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diff --git a/35576.txt b/35576.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb35331 --- /dev/null +++ b/35576.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7312 @@ +Project Gutenberg's In the Days of Queen Victoria, by Eva March Tappan + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In the Days of Queen Victoria + +Author: Eva March Tappan + +Release Date: March 14, 2011 [EBook #35576] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE DAYS OF QUEEN VICTORIA *** + + + + +Produced by Bethanne M. Simms and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +Important Historical Books for the Young +_Makers of England Series_ + +By EVA MARCH TAPPAN, Ph.D. + + _In the Days of Alfred the Great_ + Cloth. Illustrated. _Net_ $1.00 + + _In the Days of William the Conqueror_ + Cloth. Illustrated. _Net_ $1.00 + + _In the Days of Queen Elizabeth_ + Cloth. Illustrated. _Net_ $1.00 + + _In the Days of Queen Victoria_ + Cloth. Illustrated. _Net_ $1.00 + + +By CALVIN DILL WILSON + + _The Story of the Cid Young People_ + Cloth. Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy. $1.25 + + +Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston + + + +[Illustration: Her Majesty the Queen in her state robes. +(_From painting by Alfred F. Chalon, R.A., 1838._)] + + + +Makers of England Series + + + +IN THE DAYS + +OF + +QUEEN VICTORIA + + + +By + +EVA MARCH TAPPAN, Ph.D. + +AUTHOR OF "IN THE DAYS OF ALFRED THE GREAT," "IN THE DAYS OF +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR," "IN THE DAYS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH," ETC. + +_ILLUSTRATED FROM FAMOUS PAINTINGS AND ENGRAVINGS AND FROM +PHOTOGRAPHS_ + + + +BOSTON: +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + +Published, August, 1903 + +COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY LEE AND SHEPARD +_All rights reserved_ + +IN THE DAYS OF QUEEN VICTORIA + + + + +PREFACE + + +To her own people Queen Victoria was England itself, the emblem of the +realm and of the empire. To millions who were not her people the words +"the Queen" do not bring even yet the thought of the well-beloved woman +who now shares the English throne, but rather of her who for nearly +sixty-four years wore the crown of Great Britain and gave freely to her +country of the gift that was in her. + +Other women have been controlled by devotion to duty, other women +have been moved to action by readiness of sympathy, but few have +united so harmoniously a strong determination to do the right with +a never-failing gentleness, a childlike sympathy with unyielding +strength of purpose. + +Happy is the realm that can count on the list of its sovereigns one +whose career was so strongly marked by unfaltering faithfulness, by +honesty of aim, and by statesmanlike wisdom of action. + +EVA MARCH TAPPAN. + +WORCESTER, MASS. +_February, 1903._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. BABY DRINA, 1 + + II. THE SCHOOLDAYS OF A PRINCESS, 21 + + III. EXAMINATION DAY, 43 + + IV. A QUEEN AT EIGHTEEN, 68 + + V. THE CORONATION, 89 + + VI. THE COMING OF THE PRINCE, 114 + + VII. HOUSEKEEPING IN A PALACE, 138 + +VIII. A HOME OF OUR OWN, 163 + + IX. NIS! NIS! NIS! HURRAH! 186 + + X. THE ROYAL YOUNG PEOPLE, 212 + + XI. THE QUEEN IN SORROW, 235 + + XII. THE LITTLE FOLK, 259 + +XIII. MOTHER AND EMPRESS, 278 + + XIV. THE JUBILEE SEASON, 299 + + XV. THE QUEEN AND THE CHILDREN, 319 + + XVI. THE CLOSING YEARS, 338 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Her Majesty the Queen in her state robes. (_From painting +by Alfred E. Chalon, R.A., 1838_) _Frontispiece_ + + _Facing page_ + +Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria +(_From painting by Sir W. Beechey, R.A._) 16 + +The Princess Victoria at the age of eleven 46 + +The coronation of Queen Victoria. (_From painting by Sir +George Hayter_) 110 + +Albert, Prince Consort, in the uniform of a field marshal 136 + +The Queen in 1845. (_From a painting by John Partridge_) 158 + +Queen Victoria; Prince Albert; Victoria, Princess Royal; +Albert Edward, Prince of Wales; Prince Alfred; Princess +Alice; Princess Helena. (_From a painting by F. Winterhalter, +1848_) 188 + +Westminster Abbey 216 + +Balmoral Castle 244 + +Houses of Parliament 274 + +Windsor Castle 302 + +Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. (_From a photograph by +A .Bassano_) 338 + + + + +In the Days of Queen Victoria + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BABY DRINA + + +"Elizabeth would be a good name for her," said the Duke of Kent. +"Elizabeth was the greatest woman who ever sat on the throne of +England. The English people are used to the name, and they like it." + +"But would the Emperor Alexander be pleased?" asked the Duchess. "If he +is to be godfather, ought she not to be named for him?" + +"Alexandra--no; Alexandrina," said the Duke thoughtfully. "Perhaps you +are right. 'Queen Alexandrina' has a good sound, and the day may come +when the sovereign of England will be as glad of the friendship of the +Emperor of Russia as the Regent is to-day." + +"Are you so sure, Edward, that she will be a sovereign?" asked his wife +with a smile. + +"Doesn't she look like a queen?" demanded the Duke. "Look at her golden +hair and her blue eyes! There, see how she put her hand out, just as if +she was giving a command! I don't believe any baby a week old ever did +that before. The next time I review the troops she shall go with me. +You're a soldier's daughter, little one. Come and see the world that +you are to conquer." He lifted the tiny baby, much to the displeasure +of the nurse, and carried her across the room to the window that looked +out upon Kensington Garden. "Now, little one," he whispered into the +baby's ear, "they don't believe us and we won't talk about it, but +you'll be queen some day." + +"Is that the way every father behaves with his first baby?" asked the +Duchess. + +"They're much alike, your Grace," replied the nurse rather grimly, as +she followed the Duke to the window with a blanket on her arm. The Duke +was accustomed to commanding thousands of men, and every one of them +trembled if his weapons and uniform were not spotless, or if he had +been guilty of the least neglect of duty. In more than one battle the +Duke had stood so firmly that he had received the thanks of Parliament +for his bravery and fearlessness. He would never have surrendered a +city to a besieging army, but now he had met his match, and he laid the +baby in the nurse's arms with the utmost meekness. + +The question of a name for the child was not yet decided, for the +wishes of someone else had to be considered, and that was the Prince +Regent, the Duke's older brother, George. He thought it proper that his +niece should be named Georgiana in honor of himself. + +"Georgiana let it be," said the Duke of Kent, "her first name shall be +Alexandrina." + +"Then Georgiana it shall _not_ be," declared the Prince Regent. "No +niece of mine shall put my name second to any king or emperor here in +my own country. Call her Alexandrina Alexandra Alexander, if you +choose, but she'll not be called Alexandrina Georgiana." + +When the time for the christening had arrived the Archbishop of +Canterbury and the Bishop of London came to Kensington in company with +the crimson velvet curtains from the chapel at St. James' and a +beautiful golden font which had been taken from the Tower for the +baptism of the royal baby. The Archbishop and the Bishop, the Prince +Regent, and another brother of the Duke of Kent, who was to represent +the Emperor of Russia as godfather, all stood around the golden font in +the magnificent cupola room, the grand saloon of Kensington Palace. The +godmothers were the child's grandmother and aunt, and they were +represented by English princesses. All the royal family were present. + +After the prayers had been said and the promises of the sponsors made, +the Archbishop took the little Princess in his arms and, turning to the +godfathers and the godmothers, he said: "Name this child." + +"Alexandrina," responded the Duke of York. + +"Give her another name," bade the Duke of Kent in a low tone. + +"Name her for her mother, then," said the Prince Regent to the +Archbishop, and the baby was christened Alexandrina Victoria. + +It made little difference to either the Duke or the baby how the Prince +Regent might feel about her name, for the Duke was the happiest of +fathers, and the little Drina, as the Princess was called, was a merry, +sweet-tempered baby. Everyone at Kensington loved her, and over the sea +was a grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Coburg, who could hardly wait +for the day to come when she would be able to see the child. "How +pretty the little Mayflower will be," she wrote, "when I see it in a +year's time." Another letter said: "The English like queens, and the +niece of the beloved Princess Charlotte will be most dear to them." +Princess Charlotte was the only child of Prince George, and the nation +had loved her and longed to have her for their queen. She had married +Leopold, the brother of the Duchess of Kent, and had died only two +years before "Princess Drina" was born. + +The succession to the English crown was in a peculiar condition. The +king, George III., had become insane, and his eldest son, George, was +ruling as Prince Regent. If the Regent lived longer than his father, he +would become George IV. His next younger brother was Frederick, Duke of +York; then came William, Duke of Clarence; and then the Duke of Kent. +George and Frederick had no children, and William's baby girl died on +the very day that the Princess Alexandrina was born. If these three +brothers died without children, the Duke of Kent would become king; but +even then, if the Duke should have a son, the law was that he, rather +than the daughter, should inherit the crown. The baby Princess, then, +stood fifth in the succession to the throne, and a child born to any +one of these three uncles, or a son born to her father, would remove +her still further from sovereignty. + +The English people had talked of all these possibilities. The Duke of +Kent had also several younger brothers, but they were all middle-aged +men, the youngest forty-five, and not one of them had a child. If all +the children of George III. died without heirs, the English crown would +descend to a line of Germans who had never walked on English soil. "We +have had one king who could not speak English," said the people, "and +we do not want another." The Duke of Kent was a general favorite among +them, and they hoped that he, and after him his daughter, would become +their ruler. Indeed, they hoped for this so strongly that they began to +feel sure that it would come to pass. Everyone wanted to see the little +Princess. Many a person lingered under the palace windows for hours, +and went away feeling well repaid for the delay if he had caught a +glimpse of the royal baby in her nurse's arms. + +When the Princess was four months old, the Duke gave orders one +afternoon that she should be made ready for a drive with him. + +"But is it not the day of the military review on Hounslow Heath?" asked +the Duchess. + +"Yes," replied the Duke, "and where else should a soldier's daughter be +but at a review? I want to see how she likes the army. You know she +will be at the head of the army some day," he added half in jest and +half in earnest. "Won't you let me have her?" The Duchess shook her +head playfully. Just then the nurse entered the room with the little +Princess in her outdoor wraps. The tall Duke caught up the child and +ran to the carriage like a naughty boy with a forbidden plaything, and +the nurse followed. + +At the review the Duke was not so stern a disciplinarian as usual, for +more than one man who was expected to stand "eyes front" took a sly +look at the pretty baby in her nurse's arms, and the proud father +forgot to blame him for the misdemeanor. After the review the people +gathered about the carriage. + +"God bless the child," cried an old man. "She'll be a Princess +Charlotte to us." + +"Look at her sweet face," said another. "Did you ever see such bright +blue eyes? She'll be a queen who can see what her people want." + +There were hurrahs for the Princess and hurrahs for the Duke. Then a +voice in the crowd cried: "Give us a rousing cheer for the Duchess who +cares for her own baby and doesn't leave her to the hired folk." + +In all this hubbub and confusion the blue-eyed baby did not cry or show +the least fear. "She's a soldier's child," said the Duke with delight, +and he took her from the nurse and helped her to wave her tiny hand to +the admiring crowd. + +Prince George had never been on good terms with his brother, the Duke +of Kent, and after the affair of the name he was less friendly than +ever. He was always jealous of the child, and when he heard of her +reception at the review he was thoroughly angry. "That infant is too +young to be brought into public," he declared. + +She was not brought into so public a place again, but she won friends +wherever she went. The Duke could not bear to have her away from him +for an hour, and the greatest honor he could show to a guest was to +allow him to take the little one in his arms. An old friend was at the +Palace, one evening, and when he rose to go, the Duke said: "No, come +with me first and see the child in her crib." As they entered the room +of the little Princess, the Duke said: "We are going to Sidmouth in two +or three days to cheat the winter, and so we may not meet again for +some time. I want you to give my child your blessing. Pray for her, not +merely that her life may be brilliant and free from trouble, but that +God will bless her, and that in all the years to come He will guide her +and guard her." The prayer was made, and the Duke responded with an +earnest "Amen." + +In a few days the family set out for Sidmouth. Kensington was becoming +cold and damp, and the precious baby must not be risked in the London +chills of the late autumn. The Duchess, moreover, had devoted herself +so closely to her child that she needed a change and rest. + +At Sidmouth the old happy life of the past six months went on for a +little while. The house was so small that it was called "hardly more +than a cottage," but it had pretty verandas and bay windows, shaded by +climbing roses and honeysuckles. It stood on a sunny knoll, with tall +trees circling around it. Just below the knoll was a little brook +running merrily to the sea, a quarter of a mile away, and, following +the lead of the brook, was the road. Sidmouth was a nest of sunbeams, +and the baby Princess was well and strong. "She is too healthy, I +fear," wrote the Duke, "in the opinion of some members of my family by +whom she is regarded as an intruder." + +The people of Sidmouth did not look upon the pretty, blue-eyed baby as +an intruder, and there was great excitement in the village when it was +known that the Duke had taken Woolbrook Glen. Every boy in the country +around was eager to see the soldier Duke who had been in real battles, +and every girl longed for a sight of the little Princess, There was no +difficulty in seeing them when they had once come, for whenever it was +pleasant they were out of doors, walking or driving. A lady who met the +party one morning wrote that the Duke and the Duchess were strolling +along arm in arm, and close to them was the nurse carrying the Princess +with her white swansdown bonnet and cloak. She was holding out her hand +to the Duke, and just as the village people drew near, he took her from +the nurse and lifted her to his shoulder. + +When the Duke had been away from the house, his first thought on +returning was the little daughter. One morning, only a few days after +this meeting with the lady and her children, he took a long walk in the +rain. He was hardly over the threshold on his return before he called, +"Where's my daughter? Bring little Drina." + +"But, Edward," the Duchess objected, "your boots must be wet through. +Won't you change them first? You will surely be ill." + +"Soldiers aren't ill, my lady," replied the Duke, laughing. "I never +was ill in all my life. Where's my queen?" + +An hour's romp with the merry baby followed. But then came a chill, and +the strong man was overcome with inflammation of the lungs. In those +days physicians had little knowledge how to treat such a disease. They +had an idea that whenever one was feverish he had too much blood, and +that some of it must be taken away; so the Duke was bled until, if he +had not been in the least ill, the loss of blood would have made him +faint and weak. A messenger was sent to London to bring a famous +doctor, but when he came the Duke was dead. "I could have done nothing +else," said the great man, "except to bleed him much more than you have +done." + +Prince Leopold had come to Sidmouth a day or two earlier, and he went +with the Duchess and the Princess to London. The villagers gathered +about the carriage to bid a silent farewell to the sorrowful company. +Many of them were weeping and their tears flowed still faster when the +nurse held the baby up to the carriage window and whispered, "Say +good-by to the people;" for the little one waved her hand and patted +the glass and sprang up and down in her nurse's arms without the least +realization of her loss. + +The carriage rolled away, but the people stood watching it until it was +out of sight. + +"That's the sweetest child in all England," said one woman, wiping her +eyes with the corner of her apron, "and now the poor little thing will +have no father." + +"Did ever you see a man so fond of his child as the Duke?" said another +with a sob. + +"King George had nine sons," said a man who stood near, "and the Duke +was every whit the best of them. The King never treated him fairly. +When the others wanted money, they had it; but when the Duke needed it, +his father just said, 'Get along as you can.' There wasn't one of the +sons that the King wasn't kinder to than to the Duke." + +"He'll have little more chance to be kind or unkind," declared another. +"Have you not heard the news from London? The King is very ill, and the +Prince Regent will soon be George IV." + +"It's bad luck speaking ill of him that's to be king," said one, "but +the man that's gone to London in his coffin was the man that I'd have +liked to see on the throne." + +"Will the Duchess go back to her own land, think you?" questioned the +first woman. + +"Yes, that she will," replied the second positively "There never was a +woman that loved her own people better than she. Folks say she writes +her mother every day of her life." + +"I say she'll not go back," declared one of the men with equal +positiveness. "She'll do her duty, and her duty is to care for the +Princess. God bless her, and make her our queen some day." + +So the people in the village talked, and so people were talking +throughout the kingdom. After the first sad days were past the question +had to be decided by the Duchess and her devoted brother Leopold. The +Duchess loved her family and her old home at Amorbach, near Heidelberg. +There she and the Duke had spent the first months of their married +life, and nothing would have helped her more to bear her loneliness +than a return to the Bavarian Palace, in which every room was +associated with memories of him. She was a stranger in England and she +could not even speak the language of the country. The Duke's sisters +loved her, and Adelaide, who had been a German princess before she +became the wife of the Duke of Clarence gave her the warmest sympathy +in this time of sorrow; but the Regent disliked her and had always +seemed indignant at the possibility that his brother's child would +inherit the throne. The Regent had now become king, for his father had +died on the very day of the Duchess's return to London. Unless a child +was born to either the Duke of York or the Duke of Clarence the baby +Princess would become queen at their death. The child who would rule +England ought to be brought up in England. + +There was something else to be considered, however. When the Duchess +was only a girl of seventeen she had become the wife of the Prince of +Leiningen, and at his death he had made her sole guardian of their two +children, Charles and Feodore. As soon as Charles was old enough he +would succeed his father as ruler of Leiningen but until then his +mother was Regent. + +"Is it right for me to neglect my duties in Bavaria?" questioned the +Duchess; "to give up the regency of Leiningen? Shall I neglect Charles +to care for Drina's interest?" + +"Charles will be well cared for," said Prince Leopold. "His people love +him already and will be true to him. England is a great kingdom. It is +not an easy land to rule. A queen who has grown up in another country +will never hold the hearts of the people." + +"True," said the Duchess. "I must live in England. That is my duty to +my child and to her country." + +How the Duchess and her child were to live was a question of much +importance. The King could not refuse to allow them to occupy their old +apartments in Kensington Palace, but the Duchess was almost penniless. +Nearly all the money which her first husband had left her she had been +obliged to give up on her second marriage and she had surrendered all +the Duke's property to his creditors to go as far as it would in paying +his debts. Some money had been settled upon her when she married the +Duke, but that was so tied up that it would be many months before she +could touch it. The only plea that she could make to the King would be +on the ground that her child might become his heir, and nothing would +have enraged him so much as to suggest such a thing. Whatever +Parliament might appropriate to the Princess would be given against the +wishes of the King, and there would, at any rate, be a long delay. It +was a strange condition of affairs. The child would probably have +millions at her command before many years had passed, but for the +present there was no money even to pay the wages of the servants for +their care of her. + +[Illustration: Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent and Princess +Victoria. +(_From painting by Sir W. Beechey, R.A._)] + +If this story had been a fairy tale, the fairy godmother with the magic +wand would have been called upon to shower golden guineas into the +empty purse, but in this case it was the good uncle who came to the aid +of his Princess niece. When Prince Leopold married the Princess +Charlotte he went to England to live, for he expected that some day his +wife would become Queen of Great Britain. After her death he made his +home in England, but spent much of his time in travelling. He was not +rich, but he was glad to help his sister as much as possible, and after +the death of the Duke of Kent he made her and her children his first +care. + +It was decided, then, that the Duchess would remain in England, and +that Kensington Palace should become the home of the Princess +Alexandrina Victoria. This was a large, comfortable-looking abode. It +had been a favorite home of several of the English sovereigns. About it +were gardens cut into beds shaped like scrolls, palm leaves, ovals, +circles, and all sorts of conventional figures so prim and stiff that +one might well have wondered how flowers ever dared to grow in any +shape but rectangular. The yew trees were trimmed into peacocks and +lions and other kinds of birds and beasts. All this was interesting +only as a curiosity, but there was a pretty pond and there were long, +beautiful avenues of trees. There were flowers and shrubs and soft +green turf. It was out of the fog and smoke of the city; indeed it was +so far out that there was danger of robbers to the man who ventured to +walk or drive at night through the unlighted roads. For many years +after the birth of the Princess a bell was rung Sunday evenings so that +all Londoners might meet and guard against danger by going over the +lonely way to their homes in one large company. + +The life at Kensington was very quiet. No one would have guessed from +seeing the royal baby that the fate which lay before her was different +from that to be expected for any other child who was not the daughter +of a Prince. She spent much of the time out of doors, at first in the +arms of her nurse, then in a tiny carriage, in which her half-sister, +the Princess Feodore, liked to draw her about. "She must learn never to +be afraid of people," declared the wise mother, and before the child +could speak plainly she was taught to make a little bow when strangers +came near her carriage and say, "Morning, lady," or "Morning, sir." + +The little girl was happy, but life was hard for the mother. She had +given up her home and her friends, and now she had to give up even her +own language, for English and not German must be her child's mother +tongue, and she set to work bravely to conquer the mysteries of English +Her greatest comfort in her loneliness was the company of the Duchess +Adelaide, wife of the Duke of Clarence. For many weeks after the death +of the Duke of Kent, the Duchess drove to Kensington every day to spend +some time with her sister-in-law. When the Princess was about a year +and a half old, a little daughter was born to the Duchess Adelaide, but +in three months she was again childless. She had none of the royal +brothers' jealousy of the baby at Kensington, and she wrote to the +Duchess of Kent, "My little girls are dead, but your child lives, and +she shall be mine, too." