Prince +Waldemar of Prussia, a fine boy of eleven years of age. + +Her Majesty left on the 23rd of April, and returned by Milan, Turin, +Paris, and Cherbourg, to England. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + + +BIRTH OF THE FIRST GREAT-GRANDCHILD--MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF ALBANY-- +CONCLUSION. + +The Queen's first great-grandchild, the child of the Princess of Saxe- +Meiningen, was born on the 12th of May. + +On her Majesty's arrival at Balmoral on the 22nd of May she went to +see the granite cross erected to the "dear memory" of Alice, Duchess +of Hesse, by her "sorrowing mother" + +The Queen remained at Balmoral till after the 19th of June, when the +melancholy tidings arrived that the Prince Imperial had been killed in +the Zulu war. Her Majesty left on the 20th, and crossed over the Tay +Bridge, which was destroyed in the terrible gale of the 29th December +of the same year. + +In 1880 the Queen opened Parliament in person. Her Majesty, +accompanied by Princess Beatrice, left Windsor on the 25th of March +for Baden-Baden and Darmstadt. The Queen was present at the +confirmation of the Princesses Victoria and Elizabeth, and visited the +Rosenhöhe, where their mother was buried. + +About the same time the ex-Empress Eugénie embarked at Southampton for +the Cape of Good Hope, that she might see the place where her son fell +on the anniversary of his death. + +On the 24th of April the Princess Frederica of Hanover, elder daughter +of the late King, was married to Baron von Pawel-Rammingen, who had +been equerry to her father, in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The Queen +and several members of the royal family witnessed the ceremony. + +In September the Duke of Connaught and his bride were welcomed to +Balmoral, and a visit paid to the cairn erected in their honour when +their healths were drunk with "three times three" in the presence of +the Queen, Princess Beatrice, and the ladies and gentlemen of the +household. Later in the autumn the childless widow, the Empress +Eugénie, stayed for a little time at Abergeldie. + +At the close of 1880 Lord Beaconsfield published his last novel of +"Endymion." George Eliot died on the 22nd December, and in 1881 Thomas +Carlyle died, on the 5th of February, in the eighty-sixth year of his +age. + +Her Majesty's eldest grandson, Prince William of Prussia, was married +at Berlin on the 27th of February to Princess Augusta Victoria of +Schleswig-Holstein. The bride was the granddaughter of the Queen's +sister, Princess Hohenlohe, and the niece of Prince Christian. + +On March 13th the Emperor of Russia was assassinated. + +Lord Beaconsfield died on the 19th of April at his house in Curzon +Street. Ten days later the Queen and Princess Beatrice visited +Hughenden while the vault was still open, and placed flowers on the +coffin. + +In June Prince Leopold took his seat in the House of Peers on his +creation as Duke of Albany. + +On the 19th of September President Garfield died, after a long +struggle, with the effects of his assassination, when the Queen wrote +to Mrs. Garfield her indignation and pity as she had expressed them to +the widow of President Lincoln. + +In 1882 a monument was erected in Hughenden Church to Lord +Beaconsfield "by his grateful and affectionate sovereign and friend, + + "VICTORIA R. I. + + Kings love him that speaketh right. + + PROVERBS xvi 13." + +The Queen's speech on the opening of Parliament in 1882 announced the +approaching marriage of the Duke of Albany to Princess Helen of +Waldeck. + +On the 2nd of March, as her Majesty was entering her carriage at +Windsor station, she was fired at by a man named Roderick Maclean, the +ball passing between her Majesty and Princess Beatrice. The criminal, +who proved to be of respectable antecedents, was arrested and +committed for high treason. He was tried, found not guilty on the plea +of insanity, and sentenced to be confined during her Majesty's +pleasure. Much sympathy and indignation were felt, and addresses were +voted by both Houses of Parliament. + +The Queen left with Princess Beatrice, twelve days afterwards, by +Portsmouth, Cherbourg, and Paris for Mentone, where her Majesty stayed +a fortnight. + +Princess Helen of Waldeck, accompanied by her parents, arrived on the +25th of April. The King and Queen of the Netherlands, the bride's +brother-in-law and sister, came next day, and the marriage was +celebrated on the 27th of April in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, +before the Queen and the royal family. The Duke of Albany was in his +twenty-ninth, and Princess Helen in her twenty-first year. Claremont +was assigned to the young couple as their future residence. Eight days +after the marriage a sad event broke in on the marriage rejoicings; +the bride's sister, Princess William of Wurtemberg, died in childbirth +at the age of twenty-three. + +On the 6th of May the Queen, with Princess Beatrice, went in state to +Epping Forest, where they were received by the Lord Mayor, the +Sheriffs, and the Duke of Connaught as ranger of the forest. After an +address the Queen declared the forest dedicated to the people's use. + +On the same day Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke were +assassinated in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. + +Garibaldi died at Caprera on the 2nd of June. + +The Egyptian war broke out, and among the officers who sailed with the +troops under Sir Garnet Wolseley