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SCHOOLDAYS OF A PRINCESS + + +Nothing could be more simple than the order of the Princess' day at +Kensington. Breakfast was at eight, and it was eaten out of doors +whenever the weather was good. The Princess sat in a tiny rosewood +chair beside her mother, and the little girl's breakfast was spread on +a low table before her. Whatever other children might have, there were +no luxuries for this child. Bread and milk and fruit made up her +breakfast, and nothing more would have been given her no matter how she +might have begged for it. After breakfast she would have liked to play +with her beloved Feodore, but Feodore had to go to her lessons. When +the weather was fair, however, a pleasure awaited the little girl. Her +uncle, the Duke of York, had given her a white donkey, and at this hour +she was allowed to ride it in Kensington Gardens. Her nurse walked +beside her, and on the other side was an old soldier whom her father +had especially liked. This riding was a great delight to the child, but +there was sometimes a storm of childish wrath before the hour was over, +for the Duchess had said, "She must ride and walk by turns," and when +the turn came for walking, the tiny maiden often objected to obeying +her mother's orders. + +When it was time for the Duchess to eat luncheon, the Princess had her +dinner, but it was so simple a meal that many of the servants of the +palace would have felt themselves very hardly used if they had had no +greater variety and no richer fare. The afternoon was often spent under +the trees, and at some time, either before supper or after, came a +drive with her mother. Supper was at seven, but the little girl's meal +consisted of nothing but bread and milk. At nine o'clock she was put to +bed, not in the nursery, but in her mother's room, for the Duchess had +no idea of being separated from her children, and the Princess Feodore +slept at one side of her mother, while on the other hand stood the +little bed of the baby sister. + +It was a simple, happy, healthy life. The great objection to it was +that the child rarely had a playmate of her own age. Two little girls, +daughters of an old friend of the Duke's, came once a week to see her, +but they were several years her seniors. Feodore was never weary of +playing with her, but Feodore was almost twelve years older, so that +when the child was four years old, Feodore was quite a young lady. +Perhaps no one realized how much she needed children of her own age, +for she was so merry and cheerful, so ready to be pleased and amused, +and so friendly with everyone who came near her. + +A learned clergyman reported that when he called on the Duchess the +little Princess was on the floor beside her mother with her playthings +"of which I soon became one," he added. + +One day the Duchess said: "Drina, there is a little girl only a year +older than you who plays wonderfully well on the harp. Should you like +to hear her?" + +"I'm almost four years old," was the child's reply. "What is her name?" + +"She is called Lyra," said the Duchess. "Should you like to hear her +play?" + +The Princess was very fond of music even when she was hardly more than +a baby, and she could scarcely wait for the day to come when she could +hear the little girl. At last Lyra and her harp were brought to the +palace, and the music began. The talented child played piece after +piece, then she stopped a moment to rest. This was the Princess' +opportunity. Music was good, but a real little girl was a great rarity, +and the small hostess began a conversation. + +"Does your doll have a red dress?" she asked. "Mine has, and she has a +bonnet with swans-down on it. Does yours have a bonnet?" + +"I haven't any doll," answered Lyra. + +"Haven't you any playroom?" asked the Princess wonderingly. + +"No," said the little musician. + +The Princess had supposed that all children had dolls and toys, and she +said: "I have a playroom upstairs, and there are dolls in it and a +house for them and a big, big ship like the one my papa sailed in once. +Haven't you any ship or any doll-house?" + +"No." + +"Haven't you any sister Feodore?" + +"No." + +Then the warm-hearted little Princess threw her arm around the child +musician and said: + +"Come over here to the rug, and let's play. You shall have some of my +playthings, and perhaps your mamma will make you a doll-house when you +go home." + +The Duchess had left the two children for a few minutes, and when she +returned they were sitting on the fur rug in front of the fire. The +harp was forgotten, and they were having a delightful time playing +dolls, just as if they were not the one a princess and the other a +musical prodigy. They were too busy to notice the Duchess, and as she +stood at the door a moment, she heard her little daughter saying: + +"You may have the doll to take home with you, Lyra. Put on her red +dress and her white bonnet and her cloak, for she'll be ill if you +don't. Her name is Adelaide, for that is my aunt's name." + +The Princess was not yet four years old, but her mother was beginning +to feel somewhat anxious about her education. Other children might +play, but the child who was to be queen of England must not be allowed +to give even her babyhood to amusement. The mother began to teach her +the alphabet, but the little girl had a very decided will of her own, +and she did not wish to learn the alphabet. + +"But you will never be able to read books as I do, if you do not +learn," said the mother. + +"Then I'll learn," promised the child. "I'll learn very quick." + +The alphabet was learned, but the resolutions of three-year old +children do not always endure, and the small student objected to +further study. + +"My little girl does not like her books as well as I could wish," wrote +the Duchess to her mother; but the grandmother took the part of the +child. "Do not tease your little puss with learning," was her reply. +"She is so young still. Albert is only making eyes at a picture book." +This Albert was one of the Princess' German cousins only a few weeks +younger than she; and the great delight of the Coburg grandmother was +to compare the growth and attainments of the two children and note all +their amusing little speeches. + +The Duchess, however, did not follow the advice of her mother, but more +than a month before her little daughter was four years old she decided +to engage a tutor for her. She herself and Feodore were reading English +with the Rev. Mr. Davys, the clergyman of a neighboring parish, and +during even the first few lessons the Duchess was so charmed with his +gentle, kindly manner and his intellectual ability that she said to him +one day: "You teach so well that I wish you would teach my little +daughter." + +So it was that the learned clergyman appeared at the palace one bright +April morning armed with a box of alphabet blocks. The Duchess seemed +quite troubled and anxious about the small child's intellectual +deficiencies, and when the preparations for the lesson had been made, +she said: + +"Now, Victoria, if you are good and say your lesson well, I will give +you the box of bright-colored straw that you wanted." + +"I'll be good, mamma," the little girl promised, "but won't you please +give me the box first?" + +The lesson began with a review of the alphabet; then came a struggle +with the mysterious _b-a, b-e, b-i, b-o, b-u, b-y_, "which we did not +quite conquer," the tutor regretfully writes. Mr. Davys kept a journal +of the progress of the Princess during the first two years of his +instruction, and he records gravely after the second lesson that she +pronounced _much_ as _muts_, that he did not succeed in teaching her to +count as far as five, and that when he tried to show her how to make an +_o_, he could not make her move her hand in the right direction. It +seems to have been a somewhat willful little hand, for a week later +when he wished her to make an _h_, she would make nothing but _o's._ +"If you will make _h_ to-day," said the patient tutor, "you shall have +a copy of _o's_ to-morrow;" but when to-morrow had come and the copy +had been prepared, the capricious little maiden did not care to make +_o_, she preferred to make _h_. + +The troubled instructor tried various plans to interest his small +charge. He wrote short words on cards and asked her to bring them to +him from another part of the room as he named them. He read her stories +and nursery rhymes, and one day, when he seems to have been almost at +his wit's end, he persuaded the Princess Feodore and her governess to +stand with his little pupil and recite as if they were in a class at +school. His report for that day records with a good deal of satisfaction, +"This seemed to please her." Willful as she was, however, she was very +tender-hearted, and when he asked her to spell the word _bad_, she +sobbed and cried, because she fancied that he was applying it to +herself. + +When Mr. Davys came in the morning, he would frequently inquire if she +had been good. One day he asked the Duchess: + +"Was the Princess good while she was in the nursery?" + +"She was good this morning," replied her mother, "but yesterday there +was quite a little storm." + +"Yes, mamma," added the honest little girl, "there were two storms, one +when I was washed and another when I was dressed." + +Sometimes her honesty put her mother into a difficult position. One day +the Duchess said: + +"Victoria, when you are naughty you make both me and yourself very +unhappy." + +"No, mamma," the child replied, "not me, but you." + +The lessons went on with much regularity, considering that the pupil +was a princess. On her fourth birthday she not only had a birthday +party, but she was invited to court. "Uncle King," as she called George +IV., gave a state dinner, and she was asked to be one of the guests. +Most children, however, would have thought the invitation hardly worth +accepting, for she was only brought into the room for a few minutes to +speak to the King and the royal family, then she was taken away to eat +her usual simple meal. + +When the Princess had been studying with Mr. Davys about five months, +she was taken to the seashore, and from there she wrote, or, rather, +printed, a letter to her tutor. It said: + + "MY DEAR SIR I DO NOT FORGET MY LETTERS NOR WILL I FORGET YOU + VICTORIA." + +The name Alexandrina had been gradually dropped. The Duchess had feared +at first that as "Victoria" was unfamiliar in England, the English +people might dislike it. Moreover, as the royal brothers were so +unfriendly to her, she did not wish that the use of her name should +prejudice them against the child. There was little danger of anyone +disliking the child, however, for she was so winsome a young maiden +that whoever spoke to her became her friend. One of her most devoted +admirers was her Uncle Leopold, and her idea of the highest bliss was +to make a visit at his house. A few months after the beginning of her +education, she visited him, and Mr. Davys drove to the house twice a +week to continue her instruction. Her uncle was present at the lessons, +and he was as troubled as the Duchess because little Victoria did not +like to read. + +It is no wonder that the child enjoyed her visits to Claremont. Prince +Leopold's home was a large brick mansion, with stately cedars on the +lawn, and high up on a column a great bronze peacock that was a source +of wonder and amusement. There was a lake, with groves of pines beyond +it. There was a farm, with lambs and calves and ducklings. Best of all, +there was Uncle Leopold, who was always ready to walk or drive with +her, and to tell her wonderful stories. + +It was very delightful to visit an uncle who was a prince, but even at +Claremont it was never forgotten that the wee child was being trained +to be a queen. The stories must not be without a moral; her uncle's +charming talks of flowers and animals must be planned to introduce her +to botany and natural history; and even in her play she was carefully +watched lest some thoughtlessness should be overlooked which ought to +be checked. One day she took her tiny rake and began to make a haycock, +but before it was done something else interested her, and she dropped +the rake. "No, no, Princess," called her governess, "come back and +finish the haycock. You must never leave a thing half done." + +In Kensington she was never taken to church, lest she should attract +too much attention, but service was read in the chapel of the palace. +At Claremont, however, she went to the village church. She usually wore +a white dress, made as simply as that of any village child, and a plain +little straw bonnet; but at the church door the resemblance ended, for +while other children might fidget about or perhaps go to sleep, the +Princess had some hard work to do. Mr. Davys had said that she was +"volatile," and disliked fixing her attention. That fault must be +corrected, of course, and so the child was required to remember and +repeat to her mother not only the text but the principal heads of the +sermon, no matter how uninteresting it might be. The little girl must +have longed to do something, somewhere, with no one to watch her. There +is a story that when she once went to visit the Duchess of Clarence, +her aunt asked: "Now, Victoria, what should you like to do? What will +be the greatest treat I can give you?" and, the little child replied, +"Oh, Aunt Adelaide, if you will only let me clean the windows, I'd +rather do that than anything else." + +Money matters had become somewhat easier for the Duchess, as an +allowance had been made her which enabled her to give the Princess such +surroundings and advantages as ought to be given to one in her +position. Nevertheless, the simplicity of the child's daily life was +not altered, and her pocket money was not made any more lavish. When +the little girl was seven years old, she was taken to a bazaar, where +she bought presents for one after another until she had reached the +bottom of her rather shallow purse. But there was a half-crown box that +she did so want to give to someone! + +"I should like this very much," she said wistfully, "but I have no more +money to-day." + +"That makes no difference," replied the storekeeper, and he began to +wrap the box with her other purchases. + +"No," objected the governess, "the Princess has not the money, and she +must not buy what she cannot pay for." + +"Then I will lay it aside until she can purchase it," said the +storekeeper, and the little girl exclaimed, "Oh, thank you! if you will +be so good." + +When the day for the payment of her allowance came, the child did not +delay a moment, but long before her breakfast hour she appeared at the +store to pay for the box and carry it home with her. She was not at all +afraid of carrying bundles, and thought it was a delightful expedition +to go to the milliner's with her mother and Feodore to buy a new hat, +to wait in the shop until it was trimmed, and then carry it home in her +own hand. + +The great excitement of her seventh year was the visit that she paid +the King. Disagreeable as he often was to the mother, he made himself +quite charming to the child, and he was delighted with the frank +affection that she showed him in return. + +"The band shall play whatever you choose," he said to her. "What shall +it be?" + +"I should like 'God Save the King,'" replied the little girl. + +It was hard to be jealous of such an heir to the throne as that. During +her stay the King had taken her to drive, and this was a great event, +for he himself had held the reins. When she was saying farewell at the +close of the three-days' visit, he asked, "What have you enjoyed most +during your visit?" and he was much pleased when she answered, "Oh, +Uncle King, the drive I had with you." It is no wonder that the +grandmother in Coburg wrote, "The little monkey must have pleased and +amused him; she is such a pretty, clever child." + +The Duchess was beginning to receive the reward that she deserved for +giving up her home and her friends, not only in the result of her +devotion to her little daughter as shown in the child's character, but +also in the appreciation of herself and her efforts which was felt in +her adopted country. In both the House of Lords and the House of +Commons speeches had been made paying the warmest tributes to the +manner in which she was bringing up the little girl who was to become +the queen. + +Before Victoria was eight years old, it was thought to be time for her +education to receive still more attention, though one would suppose +that there need have been no anxiety about the intellectual progress of +the child, who before she was six years old could repeat the heads of +one of the lengthy sermons of the day. Mr. Davys was now formally +appointed her tutor, and he went to live at Kensington. Then, indeed, +there was work. Miss Lehzen, governess of the Princess Feodore, taught +the child as usual; a writing-master made his appearance, who taught +her the clear, refined, and dignified hand that never changed; a +teacher of singing was engaged; another teacher instructed her in +dancing; a Royal Academician taught her drawing; German and French were +also studied. + +Mr. Davys' special work was to teach her history and English, and the +number of books that she read with him is somewhat startling. During +the year 1826 there were four books of Scriptural stories and four +books of moral stories on her list. The children's books of the day had +a fashion of not being satisfied with teaching one thing at a time, and +even one of the four natural histories that she read contrived to make +the story of each bird contain some profound moral instruction. One +book on English history and one on modern history in general appear on +the list. Geography and grammar are each represented by two small +volumes. Poetry appears in the form of "The Infant's Minstrel," a title +which the eight-year old child of to-day would utterly scorn. "General +Knowledge" is represented by one book on the famous picture galleries, +castles, and other noteworthy structures in England, and another +describing the occupations and trades of the land. Even here, however, +moral lessons had their allotted place, and each trade was made to +teach some moral truth. The third book of the series described the +quaint old customs of the kingdom. + +During the following three years the instruction of the Princess was +continued on similar lines. In 1827, the year in which her eighth +birthday occurred, she began a book with the comprehensive title, "An +Introduction to Astronomy, Geography, and the Use of the Globes." After +she had studied this book with the hard name for two years, it seems a +great intellectual downfall to find her "promoted" to "Elements of +Geography for the Use of Young Children." In 1828 she began Latin. +She also studied the catechism and then an abridgment of the two +Testaments. Remembering that the little girl was studying French, +German, music, dancing, and drawing, one wonders how she ever +"crowded it in." Fortunately, her schedule for the week has been +preserved, and it is interesting reading. Her day's work began at +half-past nine. On Monday morning the first hour was given to +geography and natural history, the second to a drawing lesson. From +half-past eleven till three was devoted to dinner and either playing +or walking. From three to four she drew or wrote a Latin exercise. +The following hour was given to French, and from five to six came +music and "repetition"--whatever that may have been--for Mr. Davys. +After her three hours of study in the afternoon, without even a +ten-minutes' "recess," the day's work was at an end, and from six to +nine there was no more studying; but there seems to have been some +instructive reading aloud by either the Duchess or Miss Lehzen, for +the story has survived that when the Duchess was reading Roman +history and read the old story of Cornelia's pointing to her sons and +declaring, "These are my jewels," the small critic remarked, "But, +mamma, she ought to have said, 'These are my carnelians.'" + +No two days in the Princess' week were alike. One hour a week was +devoted to learning the catechism, another to a dancing lesson, another +to needlework and learning poetry by heart. All this teaching went on +for six days in the week, for she had no Saturday holidays; and on +Saturday morning came an hour that would alarm most children, for it +was devoted to a repetition to Mr. Davys of all that she had learned +during the week. Her lessons were made as interesting as possible by +explanations and stories and pictures and games. A history and a little +German grammar were written expressly for her; but, after all, the +little girl was the one who had to do the work. She had to understand +and learn and remember, and even if she was a princess no one could do +these things for her. Sir Walter Scott dined with the Duchess of Kent +during Victoria's ninth year. He wrote in his journal: "Was presented +to the little Princess Victoria, the heir-apparent to the throne as +things now stand." It is no wonder that he added, "This lady is +educated with much care." + +The same year stole away the beloved Feodore, for she married a German +prince and went to the Continent to live. This was a great loss to the +little Princess, for she was so carefully guarded that Feodore had been +almost her only playmate. Other children had companions without number; +they went to children's parties and had good times generally; but a +party was a great rarity in the life of the Princess, and she was ten +years old before she went to a children's ball. + +This famous ball which she then attended was her first sight of a court +ceremonial. It was given in honor of a little girl of her own age, +Maria, Queen of Portugal, who was making a visit to England. The +Princess wore a simple white dress, but the little Donna Maria was +gorgeous in crimson velvet all ablaze with jewels. Every one was +comparing the two children in dress and looks and manners. The plain +dress of the Princess was generally preferred, and her graceful manners +were admired, but the Portuguese queen was called the prettier. When +the King first talked of giving this ball, a lady of the court +exclaimed, "Oh, do! It will be so nice to see the _two little queens_ +dancing together." The King was very angry at the speech, but he +finally decided to give the ball, and the "two little queens" did dance +in the same quadrille. It is rather sad to relate that the small lady +from Portugal fell down and hurt herself, and, in spite of the sympathy +of the King, she went away crying, while the English Princess danced on +and had the most delightful evening of her life. Then Cinderella went +to bed, and in the morning she awoke to the workaday world that she had +left for a single evening. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +EXAMINATION DAY + + +When Queen Victoria was a tiny child, she is said to have asked her +mother one day, "Mamma, why is it that when Feodore and I are walking +all the gentlemen raise their hats to me and not to her?" In 1830, when +she was nearly eleven years old, her mother and her teachers thought +that it was time for her question to be answered. The King was so ill +that everyone knew he could not live many months. The Duke of York had +died three years earlier; therefore at the King's death William, Duke +of Clarence, would ascend the throne, and Victoria would succeed him. + +It seems quite probable that the bright little girl had before this +time answered the question for herself. There are stories that if she +failed in a lesson a certain teasing boy cousin of hers used to say, +"Yes, a pretty queen you will make!" and then he would suggest that +when a queen did not rule well her head was likely to be cut off. +Another story is that when the child was reading aloud to her mother +about the Princess Charlotte, she suddenly looked up from her book and +asked, "Mamma, shall I ever be a queen?" Tradition says that the +Duchess replied: "It is very possible. I want you to be a good woman, +and then you will be a good queen." Whether there is any truth in these +stories or not, the child was too observing not to have noticed when +very young that she was treated differently from other children, even +her sister Feodore. She lived very simply, and Miss Lehzen was always +at hand to correct the least approach to a fault; but she could not +have failed to see that she was watched wherever she went and that far +more attention was paid to her than to her mother. Indeed, she herself +said long afterwards that the knowledge of her position came to her +gradually and that she "cried much" at the thought of ever having to be +a queen. + +The little girl kept these thoughts to herself, and even her mother did +not know that she was dreading a future on a throne. There are several +accounts of just how she was finally told that she would some day wear +the crown, but a version which may be trusted comes from Mr. Davys. + +"Princess," he said, "to-morrow I wish you to give me a chart of the +kings and queens of England." + +When morning came, she gave him the chart, and he read it carefully. +Then he said: + +"It is well done, but it does not go far enough. You have put down +'Uncle King' as reigning, and you have written 'Uncle William' as the +heir to the throne, but who should follow him?" + +The little girl hesitated, then she said, "I hardly liked to put down +myself." + +One story of the way the announcement was made to the Princess was +written--nearly forty years after the event--by her strict and adoring +governess, but it makes her out such a priggish, Pharisaical little +moralizer that one cannot help fancying that the devoted woman +unconsciously put into the mouth of her idol the speeches that seemed +to her appropriate, not to the child, but to the occasion. She says +that when the Princess was told of her position, she declared: "Many a +child would boast, but they don't know the difficulty. There is much +splendor, but there is more responsibility." Then the governess +reminded her that if her Aunt Adelaide should have children they would +be the ones to ascend the throne. According to this account, the child +answered: "If it were so, I should be very glad, for I know by the love +Aunt Adelaide bears me how fond she is of children." It seems probable +that after the Princess had been told what lay before her, Miss Lehzen +made speeches somewhat like these, and that the conscientious, +tender-hearted little girl assented to them. + +Mr. Davys told the Duchess about the chart, and she wrote at once to +the Bishop of London that the Princess now understood her position. The +letter ended, "We have everything to hope from this child." + +[Illustration: The Princess Victoria at the age of eleven.] + +It must have given the little girl of eleven years a strange feeling to +read a chart of sovereigns of her country and know that her own name +would be written in the next vacant place. She had seen the deference +paid to "Uncle King," she knew that his will was law, and it must have +made the child's brain whirl to think "Some day I shall be in his +place." She had always been trained to the most strict obedience, but +she knew that some day whatever order she chose to give would be +obeyed. She seems to have thought more of the responsibility of the +throne than of its glories; but if she had felt ever so much inclined +to boast, she would soon have realized that after all she was only a +little girl who must obey rather than command, for the first +consequence of her queenly prospects was an examination in her lessons +before two learned bishops. + +The Duchess believed that the training of the future queen was the most +important matter in the country. She could hardly have helped feeling +that she had been most successful in her efforts to make the child what +she ought to be, but after all, she herself was a German, her child was +to rule an English realm, and the careful mother wished to make sure +that the little girl was having the kind of instruction that would best +prepare her for the difficult position she would have to fill. She +selected two bishops as her advisers, men of much learning and fine +character, and wrote them a long letter about the Princess. She told +them what masters had been chosen for her and in what branch each one +had instructed her. She enclosed a list of the books the Princess had +read, a record of every lesson she had taken, and the schedule of her +study hours. She said that she herself had been present at almost every +lesson, and that Miss Lehzen, whose special task it was to assist the +little girl in preparing her work for the different masters, was always +in attendance. + +With this letter went a report from each instructor, stating not only +what books she had used but what his opinion was of her progress and +ability. Although there was so much temptation to use flattery, these +reports seem to have been written with remarkable sincerity and +truthfulness. The writing master said that his pupil had "a peculiar +talent" for arithmetic, but he was apparently not quite satisfied with +her handwriting, for he closed with the sentence, "If the Princess +endeavors to imitate her writing examples, her success is certain." The +teacher of German wrote, "Her orthography is now tolerably correct," +but he did not show the least enthusiasm over his statement, "There is +no doubt of her knowing the leading rules of the German language quite +well," though surely this was no small acquisition for a child of +eleven. The French teacher declared that her pronunciation was perfect, +that she was well advanced in knowledge of French grammar and could +carry on a conversation in French, but that she spoke better than she +wrote. He added: "The Princess is much further advanced than is usually +the case with children of her age." Mr. Davys, with his great love for +his little pupil, seems to have had a struggle with himself to keep +from speaking of her as warmly as he longed to speak, but he did allow +himself to say at the close of his report: + +"It is my expectation that the disposition and attainments of the +Princess will be such as to gratify the anxious wishes, as well as to +reward the earnest exertions, with which your Royal Highness has +watched over the education of the Princess." + +These honest, straightforward reports were sent to the two bishops. The +Duchess asked them to read the papers carefully and then examine the +"singularly situated child," as she called the Princess, to see whether +she had made as much progress as she should have done, and in what +respects they would suggest any change of method and teaching. + +Three weeks after the letter was written the two bishops went to +Kensington and examined the little maiden in "Scripture, catechism, +English history, Latin, and arithmetic." Both were gentle, kindly men, +and both had little children of their own. Evidently they knew how to +question the royal child in such a fashion that she was not startled or +made too nervous to do her best, for one of them wrote in his journal +about the examination, "The result was very satisfactory." The bishops +went home from Kensington and three days later they sent the anxious +mother a report of the interview. They wrote that they had asked the +Princess "a great variety of questions," and that her answers showed +she had learned "with the understanding as well as with the memory." +They were so well pleased with the results of their visit, they said, +that they had no change to recommend in the course which had been +pursued. So it was that the little girl began her public life, not by +congratulations and entertainments and rejoicings, but by a thorough +examination in her studies before two learned men. + +Two months after the bishops' visit to Kensington the Princess passed +her eleventh birthday. One month later "Uncle King" died, and "Uncle +William" became sovereign, with the title of William IV. At William's +death Victoria would become queen, and as that event might occur before +she was eighteen and capable of ruling for herself, it was necessary to +have a guardian appointed at once, so that, if it should come to pass, +there would be no delay in matters of state. + +A law was proposed in Parliament called the Regency Bill. As it was +possible that William would have a child, Victoria was spoken of as the +"heir presumptive"--that is, the one who is presumed or expected to be +the heir, although with a possibility of changes that would put someone +else before her. The bill provided that if she should come to the crown +before she was eighteen, her mother should be her guardian and should +rule the country in her name until she was of age. This bill became a +law, and few laws have been so pleasing to both houses of Parliament +and to the whole country. Speeches were made by prominent statesmen +praising the Duchess of Kent and her manner of training her little +daughter. The grandmother in Coburg wrote, "May God bless and protect +our little darling," and the whole country echoed the prayer. + +When Parliament was prorogued, or closed until the next session, the +Princess was with her Aunt Adelaide, who was now the Queen. They stood +together at one of the palace windows watching the procession, while +the people shouted, "Hurrah for Queen Adelaide! Long live the Queen!" +Then the loving aunt took the little girl by the hand and led her out +on the balcony so that all might see her. The people cheered louder +than before, not only for the Princess, but for the generous woman who +had not a thought of jealousy because it was the child of her friend +and not one of her own little girls that stood by her side. + +King William was fond of the child, but he did not like the mother. The +Duchess always spoke of him with respect and kindness, but she +contrived to have her own way in bringing up her daughter, and she was +so quick-witted that she could usually prove, though in a most +courteous and deferential manner, that he was in the wrong. He was very +indignant that Victoria was not allowed to spend time at court, but +there was nothing for him to say when the mother quietly took the +ground that the little girl was not strong enough for the excitements +of court life. Soon after his accession he sent the Prime Minister to +the Duchess to express his opinion that the education of the heir +presumptive ought to be in charge of some clergyman of high rank in the +church, and not in that of the minister of a little country parish. The +Duchess replied with the utmost courtesy. "Convey to his Majesty my +gratitude," she said to the Prime Minister, "for the interest that he +has manifested. Say to him that I agree with him perfectly that the +education of the Princess ought to be intrusted to a dignitary of the +church." Then she added: "I have every ground for being satisfied with +Mr. Davys, and I think there can be no reason why he should not be +placed in as high a position as his Majesty could wish." King William +must have raged when he received the message, but he was helpless, and +there was really nothing to do but to follow the suggestion of the +Duchess. This was done, and Mr. Davys became Dean of Chester. + +One other official was, however, added to the household of the +Princess, a "state governess," the Duchess of Northumberland. Her +business was to attend the royal child on all state occasions and to +teach her the details of court etiquette that were to be observed. This +lady had nothing to do with the education of the Princess in any other +respect, and Miss Lehzen remained her governess as before. + +Miss Lehzen, or Baroness Lehzen, for King George had made her a German +baroness, was a finely educated woman, the daughter of a German +clergyman. She had come to England with the Duchess of Kent as +governess to the Princess Feodore, and she had performed her duties so +satisfactorily that the Duchess was glad to be able to place the +Princess Victoria in her charge. She was a woman of keen, sagacious +judgment, with the ability to see everything that was going on about +her, and not at all afraid to express her opinions. One day when an +aide-de-camp of one of the royal dukes was presented to her, she +greeted him with the frank speech: "I can see that you are not a fop or +a dandy, as most of your Guardsmen are." She was severe in her manner, +but her bluntest speeches were made with such a friendly glance of her +shrewd and kindly eyes that most people who met her became, like the +aide-de-camp, her loyal friends. Many years later her former pupil said +of her: "I adored her, though I was greatly in awe of her. She really +seemed to have no thought but for me." + +The education of the schoolgirl Princess went on in much the same way +as during the previous years. Her study hours were observed with such +strictness that even when a favored guest at Kensington was about to +take his departure, she was not allowed to leave her work for a moment +to say good-by. Occasionally, however, an interruption came, and three +months before she was twelve years of age the books had to be closed +for one day that she might make her first appearance at Queen +Adelaide's drawing room. She wore a white dress, hardly more elaborate +than her ordinary gowns, but a diamond ornament was in her hair, and +around her neck was a string of pearls. She stood beside the Queen, and +although the ceremonies were almost as unwonted to her as they would +have been to any other child of her age, she did not appear +embarrassed, but seemed to enjoy her new experience. Baroness Lehzen +wrote a letter to a friend about this time describing the little girl. +She said: + +"My Princess will be twelve years old to-morrow. She is not tall, but +very pretty; has dark blue eyes, and a mouth which, though not tiny, is +very good-tempered and pleasant; very fine teeth, a small but graceful +figure, and a very small foot. Her whole bearing is so childish and +engaging that one could not desire a more amiable child." The Baroness +seems to have just returned from some absence when she wrote the +letter, for she adds, "She was dressed to receive me in white muslin, +with a coral necklace." + +During this year, 1831, while the glories of Victoria's brilliant +future were beginning to shine faintly about her, the first sorrows of +her life came to her in the death of her grandmother of Coburg and the +departure of her Uncle Leopold for Belgium. The year before, he had +been asked to become king of Greece, but had refused. Now the throne of +Belgium was offered him, and he accepted it. The happiest days of the +little niece had been spent with him, and the child, who, in spite of +her royal birth, had so few pleasures was sadly grieved at his +departure. All her life he had been her devoted friend, always near, +and always ready to do anything to please her. Child as she was, she +knew enough of thrones and sovereigns to understand that the visits of +kings and queens must be few and far between, and that she could never +again have the delightful times of her earlier years. + +The coronation of King William took place in September, but neither the +Duchess nor the Princess was present. No one knew the reason of their +absence, and, therefore, all sorts of stories were spread abroad. "The +Princess is not strong enough to attend so long and wearisome a +ceremonial," said one. "Her mother keeps her away to spite the King," +declared another; and yet another reason assigned--and this was +probably the true one--was that the Princess was not allowed to go +because the King had refused to give her the place in the procession +which her rank and position demanded. + +Whatever reason may have been the correct one, the Princess remained at +home, but she did some little traveling during the summer. It was only +around the western part of the Isle of Wight, but to the child whose +journeys until the previous season had been hardly more than from +Kensington to London or to Claremont these little trips were full of +interest. + +The following summer brought much more of travel. Not only the King but +the people of the kingdom in general were beginning to feel somewhat +aggrieved that so little was seen of the Princess. The Duchess believed +that the best way for the future Queen to know her realm was to see it, +and that the best way to win the loyalty of her future subjects was for +them to see her. She thought that her daughter was now old enough to +enjoy and appreciate journeys through the country. These journeys were +not lengthy, for the travelers did not leave England except for a short +stay at Anglesey, but they could hardly fail to be of interest to a +wide-awake girl of thirteen who wanted to "see things and know things." + +The general course of their travel was from Kensington to the +northwest, and its limit was the little island of Anglesey. Of course +the child who had not been allowed to leave a haycock unfinished lest +she should develop a tendency to leave things incomplete was not +permitted to make an expedition like this without a vast amount of +instruction. She was required to keep a journal, and she was seldom +allowed to look upon the manufacture of any article without listening +to an explanation of the process. It speaks well for her intelligence +and her wish to learn that she seems to have been genuinely interested +in these explanations. She found a tiny model of a cotton loom as +fascinating as most children would find a new toy, and she was never +weary of watching the manufacture of nails. As a memento of the visit +to the nail-makers she carried away with the greatest delight a little +gold box that they had presented to her. Within the box was a quill, +and in the quill was a vast number of nails of all varieties, but so +tiny that they could hardly be seen without a magnifying glass. Other +gifts were made her. At the University Press she was presented with a +richly bound Bible and a piece of white satin, on which was printed a +glowing account of her visit. Here in Oxford she was enthusiastic in +her enjoyment of the Bodleian Library. One thing in this library +interested her especially, a book of Latin exercises in which Queen +Elizabeth wrote when she was thirteen, just the age of the Princess. Of +course the little visitor compared her own handwriting with that of +Elizabeth, and the thought must have passed through her mind that some +day her exercises and copybooks would perhaps be put into libraries to +be looked at as she was looking at Queen Elizabeth's. + +Other events than receiving gifts and studying manufactures came into +those weeks of travel. The Princess laid the corner stone of a boys' +school; she planted a little oak tree on the estate of one of her +entertainers; in Anglesey she presented the prizes at the National +Eisteddfod, a musical and literary festival which had been celebrated +annually from ancient times; she listened to addresses without number +from mayors and vice chancellors, and she was present at the formal +opening of the new bridge over the Dee, which for this reason was named +the Victoria Bridge. One thing which seems to have made a special +impression upon the child's mind, and which she noted particularly in +her journal, was that she was allowed to dine with her mother and the +guests at seven o'clock. + +Traveling in those days was quite a different matter from making a +journey to-day. One or two short railroads had been built in England, +but it was many years too early for the comfortable, rapid express +trains of the present time, and the journeys of the Princess were made +entirely by carriage. She had set off for Kensington with a little +company of attendants, very few, indeed, considering her position as +heir presumptive, but it was hardly possible, without offending the +loyal people of the places through which they passed, to refuse the +honors which were shown to her and her mother and the requests of the +yeomanry of various counties that begged the privilege of escorting +them. In the days of Queen Elizabeth, that lover of gorgeousness used +to make journeys about her kingdom that were regarded as an excuse for +all magnificence and lavishness. These were called progresses, and now +King William often jested about "little Victoria's royal progresses." +He was not exactly pleased, however, and he kept a somewhat jealous +watch of the honors that were paid to her. + +The next year the Princess and her mother spent considerable time in +their yacht, and the King had a fresh cause of annoyance in the fact +that now they were greeted not only with addresses but with the firing +of guns. He could not endure that anyone but himself should receive the +royal salutes. "The thing is not legal," he said to the naval +authorities. "Stop those poppings." The naval authorities respectfully +insisted that the thing _was_ legal. The King had not learned wisdom +from his previous encounters with the Duchess of Kent, and in his +dilemma he actually tried to compel her to refuse to accept the +salutes. The dignified lady replied with all courtesy: "If the King +wishes to offer me a slight in the face of the people, he can offer it +so easily that he should not ask me to make the task easier." King +William was fairly worsted, but he would not yield. He called the Privy +Council and ordered them to pass an order that even the royal flag +should not be saluted unless the vessel flying it bore either the King +or the Queen. + +To turn from royal salutes and mayors' addresses and the laying of +corner-stones to playing with dolls is a little startling, but such was +the course of the Princess' life. She was heir to the throne, and she +could bestow prizes and receive delegations and meet the eager gaze of +thousands without being at all troubled or embarrassed, but she was a +child for all that; she was not allowed to sit at the table when her +mother gave an elaborate dinner party for the King, and she still +retained her liking for the dolls that her lack of playmates had made +so dear to her. There is now in existence a little copybook on which is +written "List of my dolls." By their number and their interest, they +certainly deserve the honor of being catalogued, even at the present +time, for there were 132 of them, and they were often dressed to +imitate noted persons of the day. Most of them were little wooden +creatures from three to nine inches high, with sharply pointed noses, +cheeks red as a cherry in some one spot--wherever the brush of the +maker had chanced to hit--jet black hair, and the most convenient +joints, that