in August was the Duke of Connaught. +The Duchess and her little daughter were with the Queen at Balmoral, +where anxious days were spent as mother and wife waited for the news +of battle. Successive telegrams announced that an attack was +determined on, that the army had marched, that fighting was going on, +and that the enemy had been routed with heavy loss at Tel-el-Kebir. +The Queen wrote in her journal "How anxious we felt I need not say, +but we tried not to give way.... I prayed earnestly for my darling +child, and longed for to-morrow to arrive. Read Korner's beautiful, +'_Gebet vor der Schlacht_,' '_Vater ich rufe Dich_,' ('Prayer +before the Battle,' 'Father, I call on Thee'). My beloved husband used +to sing it often...." + +At last came the welcome telegram, "A great victory, Duke safe and +well," and a further telegram with details and the concluding +sentence, "Duke of Connaught is well and behaved admirably, leading +his brigade to the attack," and great was the joy and thankfulness. + +In the meantime the Duke and Duchess of Albany had been expected on +their first visit after their marriage, and were met at Ballater. When +their healths were drunk with Highland honours, the happy Queen asked +her son to propose another toast "to the victorious army in Egypt" +coupled with the Duke of Connaught's name, and the health was drunk in +the hearing of his proud wife and his unconscious infant in her +nurse's arms. + +In November the Queen reviewed the troops returned from Egypt in St. +James Park, and afterwards distributed war medals to the officers and +men. + +On the 4th December her Majesty opened the New Law Courts. She was +received by the judges and the representatives of the Bar. Lord +Chancellor Selborne was raised to the rank of an earl, and knighthood +was conferred on the Governors of the Inns of Court. + +The Duke of Connaught, accompanied by the Duchess, went to fill a +military post in India. + +We have seen that Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, her Majesty's fourth +and youngest son, who was born on the 7th of April, 1853, had a +delicate childhood and boyhood. He suffered from a tendency to +haemorrhage on the slightest provocation. Ailments in the joints are +apt to accompany such constitutional weakness, and one of Prince +Leopold's knees was affected. As he grew up he was again and again +brought to the brink of the grave by sudden and violent fits of +indisposition. It is hardly necessary to say that the precariousness +of Prince Leopold's health, combined as it was with an amiable +disposition and intellectual gifts, only served to endear him the more +to his family and friends. + +The bodily weakness which set the Duke of Albany apart from his elder +brothers and from lads of his age, which prevented his being regularly +trained either as a soldier or a sailor, in the two professions which +have been long held fit for princes, made him peculiarly the home-son +of the Queen, and caused him to be much longer associated with her +than he might otherwise have been, in her daily life and in her public +appearances during the later years of her reign. + +It did not follow from this circumstance that Prince Leopold +relinquished an independent career or led an idle life. In 1872, when +he was in his twentieth year, he matriculated at Oxford, where he kept +his terms with credit alike to his original abilities and his +conscientious diligence. His honourable and pleasant connection with +his university remained a strong tie to the end of his short life, and +it was doubtless in relation to Oxford that he came sensibly under the +influence of Mr. Buskin. + +On leaving college Prince Leopold continued to lead the quiet yet busy +life of a scholarly and somewhat artistic young man to whom robust +health has been denied. In addition to the many dignities of his rank, +including four orders of knighthood, belonging to the Garter, the +Thistle, the Star of India, and the Order of St. Michael and St. +George, he became a D.O.L. of Oxford in 1876, and in the following +year a bencher of Lincoln's Inn. A less characteristic honour given +him was the rank of a colonel in the army. + +It was a marked feature in Prince Leopold's individuality, as it had +been in that of the Prince Consort, that he sought to turn all his +gifts and pursuits to practical use, not only in the interests of +science and art, but in order to improve the condition and increase +the happiness of the Queen his mother's people. His speeches on the +increasing occasions when he took the chair at public meetings in aid +of the objects he had at heart, were remarkable in so young a man, not +only for good taste and for the amount of carefully acquired knowledge +they displayed, but for the spirit of enlightened humanity and +benevolence which breathed through them. Gradually but surely Prince +Leopold's graceful, well-considered, kindly utterances, with which he +was ready whenever his services were required, were making a most +favourable and permanent impression on the public which was too soon +to mourn his loss. The extension of education and of innocent +amusements through all classes, the Kyrle Society for the fostering of +Art among the homeliest surroundings, the higher and more general +cultivation of music, the introduction of lessons in cookery into the +poorest schools; were among the schemes which the Duke of Albany +warmly advocated. + +The Duke's marriage took place, as we have recorded, on