enabled the small bodies to be arranged in many attitudes. +The men dolls had small black mustaches, and the women dolls were +distinguished by little yellow "back-combs" painted on the black dab +which represented their hair. The baby dolls were made of rags, upon +which comical little faces were painted. + +The fascination of these dolls does not lie in their beauty, but in +their wardrobes. Most of them were dressed between 1831 and 1833, or +when the Princess was from twelve to fourteen years old. One group +represents the play of Kenilworth, which she had evidently seen. The +Earl of Leicester is gorgeous in knee-breeches of pink satin, with +slashes of white silk. His tunic reverses the order and is of white +satin slashed with pink. He wears the blue ribbon of the Order of the +Garter and a wide black velvet hat swept with yellow and white plumes. +Queen Elizabeth appears in cloth of gold with enormous puffed sleeves. +From her shoulders hangs a long train lined with bright crimson plush +and trimmed with ermine. She wears crimson plush shoes and a heavy +girdle of gold beads. + +There are all sorts of characters among these little wooden people. +There are court ladies, actors, and dandified young gallants. Perched +on a table is a merry little ballet-dancer in blue satin trimmed with +pink and yellow roses. There are mothers with their babies, and there +is "Mrs. Martha," a buxom housekeeper, with a white lawn frock, full +sleeves, and purple apron pinked all around. She wears a white lace cap +adorned with many frills and tied under her small wooden chin with pink +ribbons. She stands beside a home-made dressing table of cardboard +covered with white brocade. + +The conscientious little owner of these dolls marked carefully which +ones she herself dressed and in which she was helped by the Baroness +Lehzen. The wardrobes of thirty-two were made entirely by the fingers +of the little girl, and, remembering the schedule of studies, it is a +wonder how she found the time; one hopes that at least the hour marked +"Needlework and learning poetry by heart" was sometimes devoted to this +purpose, though how any dress-maker, old or young, could learn poetry +with a court costume on her hands is a mystery. + +It is equally a mystery how even the most skillful of childish fingers +could manufacture such tiny ruffles and finish two-inch aprons with +microscopic pockets whereon were almost invisible bows. Handkerchiefs +half an inch square have drawn borders and are embroidered with colored +silk initials. Little knitted stockings beautify the pointed wooden +feet; bead bracelets adorn the funny little wooden arms that hang from +the short sleeves; coronets and crowns and wreaths glorify the small +wooden heads. + +The Princess had a long board full of pegs into which the feet of these +little favorites of hers fitted, and here she rehearsed dramas and +operas and pantomimes. Even in her play with dolls, however, she could +not be entirely free from the burden of her destiny, for sometimes they +were used by the state governess to explain court ceremonials and teach +the etiquette of various occasions. When the Princess was fully +fourteen, the dolls were packed away, though no one guessed how soon +the little owner would be called upon to decide, not the color of a +doll's gown, but the fate of men and women and the weighty questions of +a nation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A QUEEN AT EIGHTEEN + + +During the years from 1833 to Victoria's eighteenth birthday, on May +24, 1837, her life was sometimes that of a child, sometimes that of a +young woman. Much of the time she lived quietly at Kensington. She +studied, rode, walked, sketched, and played with her various pets. When +her fourteenth birthday came, she was--for a few hours--treated like a +"grown-up," for at a juvenile ball given in her honor King William led +her into the room, and at supper her health was drunk by the whole +company. + +During the following summer there was more of the educational traveling +in which the Duchess believed so firmly and which gave so much pleasure +to the people of the country. This summer the Princess and her mother +visited chiefly forts, arsenals, lighthouses, and men-of-war. On +shipboard they delighted the men by tasting their dinner, and the +sailors in return amused them by dancing a hornpipe. Addresses were +made; the Princess presented new colors to a regiment; a procession of +young girls with flowers and a crown met the royal guests; at one town, +whose trade was chiefly in straw, the Princess was presented with a +straw bonnet. Wherever she went, her charming grace and cordiality and +readiness to be pleased won her lasting friendships. + +Throughout the land there was talk about the quiet young girl at +Kensington. King William was growing feeble. For half a century England +had been ruled by elderly men; how would it fare in the hands of a +young girl? Victoria was not as well as she had been, and there were +rumors that she would not be equal to the labors of sovereignty. +Baroness Lehzen was indignant at the least criticism. "The Princess is +not too delicate and she is not too young," declared the lady with her +wonted emphasis. "I know all about her, and she will make a greater +queen than Elizabeth herself." + +An interesting man visited the Princess at this time, Baron Stockmar, +who had long been a trusted friend of King Leopold's. "He was the only +honest man I ever saw," said a statesman who knew him well, and King +William was eager to hear Stockmar's opinion of the young Princess. The +Baron had no hesitation in expressing it. "If she were a nobody," he +said, "I should say she is gifted with an intelligence beyond her +years; but being destined to rule over this great empire, I say that +England will grow great and famous under her rule." + +"Do you say that?" exclaimed the King. "Then I shall no longer regret +that I have no children to hand the crown down to." And yet, some +months after this speech was made, the young woman who was to make +England great and famous was sent to bed after dancing just one dance +at a grand ball given in her honor. The health of the girl was too +precious in the eyes of the Duchess to be wasted in late hours. + +Soon after her sixteenth birthday the Princess was confirmed. The +ceremony was performed in the chapel of St. James', and none were +present except members of the royal family. Even as a child Victoria +had often shown great self-control, but when the Archbishop of +Canterbury spoke to her, tenderly indeed, but with deep solemnity, of +the responsibilities of the life that lay before her, of what good or +what harm a single word or deed of hers might cause, then the earnest, +conscientious young girl could not remain unmoved. She laid her head on +her mother's shoulder and sobbed like a little child. + +The wisdom of the watchful mother's care was made manifest in the +increasing health and strength of the Princess. She was seen in public +far more frequently. The little girl had become a young lady. The plain +little white dresses were laid aside, and she now appeared in garments +as rich and handsome as were permitted to her youth. One costume that +she wore, a pink satin gown and a large pink bonnet, was the special +delight of those of her future subjects who had the good fortune to see +her in it. This was what she wore when a young American author gazed +upon her admiringly and then went away to moralize over the sad fate of +royalty. "She will be sold," he said, "bartered away, by those great +dealers in royal hearts." + +It was true that "dealers in royal hearts" had long before this laid +their plans for the disposal of the Princess' affections. King William +had proposed five suitors, one after another, but his polite and +exasperating sister-in-law had courteously waived all his suggestions. +Another scheme had been formed across the water by the Coburg +grandmother nearly seventeen years earlier. There was a baby +granddaughter in England and a baby grandson in Coburg. If they would +only be as fond of each other as the grandmother was of them! Not a +word was said to the little English girl, but there is a tradition that +when the grandson was but three years old his nurse used to say: "Be a +good boy now, Prince Albert, and some day you shall go to England and +marry the Queen." However the truth of this story may be, it is certain +that not only the grandmother but King Leopold earnestly hoped that +some day the Prince might marry the Princess. + +When the cousins were seventeen years old, King Leopold thought that +the time had come for them to meet; but the wise sovereign had no idea +of exposing his warm-hearted little niece to the fascinations of a +young man who might not be worthy of her, and he sent the faithful +Baron Stockmar to learn all that he could about the character of the +Prince. The report was as favorable as the devoted uncle could have +wished, and he at once persuaded the Duchess to invite Prince Albert +and his brother to spend a month at Kensington. + +The two young men arrived and were most royally entertained. Such a +round of parties, balls, receptions, dinners, all sorts of festivities, +they had never seen. Prince Albert was just a little bored by so much +gayety, and acknowledged in his home letters that he had "many hard +battles to fight against sleepiness." He seems to have found more +pleasure in the quiet hours of walking, sketching, and playing piano +duets with the little blue-eyed cousin. + +After the brothers had taken their departure, King Leopold wrote his +niece, telling her very frankly of his hopes. She replied at once and +with equal frankness. One cannot help seeing that the two cousins had +become deeply interested in each other, for the letter of the Princess +begs her uncle to take special care of one "now so dear to me," and +closes with the words, "I hope and trust that all will go on +prosperously and well on this subject now of so much importance to me." + +There were subjects, however, concerning which all did not go on +"prosperously and well." The Princess loved her devoted mother with all +her warm heart, and she also loved "Uncle William," who was always good +to her. She was now so old that the friction between them could no +longer be concealed from her. The King's special grievance was that she +was not allowed to visit him save at rare intervals. The "Sailor King" +was a favorite among his people, because he was bluff and cheery and +witty; but his wit was often coarse, and his good nature not +infrequently turned into a "swearing rage" when his humor changed. +There were certainly good reasons why the young girl should have been +kept from his court; and he was keen enough to see that the Duchess had +other grounds than care of her daughter's health for refusing to allow +her to visit him. His gentle, stately sister-in-law had outwitted him +in every encounter, and at last his wrath burst forth. + +The time was a state dinner which he gave in honor of his seventy-first +birthday. In his speech to the guests he lost all control of himself +and declared, "I hope that my life may be spared nine months longer, +after which period, in event of my death, no regency will take place. I +shall then have the satisfaction of leaving the royal authority to the +personal exercise of that young lady"--here the King looked at the +Princess Victoria, then, glaring at the Duchess, he roared--"and not in +the hands of a person now near to me." He went on like a madman, +heaping every kind of abuse upon the Duchess and declaring that she had +insulted him by keeping the Princess from his presence. + +The Duchess sat like marble, but her daughter burst into tears. At last +the dinner came to an end, and the Duchess ordered her carriage that +she and the Princess might leave at once instead of spending the night. +But Queen Adelaide interposed. "Stay," she said, "stay, I beg of you. +The King is ill, he is not himself;" and she whispered, "You have borne +so much, bear a little more." The Duchess yielded and remained at the +palace until morning. + +The nine months passed rapidly, and the morning of May 24, 1837, +arrived. The Princess was now eighteen, and the whole land celebrated +her coming of age. The day began with a serenade under her window by a +band of thirty-seven musicians. One of the songs commenced: + + "Spring renews its golden dreams, + Sweet birds carol 'neath each spray; + Shed, O sun! thy milder beams + On the fairest flower of May." + +The Princess was delighted with this serenade, but the only song that +she asked to have repeated was one that was full of compliments to her +mother. + +The Union Jack had already been hoisted on the church in Kensington, +and its greeting was responded to from the palace by a banner of white +silk whereon was "Victoria" in letters of blue. Almost every house had +its flag or its bit of decoration of some sort. The King sent a +birthday gift of a handsome piano, and that was only the beginning, for +all day long costly presents were arriving. Addresses of congratulation +were sent by numerous cities and by many public bodies, and the house +was thronged with callers. The greatest nobles of the kingdom, the +people of most wealth, and the greatest statesmen hastened to +Kensington to give their best wishes to the young girl. In the evening +a state ball, the most splendid affair of the kind that had been known, +was given for her at the Palace of St. James', but the illness of the +King kept both him and Queen Adelaide away from the festivities. +Between the dances the Princess was escorted to the chair of state. +Before this the Duchess had always stood first, but now the young girl +who was to rule England took precedence of even her mother. + +The way of the Princess to the throne seemed very clear, but there was +one man in England who was determined that she should never reach it. +He was the Duke of Cumberland, Victoria's uncle. He was the next +younger brother of the Duke of Kent, and had it not been for the birth +of his niece, the throne of England would have been his own. At that +time the sovereign of England was also ruler of Hanover, but Hanover +had a law called the Salic law, which forbade any woman to be its +monarch. Two or three years earlier the Duke of Cumberland had confided +to an English officer his desire to gain the crown. + +"The Salic law prevents the Princess Victoria from ruling Hanover," he +said, "and therefore she has no right to rule England. If I should be +proclaimed king, would you and your troop follow me through London?" + +"Yes, and to the Tower the next day!" the officer answered indignantly. + +"What will the Princess do for you?" demanded the Duke. "If I were +king, I could make you a great man. But this is nothing. I only asked +to see what you would say." + +The Duke was in earnest, however--so much in earnest that he even +ventured to allow his wishes to become known to King William. One day +when the two brothers were dining together, the Duke proposed the +toast, "The King's health, God save the King!" This was drunk, and then +the Duke proposed a second toast, "The King's heir, God bless him!" +Both the brothers had drunk too much, but King William was equal to the +occasion. He called out, "Drink to the King's heir, God bless _her_!" +and the toast was drunk by all except the Duke. + +Nevertheless, the Duke of Cumberland did not give up his wild scheme. +He knew that he himself was by no means a favorite in England, and that +he had no friends whose devotion would place him upon the throne; but +he fancied that he could arouse opposition to the Princess and so open +a way for himself to become sovereign. There was nothing to be said +against her, but he did his best to arouse dislike to her family. "The +Coburgs are the people who have influence with her," he said. "King +Leopold has just married a Roman Catholic princess, and the cousin of +Victoria has married Queen Maria of Portugal, who is also a Roman +Catholic. King William cannot live long, and England will have on its +throne not only a child but a child who will be no Protestant." + +Now for a century and a half England had had a law that as a Protestant +country it must be ruled by a Protestant, and that the husband or wife +of the sovereign must also be a Protestant. If Victoria had become a +Roman Catholic, she would have forfeited the throne at once. This +argument of the Duke of Cumberland was, therefore, almost too absurd to +notice; but England was too loyal to the young girl at Kensington not +to be in a storm of indignation. + +Even then the Duke of Cumberland fancied that he might still have a +chance, and he was so insane as to go to that sternly loyal old +soldier, the Duke of Wellington, and ask what he thought was the best +thing to do. + +"To do?" cried the "Iron Duke." "Get out of this country as fast as you +can, and take care you don't get pelted as you go." + +In less than a month after the eighteenth birthday of the Princess came +the night of June nineteenth. The country knew that King William was +dying. The Royal Life Guards were at their barracks, but not to sleep. +The sentries were doubled. Every horse was saddled, and by it stood its +master, ready to race to Windsor to guard the lifeless body of the +King, or to gallop to Kensington to escort the girl Queen to her +throne. + +All that night the officers sat in the messroom and talked of the +Princess. + +"I saw her on horseback," said one. "She rides superbly, but she looks +like a child." + +"The Duke of Sussex says the little ones have the brains," remarked +another. + +"She's a queen, every inch of her," one declared, "and I tell you that +England is going to be greater than it ever was before. She's a +soldier's daughter, too. King William was a sailor. He could not have +held a review to save his--What's that?" The young man broke off +abruptly, for the gallop of a horse was heard in the courtyard. There +was dead silence in the messroom. In a few minutes the Colonel entered. +He held up his hand for attention, but he did not need to do this, for +every ear was strained. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "King William is dead. Let us drink to the health +of the Queen. God save the Queen!" + +Early in the morning the Life Guards were ordered to go, part of them +to Windsor to do honor to the dead King, part of them to Kensington to +do honor to the young Queen. + +Meanwhile the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham, the Lord +Chamberlain, had been driving at full speed from Windsor to Kensington. +Not a person was stirring about the palace, and the only sound heard +was the singing of birds. The two men rang, but there was no response. +They knocked, they thumped, and they pounded. Finally a very sleepy +porter opened the gate and let them into one of the lower rooms of the +palace. No one came to them, and at last they rang for a servant. + +"Tell the attendant of the Princess Victoria," said the Lord +Chamberlain, "that we have come to see her on business of the utmost +importance." + +The servant withdrew, but no one appeared. They rang again, and at last +the attendant of the Princess came to them. + +"The Princess Victoria is sleeping," she said, "and she must not be +awakened." + +Then said the Lord Chamberlain: "We are come on business of state to +_the Queen_, and even her sleep must give way to that." + +There was no more delay. The Duchess was called, and she awoke her +daughter, who still slept in a bed beside her own. "The King is dead," +she said. "Lord Conyngham is here, and he wishes to see you. You must +not keep him waiting." + +The Princess threw on a long white dressing gown and stopped at the +door for her mother to accompany her. + +"No," said the Duchess. "He wishes to see the Queen alone." + +For the first time the young girl was required to stand by herself, and +as she stepped over the threshold she left all her free, girlish life +behind her. She went down the stairs in her long white dressing gown, +with her fair hair falling over her shoulders. As she entered the room, +Lord Conyngham knelt before her, kissed her hand, and presented a +paper, the formal certificate of the King's death. + +Then the Archbishop said: "Your Royal Highness, Queen Adelaide wished +me to accompany Lord Conyngham, for she thought that you would be glad +to hear how peaceful and quiet the King was at the last." + +To the young Queen the sight of the Archbishop brought no thought of +the glories of the throne, but rather of those solemn words that he had +spoken to her in the chapel of St. James' two years before. With tears +in her eyes she said to him, "I beg your Grace to pray for me." + +Messengers had been sent to the members of the Privy Council to summon +them to immediate attendance at Kensington. When they arrived, they +were shown into the ante-chamber in which were the Duke of Sussex, +uncle of the Queen; the Duke of Wellington, Lord Melbourne, the Prime +Minister, and a few others. The doors were closed and an address of +loyalty was read aloud and then signed by all present. + +In the great saloon adjoining were the Queen and her mother. The +Duchess withdrew, and when the doors were opened, there stood near the +threshold the slender figure of the girl Queen, looking even slighter +and younger than she was in her close-fitting dress of black silk. It +was perfectly plain; her hair was parted and drawn back smoothly from +her forehead; and she wore not a single ornament. The Duke of Sussex +stepped forward to meet her, put his arm around her and kissed her. The +others kissed her hand. The address was given to the usher, and the +doors between the two rooms were closed. Not a word had been spoken. + +A little later in the day came the famous First Council. Lord Melbourne +had told the Queen just what was to be done and what her part would be. +The Council assembled, and the Lord President read the formal +announcement of the death of King William. Then he requested the Prime +Minister and several others to go to the Queen and inform her also of +the King's death. This was done with as much ceremony as if she had +known nothing of it before. When they returned, the proclamation of her +accession was read. Then the doors into the adjoining saloon were +thrown open, and the Queen stepped forward, wearing a plain, simple +mourning dress. Her two uncles, the Duke of Cumberland and the Duke of +Sussex, went forward to meet her and led her into the room. + +At the end of a long table a platform had been placed, and on the +platform was the chair of state. The Queen bowed to the Councilors and +took her seat in this chair. She read her speech at once, clearly and +with as much calmness and dignity as her mother could have shown. It +closed, "I shall steadily protect the rights and promote to the utmost +of my power the happiness and welfare of all classes of my subjects." + +She signed the usual oath insuring the liberty of the Church of +Scotland, and then came the solemn swearing of each Councilor to be +faithful to her. Her two uncles were sworn first, and as the Duke of +Cumberland kissed her hand, she blushed as any other young girl might +have done to have an elderly man, her own uncle, kneel at her feet. She +kissed him and also the Duke of Sussex. This second uncle was too +feeble to make his way to her easily, and she rose from her seat and +stepped toward him. After the swearing of the Dukes, the oath was taken +by the other members of the Council. When this had been done, she rose +and left the room, led by her two uncles. + +Never were men more surprised than these experienced Councilors, who +thought that they understood all kinds of people and knew what sort of +behavior to expect from them. + +"I am amazed," said Sir Robert Peel. "She is as modest as a child, but +she is firm and self-possessed, and she understands her position +perfectly." + +Greville, the Clerk of the Council, said: "William IV. came to the +throne at sixty-five, and he was so excited that he nearly went mad. +The young Queen is neither dazzled nor confounded, but she behaves with +all the sedateness and dignity the want of which was so conspicuous in +her uncle." + +The Duke of Wellington was never weary of praising her behavior. "Lord +Melbourne was far more nervous than she," said the Duke. "He did not +dare to take his eyes off her for fear she might say or do the wrong +thing. He need not have been afraid. She is born to rule, and if she +had been ten years younger she would have done it equally well; such a +bit of a girl as she is," he added; and he finished by saying +emphatically, "If she had been my own daughter, I could not have wished +that she should do better." + +And the good Baroness Lehzen said with tears in her honest blue eyes, +"I knew it, I knew my Princess." + +There were yet Cabinet Ministers for the Queen to meet, there were +matters little and matters great to think of, and the next morning +there was to be another Council meeting and the observance of the +ancient custom of proclaiming a new sovereign to the public; but the +young girl found time in this first day of her dominion to write a +letter of sympathy to her "Aunt Adelaide." She addressed it as usual to +"Her Majesty the Queen." When she was reminded that the widow of King +William was no longer "Queen," but "Queen Dowager," she replied, "I +know that her position is altered, but I will not be the first to +remind her of the change." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE CORONATION + + +When the young Queen awoke on the morning after her accession, she must +have fancied for a moment that she had dreamed all the events of the +previous day. She had gone to bed expecting a quiet morning of study; +she had been aroused to hear that she was a queen. Thus far she had +remained in her own home, and had merely received those who had come to +her, the Prime Minister, the Councilors, and others; but when she had +been Queen for a little more than twenty-four hours, the time had come +for her to go to London and be proclaimed sovereign of England in the +presence of thousands of her subjects. + +Victoria and her mother came out of the palace followed by Lord +Melbourne. Both ladies were in mourning. The young Queen wore a black +dress with white at the neck and wrists. Her bonnet was black and, in +comparison with the great pink one that had so delighted her subjects, +it was very small. In front of the royal carriage were the Life Guards, +a magnificent body of men, everyone drawing himself up to his full +height in his pride that it was _his_ company that was to escort the +Queen on her first appearance. She bowed to them first, then to the +crowds that thronged about the entrance. She and her mother entered the +carriage. More of the Life Guards followed and a long line of carriages +filled with lords and ladies. + +The carriages did not go rapidly, for every road and lane and passage +way was full of people, who cheered and waved banners and shouted "God +save the Queen!" + +When they arrived at St. James', the officers of state stood waiting to +receive them, and they were escorted to a window overlooking the +quadrangle below, which had long been filled with a great crowd of +enthusiastic people. + +"Make way for his Grace, the Garter King-at-Arms!" cried the heralds, +and that officer advanced, escorted by the Earl-Marshal, gave one look +over the assembled people, then waved his scepter for silence, and read +the formal proclamation of Victoria as Queen of Great Britain and +Ireland. He was glittering in all the insignia of his office, but the +eyes of the people were not on him; they were turned toward an upper +window where against a background of crimson curtains stood the slender +figure of the Queen, accompanied by her mother and the Prime Minister. +The last words of the proclamation were "God save the Queen!" and "God +save the Queen!" repeated the bands in a great outburst of martial +music. The trumpets sounded, the cannon in the park roared, and the +cannon in the Tower roared in response. The people in the court +cheered, and the people outside the court cheered. They waved their +handkerchiefs, hats, canes, umbrellas, anything that they could wave. +They could not be induced to leave the place, and thousands hung about +the entrance to the palace for hours, hoping for just one glimpse of +their sovereign. + +Not long after this proclamation, the Queen presided over another +Council meeting, and did it, so said one who was present, "as if she +had done nothing else all her life." This was not the end of the day by +any means, for now the reception of archbishops, bishops, and judges +followed. She met them with the most perfect dignity; but she was a +merry young girl as well as a queen, and after she had received the +bishops and had withdrawn from the room with a most stately demeanor, +they were greatly amused to see her running down the corridor like a +child just let out of school. Her Majesty had forgotten that the door +was made of glass! + +While all this rejoicing was going on, the dead King lay in state at +Windsor Palace, shrouded in a crimson pall and under a purple canopy. +The crowns of England and of Hanover lay above him. There were banners +and imperial escutcheons. Around him were nobles, admirals, and +guardsmen. Nearest stood the feeble old Duke of Sussex in his scarlet +uniform. The Dead March sounded, and the long line moved slowly on and +down to St. George's Chapel. The last honors were duly paid to the dead +King, but the thoughts of all the land were with the young Queen. + +Before the day had closed, Victoria and her mother were escorted back +to Kensington by the Life Guards to spend a short time before the Queen +should take up her abode in Buckingham Palace. "I do not want to go +there," she said to the Duke of Sussex. "I love the old Kensington +Gardens, where I can wander about as I please. Buckingham Palace is far +too big and too grand for me." + +Other people may choose their homes, but sovereigns are less free, and +there was nothing to do but to leave the homelike Kensington, where her +greatest troubles had been an occasional hard lesson, and go to +Buckingham, or the New Palace, as it was called, which was to be her +London residence. + +The New Palace was not yet completed, but men had been working night +and day to prepare it for the Queen. It stood on a desolate sand-flat. +There were dirty alleys and mud-puddles and dingy little hovels around +it, but the coming of the Queen was to make it gorgeous. A splendid new +throne, all dazzling in its crimson and gold, was built for her. + +"Is it as your Majesty would have it?" inquired the builder. + +"It's the most comfortable throne I ever sat on," replied the merry +young sovereign. + +Buckingham was not lonely by any means. From over the whole country +came delegations from universities, corporations, and all kinds of +societies. One of these delegations was composed of Quakers, who +believe that to uncover the head is to show to man a reverence that +should be shown to God alone, and they marched up the stairway without +removing their broad-brimmed gray hats. This could not be allowed, but +the delegates could hardly be forbidden to see their Queen. Someone was +quick-witted enough to discover a way out of the dilemma. "The Quakers +won't take off their hats," he whispered, "but it is against their +principles to resist violence and they won't object if we do it for +them." Two of the attendants then respectfully raised each man's hat as +he passed between them, and returned it to his head when the audience +had come to an end. + +At the death of a sovereign, Parliament is always dissolved, and a new +election is held. Victoria had stood by her "Aunt Adelaide's" side and +seen the grand procession which marked the prorogation, but now the +time had come for her to take the principal place in the procession. + +"It would be better to remain away and allow your speech to be read for +you," said both her mother and her physician. "Remember how much you +have been through within the past month, and avoid this unnecessary +excitement." + +The little Queen was wiser than her watchful advisers. She knew well +that her subjects had thronged every road leading to Buckingham because +they wanted to see her, and she meant to gratify them and appear in all +the splendor that a prorogation demanded. As to being exhausted by +these ceremonials, she laughed at the idea of such a thing. "I like it +all," she said. "I have lived so quietly that it is new to me. It isn't +tiresome, it is amusing." + +Therefore "Victoria Regina" was written in letters of gold about a +beautiful new throne in the House of Lords. Mr. Davys, her "good, kind +master," as she called him, heard her practice her speech; then she was +made ready for the ceremony. There were no more simple white muslin +dresses for her. She wore a kirtle of white satin and over it a crimson +velvet robe with border of ermine. The kirtle flashed with gold +embroidery, and the velvet robe was confined by a heavy golden cord and +tassels. Diamonds glittered and sparkled in her bracelets and coronet +and on her stomacher. A few years before, the young girl had walked to +the milliner's and home again, carrying her new bonnet in her hand; but +now she seated herself in the royal carriage and was drawn by eight +cream-colored horses. The Yeomen of the Guard rode before her; and so +she went to the House of Parliament. + +The band played "God Save the Queen," as she entered the House of Lords +and was conducted to the throne on which "Victoria Regina" was written. +It was fortunate that she had no farther to walk, for before she seated +herself the lords-in-waiting laid upon her shoulders the heavy +parliamentary mantle of purple velvet. + +The brilliant company of peers and bishops remained standing. "My +lords, be seated," said the Queen. The usual forms of business were +followed, but all interest centered in the speech of the sovereign. Mr. +Davys had tutored her well, and when she had finished, Fanny Kemble, +the greatest actress of the day, declared, "I never heard any spoken +words more musical in their gentle distinctness." Charles Sumner wrote, +"I never heard anything better read in my life;" and the Queen's kind +old uncle, the Duke of Sussex, could only wipe his eyes and murmur, +"Beautiful!" + +It was not long before the court moved to Windsor Palace. The ordinary +routine of the Queen's day was breakfast with her mother between eight +and nine, followed by an hour or two with Lord Melbourne attending to +matters of state. Then came an audience with the Cabinet Ministers, +whenever there was business to be transacted. About two o'clock the +Queen and some twenty or thirty of the ladies and gentlemen of the +court took a horseback ride of two hours or longer. After this came +music or amusement of some kind until the dinner hour. If there were +any children in the palace, the Queen was always ready to spend this +time with them, and their company must have been a great relief after +the formalities of the day. Dinner was at about half-past seven. After +dinner came music, games, dancing, and conversation. This was the order +of the day when it was not broken into, but it was almost always broken +into, for there were balls, receptions, concerts, banquets, and the +reception of delegations. + +One visit which was soon paid to the court of England gave the Queen +special delight. It was that of her uncle, King Leopold, and his Queen. +Victoria had never played the hostess before, but there could have been +no one else to whom she would have been so glad to show honor; and now +there was a merry time, indeed, for the English Queen planned picnics, +dinner parties, sailing parties, and all sorts of gayeties. + +Those who looked on from the outside thought of the Queen as a +light-hearted young girl enjoying to the full what was almost her first +taste of gayety and pleasure, but there was quite another side to her +life. More was required of the sovereign of England than to sit on a +throne and wear handsome dresses and jewels. There was much hard work +for her to do, and this merry little Queen had no thought of attempting +to escape it. Those morning hours with Lord Melbourne were hours when +she must give her keenest thought and closest attention. At an age when +many girls have little more responsibility than to learn a lesson or to +choose a dress, this girl had to read complicated papers, to listen to +arguments on difficult subjects, and sometimes to decide whether a man +proven guilty of crime should live or die. Of course she might have +made all this much easier for herself by simply writing her name +wherever her Ministers advised, but she would not sign any paper +without reading and understanding it. + +"Your Majesty," said Lord Melbourne one day, "there is no need of your +examining this paper, as it is of no special importance." + +"But it is of special importance to me," replied the Queen, "whether I +sign a paper with which I am not thoroughly satisfied." + +Papers of all sorts were showered upon her. Sometimes after listening +to Lord Melbourne's advice she would come to a decision on the first +reading, but often she would say, "I must think about this before I +sign it." Never was a sovereign so overwhelmed with papers, and her +friends began to suspect that some of the officials who wished to have +matters go their own way were trying to disgust her with public +business hoping that after a little while she would become so tired of +it that she would sign whatever was sent her. They did not know that +they were dealing with a Queen who had had to finish her haycocks when +she was a little girl. Even Lord Melbourne used to say laughingly, "I'd +rather manage ten kings than one queen." + +There could hardly have been a better man than Lord Melbourne for the +difficult position of adviser to a young woman who was also a queen. He +was three times her age, and while his manner to her was always one of +most profound respect, he showed an almost fatherly feeling for the +fatherless young girl. He was her Prime Minister and was also her +trusted friend. Before she became Queen, he had won her confidence in a +remarkable way, by opposing her desires and those of her mother. In one +of those constantly recurring differences between King and Duchess, he +had stood firmly for the King's wishes, because he was the King's +servant, although he knew that in a few months at most the Princess +would be on the throne. Victoria was wise enough to see that the man +who would be faithful even at the probability of his own loss was the +man whom she might safely trust, and she did trust him implicitly. + +Another member of the Queen's household was the honest Baron Stockmar. +He had been sent by King Leopold, as soon as his royal niece had +attained her eighteenth birthday, to guard her interests and advise her +if it should be necessary. With people in general he was quiet and +reserved. At table he "ate nothing and talked less," according to the +description of one who was at the court; but all felt that the Queen +was especially frank with him, and that he and Lord Melbourne were in +perfect agreement. One other duty he had at the English court which was +known only to himself and King Leopold and that was to prepare the way +for the marriage that the King hoped would come about between his niece +and his nephew. The two young people were really in training for +sovereignty. King Leopold kept Prince Albert with him for nearly a year +after Victoria's accession He saw to it that the young man should +acquire a good knowledge of English and of the English constitution. +Baron Stockmar was in the meantime teaching the Queen the rightful +position of the sovereign of England. "The sovereign must belong to no +party," he said. "Whatever party is in power has been put in power by +the nation, and has a right to claim the loyalty of the Queen." + +Of course the devoted Baroness Lehzen had followed her beloved pupil, +for one of the first acts of the Queen was to appoint her private +secretary. The Baroness said: "I copy all her private correspondence +just as I used to do when she was my Princess, and she is as frank with +me as when she was a child; but she has never shown me a state document +or said a word to me about any state business. She knows that such +matters should go to her advisers, and not to me or any other woman." + +Surely the little Queen was not without good friends. There were King +Leopold, the wisest sovereign in Europe; Baron Stockmar, the "only +honest man"; Lord Melbourne, who seemed to have no thought but for her, +and Baroness Lehzen, who had loved her from her babyhood. The position +of her mother was very peculiar and not agreeable in all respects. For +eighteen years her only aim in life had been to prepare her daughter +for the throne of England. The daughter was now on the throne, and the +Duchess felt that her occupation was gone. She realized that matters of +state must be discussed with the councilors only, and for this she was +prepared; but it was not a pleasant surprise to find that the young +girl who less than a year before her accession had meekly left the +ballroom for bed at her mother's bidding was now manifesting very +decided opinions of her own. The Duchess had the fullest confidence in +one of the executors of her husband's will, and she would have been +glad that he should hold some office in the new government. The Queen +treated her mother with the most tender affection, and she willingly +granted the gentleman a generous pension, but she refused to have +anything to do with him. + +Victoria had ascended the throne, but she had never yet worn the +English crown, for though a young girl may become a queen in a moment, +a coronation is a different matter. "The King is dead, and therefore +Victoria is Queen," declared the Council, and she was Queen; but the +preparations for a coronation require more time than does the writing +of an address of loyalty, and it was a whole year before these +preparations were completed. It was not an easy task to decide just +what ceremonies should be observed. One matter to be seriously +deliberated upon was whether the left cheek of the young girl should be +forced to endure six hundred kisses of state from the six hundred +nobles and bishops. There was not even a crown suited to the occasion, +for the old one weighed seven pounds, and the most devoted admirers of +the ancient usages could not ask that the "little Queen" should carry +that load on her head. After many lengthy consultations, these +momentous questions were decided. The tradesmen were assured that there +would be enough ceremony to bring about large sales, the peers and +bishops were told that they would not be allowed to kiss the pink cheek +of the Queen, and the crown jewelers were bidden to set to work on a +new crown that should weigh only half as much as the old one. + +The day came at last, June 28, 1838. London evidently meant to make the +most of it, and as soon as the eager watchers saw the first glimpse of +dawn, a salute of twenty-one cannon was fired. It was only a little +after three o'clock, but the earliness of the hour made little +difference to the thousands that had been up all night. Some had stayed +up to be sure of securing a good place to see the procession, some +because the services of the hairdressers were in such demand that, when +a head was once in order, no risk of disarrangement could be ventured +upon, and some had been kept awake by pure excitement and nervousness. +There was no sleeping after daylight for anyone, for those who were far +enough from the Tower to drowse through the firing of cannon were +aroused by the ringing of bells which followed, as every church tower +rang out its merriest chimes. At five o'clock Westminster Abbey was +opened, and this was none too early, for the people who were fortunate +enough and rich enough to obtain tickets had long been thronging the +entrance. These people in the Abbey had a long time to wait, for it was +fully ten o'clock before the salute of twenty-one guns from the park +gave the signal that the procession had started from Buckingham Palace. + +Such a procession as it was! First came the trumpeters, then the Life +Guards, bands, foreign ambassadors in most gorgeous carriages, more +Life Guards, the carriage of the Duchess of Kent, the Duke of Sussex, +and others of the royal family, the officers of the royal household, +and the Yeomen of the Guard. Then all the thousands along the way were +agape, for the eight cream-colored horses were seen drawing the chariot +of state, wherein sat the pretty little maiden who was the center and +cause of all this magnificence. A circlet of diamonds was on her head. +She wore a dress of gold tissue, and a mantle of crimson velvet trimmed +with gold lace and lined with ermine. Pearls and diamonds gleamed and +flashed at every motion. With her rode the Mistress of the Robes and +the Master of the Horse. A body of cavalry followed her. + +The procession was nearly an hour and a half in reaching the Abbey, for +the Queen would not go by the shortest way. All that time people were +shouting, and banners were waving, for every house along the line of +march was brilliant with as much decoration as its owner could afford. +Half a million strangers were in London, and many houses were rented at +enormous rates. Five or six thousand dollars was not looked upon as a +rental at all exorbitant, and some were let at a much higher price. + +At the door of the Abbey, the Queen was met by the chief officers of +state. She walked slowly up the aisle, but not alone by any means. +Heralds, clergy, and officers of state came first; then a noble bearing +the coronet of the Duchess of Cambridge, followed by the Duchess +herself, with her long train of purple velvet. Another coronet was +borne on a silken cushion, and after it came the Duchess of Kent. Then +came six nobles, each carrying some piece of the regalia. There were +dukes and earls and marquises and generals and field marshals and +bishops, all in their most brilliant array. A little whisper, "The +Queen, the Queen!" ran through the long lines of peers and peeresses +and ambassadors and judges. It was followed by the waving of +handkerchiefs and scarfs and such shouts of applause as shook the Abbey +to its foundations, and Victoria advanced, escorted by three bishops. +Eight young girls in white silk and silver, with blush roses, carried +her train. Then came members of the royal household, gentlemen-at-arms, +lords-in-waiting, and other officials without number. + +All this time the choir were singing "I was glad when they said unto +me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." Then they sang "God save the +Queen!" and the trumpets sounded the accompaniment. A most impressive +moment followed. The trumpets ceased, every voice was hushed, not a +sound was heard among all the thousands in the vast Abbey. The Queen +had passed through the door looking "like a young girl on her +birthday," but now her face was grave, and she knelt before the altar +for a moment of silent prayer. By an ancient privilege, the Westminster +schoolboys had the right to give the first greeting to the sovereign, +and as she rose, the Abbey rang with their shouts, "Victoria! Victoria! +Vivat Victoria Regina!" + +The next part of the ceremony is known as the "Recognition"--that is, +the recognition of the new sovereign as the lawful sovereign. The Queen +and the Archbishop of Canterbury turned to the north, and the +Archbishop said: + +"Sirs, I here present unto you Queen Victoria, the undoubted Queen of +this realm; wherefore, all you who are come this day to do your homage +are you willing to do the same?" "God save Queen Victoria!" the people +cried. The Archbishop and the Queen then turned to the south, to the +east, and to the west, and the same words were repeated with the same +response. This signified that the people of the land had formally +accepted her as their sovereign. + +After this, the Queen, followed by the