the 27th of +April, 1882, and in 1883 a daughter was born to him, who received the +dear and hallowed name of "Alice." + +In March, 1884, the Duke of Albany went to Cannes in order to escape +the spring east winds, leaving the Duchess, who was in a delicate +state of health, behind him at Claremont. He appeared to profit by his +stay of a few weeks in the south of France, was unusually well in +health and in excellent spirits, entering generally into the society +of the place. But on the 27th of March, in ascending a stair at the +Cercle Nautique, he slipped and fell, injuring his ailing knee in a +manner in which he had hurt it several times before. He was conveyed +in a carriage to the Villa Nevada, at which he was residing, and no +danger was apprehended, the Duke writing with his own hand to the +Duchess, making light of the accident. During the following night, +however, he was observed to breathe heavily, was found to be in a fit, +and in a few minutes afterwards, early on the morning of the 28th of +March, 1884, he died in the arms of his equerry, Captain Perceval. The +melancholy news was telegraphed to Windsor, and broken to the Queen by +the Master of her Household, Sir Henry Ponsonby. Under the shock and +grief, with which the whole country sympathised, her Majesty's first +and constant thought seems to have been for the young widow at +desolate Claremont. + +The Prince of Wales started for Cannes, and accompanied the remains of +his brother to England, the royal yacht _Osborne_ landing them at +Portsmouth. On the arrival of the melancholy cavalcade at Windsor, on +Friday, the 4th of April, the Queen went with her daughters, Princess +Christian and Princess Beatrice, to the railway station to meet the +body of the beloved son who had been the namesake of King Leopold, her +second father, and the living image in character of the husband she +had adored. The coffin was carried by a detachment of the Seaforth +Highlanders through the room in which her Majesty awaited the +procession, and conveyed to the chapel, where a short service was +afterwards held in the presence of the Queen and the near relatives of +the dead, and where the nearest of all, the widowed Duchess, paid one +brief last visit to the bier. + +On the following day, Saturday, the 5th of April, towards noon, the +funeral took place, with all the pomp of the late Prince's rank, and +all the sorrow which his untimely end and many virtues might well call +forth. The Prince of Wales, as chief mourner, was supported by the +Crown Prince of Germany, the Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, Prince Christian +of Schleswig-Holstein, Prince Albert Victor of Wales, and the Duke of +Cambridge. The coffin, with its velvet pall nearly hidden by flowers, +was again borne by a party of the Seaforth Highlanders to the solemn +music of Chopin's "Funeral March" and the firing of the minute-guns, +to the principal entrance of St. George's Chapel. Among the same +company that had been assembled when the Duke of Albany had been +married not two years before, were his father-in-law and sister-in- +law, the Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, and the Queen of Holland. + +While the dirge-like music and the booming of the cannon filled the +air, the Queen in deep mourning entered, leaning on the arm of the +Princess of Wales, and followed by Princess Christian, the Princesses +Louise and Beatrice, and Princess Frederica of Hanover, the royal +party being conducted by the Lord Chamberlain to seats near the choir +steps. The Duchess of Albany and the Duchess of Edinburgh were unable, +from the state of their health, to attend the funeral. As the coffin, +every movement of which was regulated by the word of command spoken by +the officer appointed for the duty, passed through the screen and +entered the choir, the Queen and Princesses rose as if to greet him +who came thus for the last time among them. The rest of the company +had remained standing from the moment of the Queen's entrance. The +Dean of Windsor read the Funeral Service. When the choir sang the +anthem, "Blessed are the Departed," the Queen again rose. Lord Brooke, +a young man like the Prince who was gone, who had been with him at +Oxford, was one of the most intimate of his friends, and had been +named one of the executors of his will, threw, with evident emotion, +the handful of earth on the coffin while the Dean recited "Earth to +earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." + +After the singing of the hymn, "Lead kindly light," during which her +Majesty stood, she and the Princesses quitted the chapel. Garter-King- +at-Arms having proclaimed the style and titles of the deceased, the +coffin was lowered into the vault below St. George's Chapel, the +Prince of Wales gazing sadly on its descent. The Queen, with her long +discipline of sorrow, had in the middle of her affliction preserved +her coolness throughout the trying ceremony. Prince Leopold, Duke of +Albany, had almost completed his thirty-first year. The anniversary of +his birthday was on the second day after his funeral. + +The Queen has left her mark on the palaces and humbler houses which +have been her homes. In indicating it we have nothing to do with grey +Windsor in its historical glories, or even in its more picturesque +lights. We leave behind the Waterloo Gallery, the Garter-room and the +quaint cottages of the Poor Knights in order to point out the touches +which are the tokens