eight train-bearers, walked to +the altar, and she made an offering of a golden altar cloth and a +pound's weight of gold. This was only the beginning of the four-hours' +ceremony, and next came a long sermon preached by the Bishop of London, +followed by the solemn oath of the Queen to be just and govern +according to the law. + +Then came the act of coronation, but for this Victoria was not to +appear in jewels and ermine. She was escorted to one of the chapels and +robed in a flowing gown of fine white muslin. Over this was thrown a +robe of gold brocade worked with the rose, the shamrock, and the +thistle emblematic of England, Ireland, and Scotland. In this quaint +and ancient costume she knelt before the altar. The Archbishop led her +to the famous old chair of St. Edward, wherein was the stone of Scone, +and touched her head and hands with the holy oil. The scepter, orb, +sword, and other things signifying power and authority in either Church +or state, were handed to her, each with a few words from the +Archbishop, exhorting her to use it properly. The ruby ring was placed +upon her finger, and the cloth-of-gold mantle upon her shoulders. Then +the Archbishop slowly lifted the crown, which was blazing with +diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds, and placed it upon her head. +The next moment all the peers and peeresses lifted their coronets and +put them on. The whole building flashed and glittered until one might +have fancied that it was raining diamonds. "God save the Queen!" echoed +and re-echoed. The thousands who stood outside the Abbey caught up the +cry, the bells of all the churches in London began to ring, and the +guns of all the garrison towns were fired. + +[Illustration: The Coronation of Queen Victoria. +(_From painting by Sir George Hayter._)] + +The ceremony of homage followed. The Archbishop, the two royal dukes, +and many other dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons knelt +and, kissing her hand, said: "I do become your liege man of life and +limb, and of earthly worship, and faith and truth I will bear unto you, +to live and die against all manner of folk, so help me God!" One of the +peers was so aged and infirm that he tried twice in vain to ascend the +steps. The Queen rose and moved toward him and extended her hand to him +as simply and naturally as any other young girl might have done who was +not sitting on a throne. After the homage, she received the Holy +Sacrament; the "Hallelujah Chorus" was sung; and then the procession +re-formed and went slowly over the way to Buckingham Palace. + +When George III. was crowned, he complained of some blunders that were +made, but he could hardly have been much comforted by the reply that +matters would "go better next time." Even though Victoria was the third +sovereign crowned since the time of George III., there were still some +mistakes. England was accustomed to crowning strong men, but not +slender young girls, and the orb was made so heavy that holding it was +very wearisome, while the ruby ring was made for the little finger and +had to be forced upon the ring finger as best it could be. When the +peers did homage, they were required to touch the crown; and the Queen +said it was fortunate that she had had it made as tight as possible, +for many of them knocked it, and one actually clutched it. + +After such a day as this, Victoria must have felt that she was "really +and truly" a queen; but with all her dignity and her royalty, she was +still a frank, natural young girl, and the story is told that when she +entered Buckingham Palace and heard the bark of her favorite dog, she +exclaimed, "Oh, there's Dash! I must go and give him his bath." + +The English were proud of their Queen, of her dignity and her royal +bearing, but it was these touches of frankness and simplicity that won +their hearts, and made them feel that with all her jewels, her velvets, +and her ermine, she was, after all, one of themselves. It was at this +time that the Duke of Sussex wrote to a friend: + +"The girl Queen is becoming more and more popular. You would simply +idolize her if you saw that bright little face, with clear blue eyes, +winning all hearts and making us all say, 'God save the Queen!'" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE COMING OF THE PRINCE + + +The coronation ceremonies in Westminster Abbey were, indeed, +magnificent, but it must not be supposed that England was satisfied +with no further celebration of so joyful an event. Throughout the realm +there were for several days fairs, balls, and entertainments of all +kinds. London was illuminated, and the theaters were made free to all +who chose to attend them. People's hearts and purses were opened. The +rich were not satisfied with having a good time themselves; they wanted +the children of the land and the poor to have a good time also. In many +places feasts were given, and one of the most famous of these was held +in a great open field in Cambridge, where more than fourteen thousand +persons were entertained. + +In the center of the field was a space for the band, and around it a +platform. Much money had been subscribed for the feast, but the +committee felt sure that large numbers of people would be ready to pay +from seventy-five cents to one dollar and a half for the privilege of +walking about on this platform and seeing what was to be seen. They +were right, for there was "a most fashionable and select company," who +promenaded around the circular platform and watched the feasters. + +Sixty tables, each two hundred and thirty feet long, stretched out from +the central platform like the rays of a star; and when the signal was +given, the fourteen thousand persons, poor people and children of all +ages, marched to their places. It must have been an amusing procession +for each one was obliged to bring his own plate, knife, fork, and mug +for beer. There was roast beef, and there were various other good +things; but the member of the committee who wrote the account of the +dinner seems to have been especially interested in the puddings. +"Beautiful puddings," he says they were, and he tells just where each +one was boiled. He states, too, that 2475 pounds of raisins were put +into them. + +At the end of the dinner, pipes, tobacco, and snuff were passed to the +grown folk. There was a salute of nineteen guns in honor of the Queen's +nineteen years. A balloon, which the enthusiastic committeeman calls a +"stupendous machine," was sent up, and the health of the Queen was +drunk. The Sunday-school children sang a song of better intention than +rhyme, which began: + + "Victoria! Victoria! + We hail thy gentle rule; + Victoria! the Patroness + Of every Sunday school." + +After the singing, came various games and contests. Men tried to climb +a well-soaped pole to get a leg of mutton which was fastened to the +top. Others were tied into sacks, and jumped as far as possible in the +attempt to win a pair of boots. There was a wheelbarrow race run by ten +blindfolded men. A pig was offered to the man who could catch the +animal and swing it over his shoulder by the well-greased tail. Men +grinned through horse-collars to see who could make the ugliest face +and so win a pair of new trousers. Six boys with their hands tied +behind their backs were given penny loaves and molasses, and a new hat +was waiting for the one who ate his loaf first. Other boys with their +hands tied were "bobbing for apples"--that is, trying to lift apples +with their teeth from a tub of water--and another group of boys were +struggling to see who could first swallow a pennyworth of dry biscuit, +and so win a new waistcoat. There were foot races and donkey races and +hurdle races, and races among men each with one leg tied up. At last +the day came to an end with fireworks, and all the happy, tired people +went home, fully convinced that under this new sovereign their country +would be more prosperous than ever. + +It seems very strange that this Queen who was worshiped by her people +in the summer of 1838 should in the course of a few months have become +exceedingly unpopular with some of her subjects, but so it was. There +were in England two political parties, the Whigs and the Tories. Queen +Victoria's sympathies were with the Whigs. They were in power when she +came to the throne, but in the spring of 1839 the Cabinet proposed an +important bill which Parliament refused to make a law. Under such +circumstances it is the custom for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet +to resign, because such a refusal is supposed to signify that the +people, whom Parliament represents, do not approve of their acts. + +When Lord Melbourne told the Queen that he must resign, she felt very +badly. She must stand at the head of a great nation, and the one in +whose advice she had trusted could advise her no longer. The leaders of +the Tories were "the Duke," as the Duke of Wellington was called, and +Sir Robert Peel; and Lord Melbourne told her that her wisest course +would be to ask the Duke to become her Prime Minister and select a +Cabinet of Tories. The Duke had declared before this that he did not +know what the Tories would do for a Prime Minister if they should come +into power. "I have no small talk," he said, "and Peel has no manners?" +but when the Queen sent for him, of course he obeyed. She asked him to +be her Prime Minister, and said to him honestly: "I cannot help being +very sorry to make a change and give up my Ministers, especially Lord +Melbourne, for he has been almost a father to me." + +The straightforward old soldier was delighted with her frankness, but +he said: "I am somewhat deaf, and I am too old a man to undertake this +work and serve you properly. Moreover, it would be much better for one +who can lead the House of Commons to be your Majesty's Prime Minister. +I advise you to send for Sir Robert Peel." + +Now, this girl of nineteen did not like the man who had "no manners," +but she was a lady as well as a Queen, and when Sir Robert appeared--in +full dress, as was required--she received him so courteously that he +went away much pleased, having promised to obey her command and form a +Cabinet. This was easily done, and the next morning he brought her a +list of names. + +"But you must not expect me to give up the society of Lord Melbourne," +she said. + +"Certainly not," was Peel's reply. "Moreover Lord Melbourne is too +honorable a man to attempt to influence your Majesty in any way against +the existing government." Sir Robert then suggested several men whom he +knew that she liked for various positions of honor in the royal +household. Finally he said, perhaps a little bluntly, "It will be +desirable to make some changes in the ladies of your Majesty's +household." Then a storm arose. + +"I shall not part with any of my ladies," declared the Queen. + +"But, your Majesty," said Sir Robert, "most of these ladies are closely +related to the former Cabinet Ministers." The Queen would not yield, +but she was willing to discuss the subject later with him and the Duke. +When they appeared before her, they said: "Your Majesty, the ladies of +the household are on the same footing as the lords." + +"No," declared the Queen, "I have lords besides and I have let you do +with them as you chose. If you had just been put out of office and Lord +Melbourne had come in, I am sure that he would not have asked me to +give up my ladies." + +"There are more Whigs than Tories in the House of Commons," said Peel, +"and if these ladies who are closely related to prominent Whigs are +retained, all Europe will look upon England as the country that is +governed by a party which the sovereign dislikes and in which she has +no confidence." + +"I give you my lords," replied the Queen steadfastly, "but I keep my +ladies." The two nobles were in a dilemma. According to the British +constitution, "The Queen can do no wrong"--that is, not she, but the +Prime Minister is held responsible for every public act. Sir Robert +could not remain Prime Minister if the Queen positively refused to +yield to a course which he thought necessary. + +While the Tory leaders were trying to plan some way out of the +difficulty, the Queen sent a letter to Lord Melbourne which was written +in much the same way that an indignant young girl would write to her +father. "Do not fear," she said, "that I was not calm and composed. +They wanted to deprive me of my ladies, and I suppose they would +deprive me next of my dressers and housemaids; they wished to treat me +like a girl, but I will show them that I am Queen of England." + +Lord Melbourne called his Cabinet together in such haste that one +member had to be brought from the opera and another from a dinner +party. He read them the Queen's letter, and asked, "What shall we +advise?" + +"Advise her to give up two or three of her principal ladies," suggested +one, "and perhaps that will satisfy Peel." + +"Does anyone know exactly what Peel wants," queried another, "and how +many ladies he demands shall be removed?" This was an exceedingly +sensible question, and if it had been taken to Peel for an answer, the +trouble might have been brought to an end. He would probably have been +satisfied with the resignation of two or three of the strongest +partisans and principal talkers among the ladies; and, although the +Queen was insisting upon what she believed was her right, yet much of +her indignation arose from her belief that Peel meant to deprive her of +all who were then her attendants perhaps even the Baroness Lehzen. The +question was not taken to Peel, however, and the discussion in the +Cabinet went on. + +"Let us write a letter for the Queen to copy and send to Peel," was the +next suggestion, "saying that she will not consent to a course which +she believes to be contrary to custom and which is repugnant to her +feelings." This suggestion was adopted. The letter was written, and the +Queen copied it to send; but before it reached Sir Robert, he resigned +his position, and Lord Melbourne was again Prime Minister. + +This was the famous "Bedchamber Plot," and it aroused all England. Lord +Melbourne and the Whigs said: + +"It is a small matter that the Queen should be allowed to retain her +favorite attendants." + +Sir Robert and the Tories replied: + +"The Prime Minister is responsible for the acts of the Queen, and it is +a large matter if she refuses to follow his advice when he believes +that the good of the realm demands a certain course. She is not the +Queen of the whole country, she is only the Queen of the Whigs, and the +whole thing is a plot to keep the Whigs in power." + +"_We_ are loyal to our sovereign," declared the Whigs. + +"_We_ stand by the constitution of Great Britain not by the whims of +a girl of nineteen," retorted the Tories. The amusing part of the +struggle was that the Whigs had always prided themselves on standing by +the constitution and the rights of the people, while the Tories had +favored increasing the power of the sovereign; but in those days the +question was too serious to strike anyone as amusing. + +As the weeks of the summer and the early autumn passed, matters only +grew worse. Victoria was spoken of most contemptuously, and was even +hissed in a public assembly. Mr. Greville wrote in his journal: "The +Tories seem not to care one straw for the crown, its dignity or its +authority, because the head on which it is placed does not nod with +benignity to them." Peel was, of course, above such behavior as that of +some of his violent partisans, but he must have been somewhat surprised +at developments. He had been afraid that the Queen's opinions and +judgment were so weak that she would be influenced by the talk of a few +ladies in attendance and would be unable to judge questions fairly and +without prejudice; but he had found that, whatever might be the faults +of the young lady on the throne, she could never be accused of having +no will of her own. + +During the first two years of her reign, the friends of the Queen were +watching her with much anxiety. She was an unusual girl, with an +unusual training, but, after all, she was only a girl, and she had +responsibilities to meet from which, as Carlyle said, "an archangel +might have shrunk." Her position was all the more dangerous because she +was too young to realize her difficulties; and when trouble arose, +there was no one in the land of whom she could ask counsel without +arousing the enmity of someone else. Everyone who was capable of +advising her was prominent in one political party or the other. If she +had discussed any of her hard questions with even her own mother, and +it had become evident that suggestions had come from the Duchess of +Kent, there would have been talk at once of "foreign influence." + +Meanwhile, "foreign influence" in the person of the wise King Leopold +was busily at work. The young Queen had reigned for more than two +years, and the first novelty of her position had passed. At first it +had been delightful to her to feel that she was "the Queen," and that +she could do precisely as she chose. Even the Bedchamber Plot had +resulted in her having her own way, in keeping her ladies and the Whig +Cabinet; but so clear-minded a woman as Queen Victoria must have +seen--as, indeed, she declared some years later--that she had not +behaved like a constitutional monarch, and she knew that thousands of +her subjects were indignant with her. + +Never was a loving uncle more shrewd in his affection than this "wisest +sovereign in Europe;" for just at this time, when his niece was feeling +far less self-sufficient than she had felt some months earlier, he +proposed that Prince Albert and his brother Ernest should pay her a +visit. The young men came, bringing with them a letter from the King +which spoke of them in most matter-of-fact terms as "good, honest +creatures, really sensible and trustworthy." The point of the letter +was in its closing sentence, "I am sure that if you have anything to +recommend to them, they will be most happy to hear it from you." + +The Queen knew very well what this sentence signified, and she was more +ready to "recommend" than she would have been some months before. She +had seen her cousins only once, and that was more than three years +earlier. Prince Albert was then a lovable boy, and the Princess was +willing that her relatives should understand that she would marry him +some day. When nearly two years had passed and she had become Queen, +she felt much older and more mature; but she thought of her cousin as +still a boy. She expected to marry him some time in the future, but she +was not willing to permit even any formal engagement at that time. King +Leopold wrote urging her to make some "decisive arrangement" for the +following year. The Queen replied: "Albert and I are both too young to +think of marriage at present. He does not know English well enough, and +there are other studies which he needs to pursue." + +King Leopold saw that it was of no use to press the question further at +that time, and he told the Prince that the marriage would have to be +postponed for a few years. The Prince saw the truth in Victoria's +objections. He knew that his position in England would demand all the +skill and knowledge that he could acquire, and he admitted that her +arguments were strong. + +"You understand, and you will wait?" asked his uncle. + +"Yes," answered the Prince, "I will wait, if I have only some certain +assurance to go on; but I do not want to be left in the ridiculous +position of Queen Elizabeth's suitors. I do not want all Europe talking +for years about my marriage and then laughing at the announcement that +Victoria never meant to marry me." + +Another year passed. Then came the Bedchamber trouble. King Leopold +watched every item of news from England. "Now is the time," said the +sagacious King to himself, and he proposed the visit. + +There had been little correspondence between the cousins. Prince Albert +had sent the Princess sketches of the places that he had visited in his +travels, and when she became Queen, he wrote her a somewhat formal +little letter, reminding her that the happiness of millions lay in her +hands, and closing rather primly, "I will not be indiscreet and abuse +your time." Victoria must have had in her mind a picture of her cousin +that was a strange combination of a serious young man somewhat given to +sermonizing and the stout, merry boy of seventeen who had slipped down +to the floor of his carriage and pushed his dog's head up to the window +when people pressed around to see the Prince. + +With these two conflicting notions in her thoughts, the Queen went to +the head of the staircase in Windsor Palace to welcome her "two dear +cousins." The stout boy had vanished but in his place stood a tall, +manly, handsome young man, with a cheery, thoughtful face. Two days +later a letter went from the Queen to "Uncle Leopold," which said, "My +dear Uncle, Albert is fascinating." Then she remembered that she had +two cousinly guests and added, "The young men are very amiable, +delightful companions, and I am very glad to have them here." + +King Leopold wrote at once, "I am sure you will like the cousins the +more, the longer you see them." Then he talked about the Prince. +"Albert is full of talent and fun and draws cleverly. May he be able to +strew roses without thorns on the pathway of life of our good Victoria! +He is well qualified to do so." + +While the hopeful uncle was writing this letter, Victoria was talking +with Lord Melbourne. + +"My lord," she said, "I have made up my mind at last, and I am ready to +marry Prince Albert whenever he wants me." + +"I am very glad of it," replied her fatherly friend. "You will be much +more comfortable; for a woman cannot stand alone for any time, in +whatever position she may be." + +"Do you think that my people will be pleased?" she asked. + +"I believe that they will," he replied, for he knew very well how eager +they were for her marriage. No one liked the Duke of Cumberland, who +was now King Ernest of Hanover, but if the Queen died without children, +he would come over to England and wear the English crown as well as +that of Hanover. The feeling against him was so strong that it had even +been proposed in Parliament to make a law forbidding him ever to occupy +the throne. + +On the fourth morning of their visit, the two Princes went hunting. It +was a long forenoon to the Queen, for she had what she afterwards +called a "nervous" thing to do. They came back at noon, but they had +hardly time to change their hunting clothes before a message was +brought to Prince Albert that the Queen wished to see him. + +Now, royal etiquette forbade that this Prince of a little German duchy +should ask the sovereign of Great Britain for her hand; so when Albert +reached the Queen's apartments, he was obliged to wait until she had +spoken. + +"I think you must know why I wished you to come," she said shyly. The +Prince had still to keep silent; he could only bow, but his bow must +have expressed a great deal, for she went on bravely: "It will make me +very happy if you will consent to what I wish." + +In just what form the Prince made his reply the Queen did not reveal, +but it was evidently satisfactory, for she wrote, "He is perfection in +every way." That very day she sent a letter to King Leopold in which +she said: "I am so much bewildered by it all that I hardly know how to +write. But I do feel very happy." + +A few weeks before this time she had written Baron Stockmar that she +could not think of marrying for three or four years, but that very day +she wrote him: "I _do_ feel so guilty, I know not how to begin my +letter, but I think the news it will contain will be sufficient to +insure your forgiveness. Albert has completely won my heart, and all +was settled between us this morning I feel certain that he will make me +very happy. I wish I could say," continued the modest little sovereign +of Great Britain, "that I felt as certain of making him happy, but I +shall do my best." + +Prince Albert, too, had some letters to write; and as Victoria had +written to King Leopold, his first was to Baron Stockmar. After telling +of his happiness and of his love for the Queen, he wrote: "I cannot +write more, I am too much bewildered." It certainly was bewildering. He +had been told not long before that the Queen was determined not to +marry for three or four years at any rate, and that she would not +consent to any formal engagement. He had come to England with a +determination to insist either that she should recognize the informal +engagement between them or that it should be broken off. + +The Duchess of Kent had loved Albert from the first, and she was very +happy in the thought of the marriage. She and the Baroness Lehzen, +together with Lord Melbourne and Prince Albert's brother, were the only +ones in England who knew the secret until five or six weeks had passed. +Then came a difficult five minutes for the young Queen. She had to meet +her Council of eighty middle-aged men and tell them of her engagement. +It is no wonder that she "hardly knew who was there." The picture of +the Prince in her bracelet gave her courage, and though Lord Melbourne +was far down the room, she caught a kind look from him and saw the +tears of sympathy in his eyes. Her fingers trembled, but she soon +controlled herself and read: "It is my intention to ally myself in +marriage with the Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha." She went +through the rest of the paper with her usual clear, sweet voice, and +one of the Councilors wrote of the event: "Certainly she did look as +interesting and as handsome as any young lady I ever saw." + +When the reading of the paper was finished, the Lord President asked: +"Have we your Majesty's permission to publish this declaration?" The +Queen bowed and left the Council Chamber. About two months later she +had something even harder to do; she had to open Parliament and ask +that an income should be granted to the Prince. Another matter also had +to be settled, and that was what position he should hold in England. +Whether he should enter a room before or after dukes, earls, and +members of the royal family was a question that gave rise to much +discussion. These two questions were not settled as the Queen wished, +for the sum granted to the Prince was but three-fifths of what her +Ministers had asked, and Parliament refused to pass a law giving him +precedence next to herself. The Duke of Wellington said, "Let the Queen +put the Prince just where she wishes him to be;" and this she did, as +far as England was concerned, by issuing an order in Council that he +should stand next to herself. Some of her royal relatives were +indignant and King Ernest declared positively that he would never give +precedence to the younger brother of a German duke. "I won't give way +to any paper royal highness," he declared. The Queen was both hurt and +angry at these decisions but Prince Albert's only fear was lest they +indicated objection to the marriage on the part of the English, and he +wrote: "While I possess your love, they cannot make me unhappy." + +A little more than a week after this letter was written, the day of the +wedding came. It had been the custom to celebrate royal weddings in the +evening, though other weddings must by law take place before noon; but +on this, as on most other subjects, the Queen had a very definite +opinion. "I wish to be married as my subjects are married," she said, +"and the ceremony must be at noon." + +"Is it the will of your Majesty that the word 'obey' be omitted from +the promise that you make to the Prince?" asked the Archbishop of +Canterbury. + +"No," she answered with decision. "I am not to be married as a queen, +but as a woman." + +The wedding day was stormy, but that made little difference to bride, +groom, or any of the brilliant company assembled in the Chapel of St. +James'. The Prince wore the uniform of a British field-marshal, with +the collar of the Garter, and looked exceedingly handsome. As he came +into the Chapel, the organ burst out into the strains of "See, the +Conquering Hero Comes." He stood by the altar waiting for his bride, +and in a short time she appeared, escorted by the Lord Chamberlain. She +wore a dress of heavy white satin, woven in England. Her veil had made +scores of poor women happy, for she had ordered it of the lace-makers +of Honiton in Devon. She wore no crown, but only a wreath of orange +blossoms. She had diamond earrings and necklace, and a few diamonds in +her hair. Twelve bridesmaids in white tulle and white roses bore her +train; and a hard time they had, for, although it was six yards long, +they found it too short for so many bearers. One of them wrote: "We +were all huddled together, and scrambled rather than walked along, +kicking each other's heels and treading on each other's gowns." + +[Illustration: Albert, Prince Consort, in the uniform of a field +marshal.] + +At the moment the ring was placed on the Queen's finger, the guns in +the Park and at the Tower were fired, and the bells rang out their +merriest peals. When the ceremony was over, the party returned to +Buckingham Palace for a wedding breakfast. The bridesmaid who wrote the +account of the wedding said that Prince Albert "seemed a little nervous +about getting into the carriage with a lady with a tail six yards +long," but they all reached the palace in safety. After the breakfast +the sunshine at last beamed down upon them, and the young couple sped +away for their honeymoon at Windsor Castle. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HOUSEKEEPING IN A PALACE + + +Common people may make a wedding tour, but kings and queens are too +fully occupied to afford such luxuries. The sovereign of England could +spend her honeymoon in Windsor Castle, but it must be a honeymoon of +only four days. Those four days, however, were marked by a freedom +which she had never enjoyed before. For the first time in her life she +could talk with someone of her own age without having to be on her +guard lest what she said should be repeated and do harm. + +One of the subjects that needed to be discussed and to be reformed was +the royal housekeeping. Many a woman living in a two-room cottage is +quite as comfortable as the Queen of Great Britain was in 1840. Three +men, the Lord Steward, the Lord Chamberlain, and the Master of the +Horse, were supposed to have the management of the household. These +persons were men of high rank, and their offices were given them in +reward for their political services rather than for their ability to +manage the domestic affairs of a palace. Of course they were entirely +too stately to take any charge themselves of the housekeeping, and they +did not delegate their power to anyone in the palace. Some of the +servants were under one of these three, and some were under another. No +one was at the head of the house, and everyone did about as he chose. +If the Queen rang a bell for a servant, the servant might answer it, or +he might be absent from the palace, just as it happened, and the Queen +was helpless, for the only one at all responsible was some aristocratic +nobleman who was, perhaps, far away on a yachting trip. When the Prime +Minister of France was a guest at Windsor, he wandered over the palace +for an hour trying to find his bedroom, for there was no one on duty to +point it out to him. At last he was sure that he had it, and he opened +the door. Behold there stood a maid brushing the hair of a lady who sat +at a toilet table, and could see in the glass the embarrassed gentleman +as he hurriedly retreated. The next day he discovered that the lady +before the glass was her Majesty. Baron Stockmar wrote that cleaning +the inside of the windows belonged to one department and cleaning the +outside to another. It is quite probable that when the little Princess +Victoria asked Queen Adelaide to let her clean the windows there was +visible need of such work. The servants of one department brought the +wood and laid the fire, but it was not their work to light it, and for +that duty a servant from another department must be called. A pane of +glass could not be mended without the signatures of five different +officials. No one was responsible for the cleanness of the house or +even for its safety; and if the man whose business it was to guard an +entrance preferred to do something else, there was no one to interfere +with his pleasure. The doors were indeed so carelessly guarded that one +night a boy was found under a sofa in the room next to the Queen's +bedroom. He could not be punished as a thief, for he had stolen +nothing. He was not a housebreaker, for he had simply walked in through +open doors, and no one had been on guard to prevent such intrusions. It +was finally decided that he was a vagabond, and he was imprisoned for +three months. + +Prince Albert was very anxious to have better management of the +household, and he laid the matter before the Prime Minister. + +"But men of high rank are now eager to hold these offices in the royal +household," was the reply "and it will make trouble if anyone is put +over them, or if there is any interference with their departments." + +"True," replied the Prince, "but the household machinery is so clumsy +and works so ill that, as long as its wheels are not mended, there can +be neither order nor regularity, comfort, security nor outward dignity +in the Queen's palace." Reforms began, but the Prince had to work very +slowly, and some years passed before either the Queen or her guests +could live in comfort. + +If the Queen had insisted upon these changes being made at once, many +of them could probably have been carried out; but the Bedchamber Plot +had taught her that the sovereign must not act contrary to the wishes +of her people. There was especial need of care at the time. Within +hardly more than half a century, the American colonies had freed +themselves from England and become a republic; France had had a +terrible revolution; throughout Europe people were thinking of change, +of more power for the people and less for the government. In England +there was little probability of a revolution, but it was more than two +hundred years since there had been any general and lasting enthusiasm +for the monarch of the realm; and both Prince Albert and the Queen felt +that the only way to make the throne strong and enduring was to win the +affection of the people. This was the teaching of Baron Stockmar, the +faithful friend and adviser of the royal couple. They appreciated his +devotion, and all the more because they could do nothing for him. He +did not care for money or office, and he was absolutely independent. +When dinner was over, he did not trouble himself to go to the drawing +room unless he felt inclined. He would generally spend the winter with +the Queen, but he disliked good-bys, and when he wanted to go home to +his family, he left the palace without a word of farewell. + +Baron Stockmar had good pupils. Prince Albert was not yet twenty-one at +the time of his marriage, and the question had arisen whether, as he +was not of age, he could legally take the oath that was required of +every member of the Council. Soon after the marriage, King Leopold +asked an English lady about him. + +"Do the English like him? Will he be popular?" inquired the King. + +"They call him very handsome," was her reply, "but the English are +always ready to find fault with foreigners, and they say he is stiff +and German." + +As the months passed, however, the English learned that this young +Prince was a remarkable man in his grasp of politics, his talent for +art and music, and his honest and unselfish devotion to the good of the +realm. What was more, they showed their appreciation by an act of +Parliament. The country was not yet at rest about the succession to the +crown. If the Queen should have a child and die before the child was of +age, a regent would be necessary. Parliament discussed the question, +and named the Prince, "the foreigner," as regent. "They would not have +done it for him six months ago," declared Lord Melbourne with delight. + +The Queen had always been loved by the Whigs, and just about this time +a great wave of devotion to her swept through not only their ranks but +also those of the Tories. A boy of seventeen tried to shoot her, not +because he hated her, but because he wished to be notorious. The Queen +was in her carriage with the Prince when the attempt was made. She +drove on rapidly to tell the Duchess of Kent that she was safe, then +she returned to the park, where hundreds of people had gathered, hoping +to see her and make sure that she was not injured. She was received +with cheers and shouts of delight, and all the horseback riders formed +in line on both sides of her carriage as if they were her bodyguard. +When she appeared at the opera a few days later, she was greeted with a +whirlwind of cheers and shouts. The whole house sang "God Save the +Queen!" Then they pleased her still more by crying, "The Prince! The +Prince!" and when Prince Albert stepped to the front, he was cheered so +heartily that she knew he was fast winning the hearts of her people. + +Operas and popularity were not the only things to be thought of in +those days. The royal couple, barely twenty-one years of age, were +working hard on constitutional history. They were very anxious, too, +about the possibility of war with France on account of trouble in +regard to Turkey and Egypt, and when their little daughter was born, in +November, 1840, the Queen said: "I really think she ought to be named +Turko-Egypto." + +The little girl was not named Turko-Egypto, but Victoria Adelaide Mary +Louise, and she had to wait three months for her name, as the +christening did not take place until February. She was baptized with +water brought from the River Jordan. The font was not taken from the +Tower, as it had been for her mother's baptism, but a new one was made +of silver, marked with her coat-of-arms and also those of her father +and her mother. She was a very decorous little Princess, and the proud +father wrote home to Coburg that she "behaved with great propriety and +did not cry at all." + +There was much rejoicing at the birth of this Princess Royal; but when, +a year later, a Prince was born, then the delight of the nation knew no +bounds. He was the heir to the throne, and it was impossible to do too +much to celebrate his birth. Punch said: + + "Huzza! we've a little Prince at last, + A roaring Royal boy; + And all day long the booming bells + Have rung their peals of joy. + + "And the little Park guns have blazed away + And made a tremendous noise, + Whilst the air has been filled since eleven o'clock + With the shouts of little boys." + +One or two questions in regard to the celebration had to be settled by +the courts of justice. It was an old privilege that when an heir to the +throne was born, the officer on guard at St. James' Palace should be +promoted to the rank of major. In this case the child was born at +Buckingham, but the guard at St. James' demanded his promotion +nevertheless. The matter was complicated by the fact that the change of +sentry had chanced to occur just at the time of the birth of the +Prince, and whether the old or the new guard actually held the keys was +a difficult question to determine. Another difficulty of the same kind +arose at Chester. The Prince had the title of Earl of Chester, and the +mayor of that city declared that by ancient right he had claim to a +baronetcy. Exactly the same question arose as with the sentinels, for +at about the moment when the keys were transferred the new mayor was +taking the oath of office. + +All England rejoiced; but across the water, in Germany, was a man who +was not at all pleased to hear that a son and heir was born to +Victoria, for he had always had a lingering hope that he might yet +become King of Great Britain. His aide-de-camp said that King Ernest +was generally ill-natured when he heard from England; and he was +indignant enough when he was not asked to become his grandnephew's +godfather. Who should be the chief sponsor was a weighty matter but +Baron Stockmar's advice was followed, and the King of Prussia was +invited to take the place of honor. The Queen wished the little Prince +named Albert for the husband who was so dear to her, and Edward for the +father whom she could not remember, and these names were given him. +This small Prince was an expensive baby, for it is said that the +festivities at his christening cost at least $1,000,000. The Queen gave +him the title of Prince of Wales when he was only a month old by +signing an interesting bit of parchment which declared that she girded +him with a sword and put a golden rod into his hands that he might +direct and defend the land of the Welsh. + +In all these regal honors and rejoicings the little baby sister was not +forgotten, and the Queen wrote in her journal: "Albert brought in +dearest little Pussy in such a smart merino dress, trimmed with blue, +which mamma had given her, and a pretty cap. She was very dear and +good." + +The children's father and mother would have been very glad to forget +all outside cares and splendors and live quietly by themselves, but +that could not be. There was much to think of and many subjects +concerning which they felt anxiety. One of these was the change of +government, for a little before the birth of the Prince the event took +place which the Queen had dreaded so long, the victory of the Tories +and the resignation of Lord Melbourne. Never was a retiring Minister +more generous to his opponents and more thoughtful of the comfort of +his sovereign. Soon after his resignation he had a little conversation +with Mr. Greville about the Tories. + +"Have you any means of speaking to these chaps?" he asked. + +"Certainly," answered Greville. + +"I think there are one or two things Peel ought to be told," said Lord +Melbourne, "and I wish you would tell him. When he wishes to propose +anything, he must tell the Queen his reasons. She is not conceited; she +knows there are many things which she does not understand, and she +likes to have them explained." + +Sir Robert was grateful for the advice and followed it. It was not +pleasant for him to become Prime Minister, for, although the Queen +treated him with the utmost courtesy, he knew that she looked upon him +as responsible for cutting down the grant to Prince Albert and for +opposing her wish to give the Prince precedence next to herself. Peel +had done exactly what he thought was right, but he could not help +feeling sensitive when he was brought into so close relationship with +the Queen and knew that this relationship was not welcome to her. "Any +man with the feelings of a gentleman would be annoyed at having +unavoidably given her so much pain," he said. Moreover, he was +exceedingly shy, "so shy that he makes me shy," said the Queen. +Fortunately, Sir Robert and Prince Albert found that they had much in +common in their love for literature and art, and the Queen could not +help liking the man who showed such warm appreciation of the husband +whom she adored. Very soon Peel paid him a compliment that completely +won her heart. The new houses of Parliament were to be decorated, and +there was a strong desire felt by all who were interested in art that +they should be so artistic as to be an honor to the country. Peel +invited the Prince to become the chairman of the commission which was +to control the matter. This position gave him the best of opportunities +to become connected with the prominent men of the country, and both +Prince and Queen were grateful to Peel for his thoughtfulness. The +Queen came to appreciate the Tory Premier; then she saw that the Tories +were not so black as they were painted; and before the end of 1841, +Victoria was no longer "Queen of the Whigs," but Queen of all her +people. + +The Queen had no easy life. "She has most of the toil and least of the +enjoyments of the world," wrote her husband. She had also much of the +danger. Without an enemy in the world, she was shot at twice during the +summer of 1842 by men who seemed to have no motive for such a deed. +When Peel heard of the attempt on her life, he hurried to the palace to +consult with the Prince. The Queen entered the room, and the shy, cold, +self-contained Minister actually wept tears of joy at her safety. After +that, there was no question about the friendliness between the Queen +and her Premier. + +Just how these would-be assassins should be punished was an important +matter, and here the common sense of the sovereign found a way out of +the dilemma. "It is a mistake," she said, "to treat such attempts as +high treason, for it dignifies the crime, and makes the criminals feel +that they are bold and daring men." Parliament learned from her wisdom +and passed a bill punishing any attempt upon the sovereign's life by +imprisonment and flogging. This had so good an effect that the Queen +saw seven years of peace before another attempt was made to injure her. + +In spite of all these dangers and political responsibilities, Victoria +was radiantly happy. The home life was all that she could have asked. +She and the Prince were not only husband and wife, they were the best +of comrades. Whenever they could win a little leisure from the cares of +state, they read and sketched and sang together. Music gave them both +the most intense pleasure, and both had rare musical ability, which had +been carefully cultivated. Mendelssohn describes a visit to them which +he seems to have enjoyed as much as they. + +The great composer says that he found Prince Albert alone, but as they +were looking at the new organ and trying the different stops, the Queen +came in, wearing a very simple morning gown. + +"I am glad that you have come," she said. "We love your music, and it +is a great pleasure to have you with us." + +"I thank your Majesty," replied the guest, and he went on to speak of +the beauty of the organ. + +"Yes, it is indeed fine," said the Queen, "but then I think any +instrument fine when the Prince is playing on it. But what confusion!" +she exclaimed, glancing around the room. The wind had scattered leaves +of music over the floor, even on the pedals of the organ, and she knelt +down and began to pick them up. Prince Albert and Mendelssohn started +to help, but she said, "No, go on with the stops, and I will put things +straight." + +"Will you not play something for me?" begged Mendelssohn of the Prince, +and added, "so I can boast about it in Germany?" The Prince played, +while the Queen sat by him listening and looking perfectly happy. Then +Mendelssohn played his chorus, "How Lovely Are the Messengers," but +before he was at the end of the first verse, his royal hosts were +singing with him. + +"It is beautiful," said the Queen. "Have you written any new songs? I +am very fond of your old ones." + +"You ought to sing one for him?" suggested the Prince. + +"If you only will," pleaded Mendelssohn. + +"I will try the 'Fruhling's Lied,'" she said, "if it is here, but I am +afraid that all my music is packed to go to Claremont." Prince Albert +went to look for it, but when he returned, he reported that it was +already packed. + +"But could it perhaps be unpacked?" suggested Mendelssohn daringly. + +"It shall be," said the Queen. "We must send to Lady Frances." The bell +was rung, and the servants were sent to find the music, but they were +unsuccessful. + +"I will go," the Queen declared, and she left the room. While she was +gone, the Prince said: "She begs that you will accept this present as a +remembrance," and he gave the composer a beautiful ring marked "V. R. +1842." + +When the Queen returned, she said, "It is really most annoying; all my +things are gone to Claremont." + +"Please do not make me suffer for the accident," begged Mendelssohn, +and at last another song was chosen. "She really sang it charmingly," +he wrote in a letter, but when he told her so, she exclaimed, "Oh! if I +only had not been so frightened." + +The Prince sang, and Mendelssohn gave them one of his wonderful +improvisations; then