of Queen Victoria's presence. Though she dwelt +here principally in the bright days of her early reign, the chief +signs which she will leave behind her are those of her widowhood and +of the faithful heart which has never forgotten its kindred dead. The +most conspicuous work of the Queen's is the restoration and +rechristening of the Wolsey Chapel. As the Albert Chapel, the +beautiful little building is fall of the thought of him who was once +master here. Its rich mosaics, stained glass, "pictures for eternity" +fretted in marble, scriptural allegories of all the virtues--the very +medallions of his children which surmount these unfading pictures, are +all in his honour. Specially so is the pure white marble figure of the +Prince, represented as a knight in armour, lying sword in hand, his +feet against the hound--the image of loyalty, while round the pedestal +is carved his name and state, and the place of his burial, with the +epitaph which fits him well, "I have fought the good fight, I have +finished my course." + +In St. George's Chapel her Majesty has erected five monuments. A +recumbent marble figure on an alabaster sarcophagus is to her father, +who was so fond of the infant daughter whom he left a helpless baby. A +white marble statue, larger than life, in royal robes, is to the man +who took the Duke of Kent's place, Leopold I., King of the Belgians, +of whom his niece could cause to be written with perfect truth "who +was as a father to her, and she was to him as a daughter." This statue +is reared near the well-known monument to the dead King's never +forgotten first wife, Princess Charlotte of Wales. [Footnote: Princess +Alice mentions in one of her published letters that King Leopold had +entertained a wish that he might be buried in England.] The third and +fourth monuments are to the Queen's aunt and cousin, the good Duchess +of Gloucester and the late King of Hanover. The last was executed by +the Queen's nephew, Count Gleichen (Prince Victor Hohenlohe). The +inscription has several pathetic allusions. "Here has come to rest +among his kindred, the royal family of England, George V., the last +King of Hanover." "Receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved." "In +this light he shall see light." The fifth monument has been raised to +a young eastern prince, son of Theodore, King of Abyssinia, who came +to England as a lad and died here "I was a stranger and ye took me in" +is the epitaph. + +At the entrance to the fine corridor which runs round two sides of the +quadrangle of the Castle, and forms a matchless in-door promenade, is +Theed's beautiful group of the Queen and the Prince, conceived and +worked out after his death, with the solemn parting of two hearts +tenderly attached as the motive of the whole. The figures are not only +ideally graceful while the likeness in each is carefully preserved, +the expression is beyond praise. The wife clings, in devotion so +perfect that impassioned hope contends with chill despair, to the arm +of the husband who looks down on her whom he loves best, with fond +encouragement and the peace of the blessed already settling on the +stainless brow. The inscription is from Goldsmith's "Deserted +Village"-- + + "Allur'd to brighter worlds and led the way," + +It is part of an exquisite passage:-- + + "And as a bird each fond endearment tries + To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies, + He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay, + Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way." + +The corridor, among its innumerable vases, cabinets, and pictures of +kings and great men--including a fine portrait of Sir Walter Scott-- +has a whole series of pictures illustrating, the leading events of her +Majesty's life, from her "First Council," by Wilkie, through her +marriage, the baptisms of the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales, +the first reception of Louis Philippe, &c., &c., to the Princess +Royal's marriage. + +The white drawing-room, said to be a favourite room of her Majesty's, +is not far from her private sitting-room on the south-east side of the +quadrangle which looks out on the Long Walk and Windsor Forest, the +white drawing-room commanding the Home Park. + +Going down the stately double avenue of elms called the Long Walk, a +lodge and side walk at no great distance lead to Frogmore, with its +mausoleum half hidden in luxuriant foliage. In the octagonal building, +which forms a cross, and is richly decorated with coloured marbles, is +the famous recumbent figure of the Prince in white marble by Baron +Marochetti. When the Queen's time comes, which her people pray may +still be far distant, she will rest by her husband's side, and a +similar statue to his will mark where she lies. Memorials of Princess +Alice and of her Majesty's dead grandchildren are also here. + +The late Duchess of Kent is buried in a separate vault beneath a dome +supported by pillars of polished granite and surrounded by a parapet +with balconies. In the upper chamber, lit from the top by stained +glass, is a statue of the Duchess, by Theed. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the +Queen, Vol II, by Sarah Tytler + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN VICTORIA V2 *** + +This file should be named 7086-8.txt or 7086-8.zip + +This eBook was produced by Tricia Gilbert, 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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