the musician took his leave. "But do come to +England again soon and pay us a visit," said the Queen earnestly, as he +made his farewells. + +Running about to see the world was not so common an amusement in the +first half of the nineteenth century as it is to-day, neither were +railroads as common, and the Queen of England was twenty-three years of +age before she ever made a journey by rail. This new way of traveling +produced quite a disturbance among some of her attendants. The Master +of Horse said that as it was his business to arrange for her journeys, +he must assure himself that the engine was in proper condition; and, +much to the amusement of the engineer, he appeared at the railway +station several hours before the train was to start, that he might +inspect the engine, as if it were a horse. There was even more +difficulty in satisfying the claims of the coachman. "When the Queen +travels, it is my business to drive for her," he declared; "therefore, +I must at least be on the engine." He was permitted to ride on the +pilot engine, but the dust and cinders made such havoc with his scarlet +livery and his white gloves that he concluded not to press his claims +quite so urgently in future. + +This famous journey was only twenty-five minutes long, and in spite of +the gorgeousness of crimson carpets laid from the royal carriage to the +train, it could not have been especially comfortable, for airbrakes and +good roadbeds were inventions yet to come. Nevertheless, the royal lady +was not discouraged in her desire to travel, and in the autumn of 1842 +she and the Prince made a journey to Scotland. + +Much that she saw was almost as new to her as it would have been to any +village maiden who had never left her home, and she was interested in +whatever came before her. She was especially delighted with Edinburgh. +"It is beautiful," she wrote; "totally unlike anything else I have ever +seen." As she entered the city, she was met by the Royal Archers +Bodyguard. This was an association formed by one of her royal ancestors +more than two hundred years before. Its special business was to protect +the sovereign, and in the old days its members were covered from head +to foot with armor. Long before Victoria's time the armor had vanished, +but in memory of the olden customs each man carried a bow in one hand +and had arrows stuck through his belt. As soon as the Queen appeared +they began to perform their ancient office, walking close beside the +carriage all the way through the town. + +In this journey the Queen and Prince Albert were received by various +noblemen, but the most picturesque greeting was at the home of Lord +Breadalbane at Taymouth. As they drove up to the castle, the gates were +thrown open, and there stood their host in a Highland dress, at the +head of a company of Highlanders, who were gorgeous in the +bright-colored tartan of the Campbells. Pipers were playing on the +bagpipes, salutes were fired, the soldiers and the crowd of country +folk cheered over and over again. When the royal guests went into the +house and were escorted up the wide stone staircase long lines of +Highlanders in kilts stood on both sides of the hall and the stairway. +It is no wonder that the Queen wrote in her journal that it seemed like +the old feudal times. In the evening the gardens were illuminated. +There were no electric lights then, but she says there was "a whole +chain of lamps along the railing, and on the ground was written in +lamps, 'Welcome, Victoria--Albert.'" Bonfires were kindled on the tops +of the hills, and fireworks were set off. Then the bagpipes began to +play, torches were brought on the lawn in front of the house, and by +their wild and flaring light the Highlanders danced the gayest, +merriest reels that can be imagined. The visitors spent several days in +this charming place. A ball was given for them, but the Queen seems to +have enjoyed much more heartily the quiet drives that she took about +the country, the row up the lake, with two pipers sitting in the bow of +the boat, piping and singing weird Gaelic boat songs; and perhaps most +of all, the little picnics they had and the walks that they took, for +there was no one to stare at them, and they roamed about in perfect +freedom, guarded only by two Highlanders who, according to the ancient +custom, followed them with drawn swords wherever they went. + +[Illustration: The Queen in 1845. +(_From a painting by John Partridge._)] + +During the next two or three years, the Queen and Prince Albert seized +every opportunity for travel, short though their journeys had to be. +They visited not only several of the lordly mansions of England, but +they also spent a few days in Belgium and made a short stay at the +court of the French King. In 1844, they went again to Scotland, and +this time "Vicky," as they called the Princess Royal, was old enough to +go with them. There were two more children in the royal nursery by this +time, and the Queen wrote in her journal that "Alice and the baby and +good Bertie" came to bid the travelers farewell. She was quite +delighted that "Vicky" stood at the window of a little inn and bowed to +the people outside. One of her hosts on this visit to Scotland was the +Duke of Argyll. She describes in her journal his son, the two-year old +Marquis of Lome, and calls him "such a merry, independent little +child." + +One of the disadvantages of being a sovereign is that the simplest acts +are looked upon as being of political significance. Victoria wished to +meet the French King, to whom Prince Albert was distantly related, and +she did not wish to talk politics. On her visit to France she was +interested in seeing the King's barge and its many oarsmen in white, +with red sashes; in the royal chapel, the first Roman Catholic church +that she had ever entered; in the little picnic that the King ordered +in the forest; in the picturesque white caps of the peasant women, +their bright-colored aprons and kerchiefs; and she noted even the tone +of the church bells, and said that it was much prettier than that of +the bells in England. She enjoyed her visit heartily; but far away in +Russia the keen-eyed Emperor Nicholas was watching her movements, and +he was not quite pleased. "The government of Turkey will soon fall to +pieces," he said to himself, "and if it does, France would like to +secure a piece of that country. If England should help her, she might +be able to do so, and this visit looks as if England and France were +becoming too friendly." The result of the Czar's meditations was that +word was sent to the Queen that he was on his way to visit her and +might be looked for at once. Queen Victoria had expected him to come +the following year, but he liked to make visits in this sudden fashion, +and there was nothing to do but to prepare for him as best she could in +forty-eight hours, for she had no longer time in which to make ready. + +The Queen had not been especially anxious for the visit, she feared +there would be "constraint and bustle;" but she soon found that quiet, +simple ways of living were most pleasing to her guest, and she wrote to +King Leopold, "He is very easy to get on with." His greatest interest +was in military matters, and he was so much of a soldier that he said +he felt without his uniform almost as if he had been skinned. He was +taken to a review, of course, and this he thoroughly enjoyed. "Won't +you allow me to ride down the line," he asked the Queen, "so I can see +my old comrades?" Down the line he went, and was greeted everywhere +with enthusiastic cheers. When the Duke of Wellington appeared, the +crowd began to hurrah for him, for the man who had won the battle of +Waterloo was the nation's idol. "Please don't, please don't," he said, +riding along close to the crowd. "Don't cheer for me; cheer for the +Emperor." + +This military Emperor had his own ideas about what the bed of a soldier +should be, even if the soldier was at the head of an empire, and before +he took possession of his bedroom at Windsor Castle, he had his +camp-bed set up, and sent to the stables for straw to stuff the +leathern case that formed his mattress. + +The Emperor was delighted with his visit, and when the Queen invited +him to come again, he said rather sadly: "You do not know how difficult +it is for us to do such things." Then he kissed the royal children and +the hand of the Queen, and made his farewells. The Queen kissed him, as +sovereigns are expected to do at the beginning and end of a state +visit, and the reception of the mighty Czar was over. "By living in the +same house together quietly and unrestrainedly, I not only see these +great people but know them," said the Queen as simply as if she herself +were not one of the "great people." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A HOME OF OUR OWN + + +It is very delightful to live in palaces and entertain kings and +emperors; but Queen Victoria's palaces belonged to the English nation +and not to herself, and, as has been said, their royal tenants had to +suffer many inconveniences because they were not at liberty to manage +their own housekeeping as they chose. "If we only had a home of our +own!" said the Queen and Prince Albert to each other, and at last they +decided to buy one. They talked the matter over with Sir Robert Peel, +whom they had come to look upon as a faithful friend, and he told them +of a beautiful estate which was for sale. + +This property was situated on the Isle of Wight. It was far enough from +London to assure them of privacy, and it was so near that there need be +no delay in matters of government. In this charming place there were +trees and valleys and hills, a wide stretch of sea-beach, with the +woods growing almost to the water's edge; and, best of all, the royal +family could walk and drive and wander about without feeling that they +were on continual exhibition. There was a palace at Brighton which the +Queen had sometimes occupied for the sake of being near the sea; but +Brighton had become so much of a city, and the houses had clustered so +closely about the palace, that there was no longer any view of the +ocean from the lower windows, and no member of the royal family could +go outside of the grounds without being followed by inquisitive crowds. +At Osborne, as the new purchase was named, there was perfect freedom. +Perhaps the "grown ups" of the household appreciated the liberty +indoors quite as much as that out of doors, for here there were no +"departments" to consult, and if a pane of glass was broken, there was +no need of sending over the kingdom for the signatures of five men +before it could be mended. + +The house was pretty, but it was too small, and a new one had to be +built. Prince Albert made all the plans for it, and he was as eager as +the Queen to get into a home of their own. Nevertheless even in his +eagerness he did not forget the good of others. The longer the work of +building and beautifying the grounds lasted, the better it was for the +workmen; and so when harvest time came, he discharged large numbers of +his men, saying: "Work in the fields now; then, when the harvest is in, +come to me, and you shall have work here again." + +The cost of the house came from the Queen's own purse, from the regular +grant made her by Parliament, though most sovereigns have called upon +the nation to build whatever dwellings they thought desirable. The +people of the kingdom were pleased to hear the English Court called the +most magnificent in Europe, and many statesmen expected that when a new +palace was to be built or a royal guest to be entertained, the +sovereign would ask Parliament for a special grant of money to pay the +expense. Frequently far more was expected of members of the royal +family than their purses could provide, and then came debts. King +Leopold had not been able to live within his grant, and the Duke of +Kent had left indebtedness at his death. The little Princess, who had +not been allowed to buy a box until she had the money to pay for it, +meant, now that she was on the throne, to carry out the principle on +which she had been brought up. The first thing that she did was to pay +her father's debts, and while living in as much splendor as her people +desired, she managed her income so well that she could afford to build +a palace if she chose. Prince Albert heartily approved of this wise +economy, and he carried out the same plan in managing the farm of the +new estate; he spent lavishly in improving the land, but unlike most +"fancy farmers," he made his costly improvements so skillfully that +they were paid for in the generous increase in crops. + +When the new house was done, there was a joyful homecoming. As the +Queen passed through the door, one of the maids of honor threw an old +shoe after her, "to bring good luck," she said. To the Prince, entering +into the new home brought memories of his childhood in Coburg, and +after the first dinner he said, "We have a hymn in Germany for such +occasions. It begins: + + "Bless, O God, our going forth, + Bless Thou, too, our coming in." + +So it was that the new house was opened. Not only the grown folk, but +the merry little company of princes and princesses, were very happy in +it whenever a few days could be spared for its pleasures. As they grew +older, a Swiss cottage was built for them, and this was _their_ house. +There was a charming little kitchen, with a cooking stove, so that the +girls could try all sorts of experiments in the cooking line; and happy +they were when they could persuade their father and mother to partake +of a "banquet" of their own preparing. The boys had a forge and a +carpenter's bench, where they built small boats and chairs and tables +and wheelbarrows. Every child had a garden, and there he raised not +only flowers, but fruit and vegetables. In this little paradise the +children did what they liked, but they were shown the best way of doing +it. A gardener taught them how to manage their gardens, and whenever +their vegetables were a success, they either gave them away or sold +them at market price to the royal kitchen. Prince Albert himself taught +the boys how to use tools, and helped them to begin a museum of +insects, minerals, and all sorts of curiosities like the one that he +and his brother Ernest had had in Coburg when they were boys. + +Not only at Osborne, but wherever the royal children were, they were +brought up as simply as the Queen herself had been. Whatever material +was bought for their clothes had to be shown to the Queen, and if it +was rich or expensive, she would refuse to allow it to be used. As soon +as the princes and princesses were old enough, they were taught to take +as much care of their clothes as if they had been a poor man's +children. One of their nurses wrote that they had "quite poor +living--only a bit of roast beef and perhaps a plain pudding;" and she +added, "The Queen is as fit to have been a poor man's wife as a queen." +Baron Stockmar was consulted on all nursery questions, and he said that +it was more difficult to manage a nursery than a kingdom. + +The Queen tried to make her children understand that they were no +better than other children just because they were princes or +princesses, and they were obliged to behave with perfect courtesy to +the servants of the palace as well as to kings and emperors. It is said +that once upon a time two of the children thought it very amusing to +take possession of the brushes and blacken the face of a woman who was +cleaning a stove; but when the Queen mother discovered their prank, she +took the small culprits by the hand and led them to the woman's room +and made them apologize most humbly. The little Princess Royal "Vicky" +was so independent a young lady that she would sometimes break through +her mother's teachings. The story is told that one day a sailor lifted +her on board the royal yacht, saying as he sat her down, "There you +are, my little lady." "I'm a princess I'm not a little lady," the child +retorted; but the watchful mother was listening, and she said, "That is +true. Tell the kind sailor that you are not a little lady yet, but that +you hope to be some day." Occasionally this willful little Princess +preferred to bear a punishment rather than give up her own way. The +Queen and the Prince addressed Dr. Brown as "Brown," and the small +child followed their example. "You will be sent to bed if you do that +again," said the Queen, but the next morning when Dr. Brown appeared, +the little girl said with special distinctness: "Good morning, Brown, +and good night, Brown, for I'm going to bed, Brown," and, with her +saucy little head high in the air, she marched off to bed. + +Happy as the Queen and the Prince were in their home life, one subject +in connection with her husband always troubled the loving wife, and +that was the annoying question of precedence. She wrote of him in her +journal: "He is above me in everything really, and therefore I wish +that he should be equal in rank to me." In England she could "put the +Prince where she wished him to be," but Parliament had given him no +rank, and therefore out of England some sovereigns, like King Ernest, +positively refused to grant him any honors that were not due to the +younger son of the Duke of Coburg; and when precedence was accorded +him, the Queen had to express gratitude as for a personal favor to +herself. Unknown to the Prince, she had a long talk on the subject with +Baron Stockmar. + +"I wish him to have the title of King Consort," she said earnestly. + +"A king consort without the authority of a king would be a novelty," +replied the Baron, "and the English people do not like anything for +which there is no precedent. Queen Anne's husband was never called +king." + +"But Queen Anne's husband was stupid and insignificant," declared the +Queen. "There has never been a case like ours before. Albert and I +reign together. He is sovereign as much as I. We discuss all matters +and decide together." + +"True," admitted the Baron, "but the constitution does not provide for +such a condition of affairs. I will talk with Peel about it." + +Peel felt as Stockmar did, that it was not wise to propose such a +title. The subject arose again some years later, and the shrewd Baron +wrote to the Prince in his usual straightforward fashion: "Never +abandon your firm, powerful position to run after butterflies. You have +the substance; stick by it." The title was never given him, but it was +true that he had "the substance." The Queen no longer met her Ministers +alone; the Prince was always with her to help and suggest. Whenever +either she or the Prince spoke to the Council the word "I" was not +used; it was always "We think so-and-so should be done." + +Not only the Council but the whole country were gaining in knowledge of +the Prince's wisdom and devotion to the good of the kingdom, and in +1847 a valued mark of appreciation was given him in his election as +Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, one of the greatest honors +that could have been bestowed upon him. The Queen was delighted, +because she knew that the position was not given out of compliment to +her, but was something that he himself had earned. Soon after the +election, came the installation. The magistrates and Yeomanry went to +the station to meet the Queen, and then marched before her into the +town. She was escorted into the Great Hall of Trinity College and led +to an armchair which stood on a platform under a canopy. Soon after she +had seated herself, the new Chancellor entered at the farther end of +the hall, followed by the long line of university dignitaries. He wore +a robe of black and gold, so long that it had to be held up by two +gentlemen. When he stood in front of the armchair that represented the +throne, he made a low bow and delivered his address. "The situation was +almost absurd for us," said the Queen afterwards, but the Prince read +his address with perfect command of his countenance and the Queen was +quite serious until she caught his eye for a moment at the end of the +speech. She half smiled, but in an instant she was again the dignified +sovereign, and she declared with a little emphasis that brought forth +shouts of applause, "The choice which the university has made of a +Chancellor has my most entire approbation." + +Not long afterwards the new Chancellor and his royal wife paid another +visit to Cambridge. It was a little muddy, and the Queen hesitated a +moment before getting out of the carriage. Instantly one of the +students threw his gown upon the ground for her to step on, and others +followed his example. + +When Victoria thought of her husband and her children, she was +supremely happy, but when she thought of the different kingdoms of +Europe, and even of her own realm, there was much in 1847 and 1848 to +make her unhappy. All Europe was restless and uneasy. Revolt had broken +out in Italy, France, Germany, and other countries. The reigning +sovereigns in most of these kingdoms were related to her either by +blood or by marriage, and she could but feel grief for their trials, +and, in some instances, fear for their safety. Indeed, the King and +Queen of France had to flee to England and they spent the remainder of +their lives at Claremont. In Victoria's own realm, there was trouble. +Ireland was suffering from a terrible famine. Thousands of Irish were +dying of either starvation or fever. In England there was no +starvation, but everyone felt the hard times more or less. Those who +had money did not dare to invest it, because business was so unsettled +that they were afraid of loss. As capital was not invested, there was +little work to be had, and the poor suffered severely. The rich as well +as the poor felt the general stagnation. Greville said that his income +was only half the usual amount, and even in royal palaces strict +economy was practiced. + +There was a special reason for great uneasiness in London. According to +the laws at that time, no one could become a member of the House of +Commons who did not own land enough to receive from it an annual income +of $1500. This law had been made in the belief that a man who owned +land would be more interested in the welfare of his country than a man +who had none. Thousands of workingmen were not allowed even to vote. +When work was plenty, and they were comfortable and busy, they did not +think so much about their rights; but when work failed, they began to +say to one another: "This is all the fault of the laws. If everyone +could vote, and if poor men as well as rich men could become members of +Parliament, laws would be made for the good of the whole nation and not +merely for the landowners." + +These men held meetings to discuss such matters, and they concluded to +send in a petition to Parliament, setting forth their wrongs and +demanding that changes should be made. The plan was explained in what +was called the People's Charter, and therefore its supporters were +spoken of as Chartists. + +No one would have objected to having as many petitions sent to +Parliament as the house would hold, but among the people were many +hot-headed persons who had much to say about "oppression" and +"revolution." The crowds sometimes became noisy and turbulent, and one +evening some of them rushed wildly toward Buckingham Palace. The only +harm that they did was to break some street lamps; and when their +leader was arrested by the police, he made no resistance, but began to +cry. Nevertheless, people felt very uneasy, and when it was reported +that on the 10th of April the petition would be presented by 1,000,000 +men, there was much alarm in the city. Shops were barricaded, weapons +were put where they could be caught up in a moment, and old muskets +that had not been used for half a century were brought down from the +garrets and put in order for the riots that were feared. The Duke of +Wellington, as commander-in-chief of the army, made very wise +preparations. There was no display of soldiers or cannon, but +Buckingham Palace and the public buildings were quietly filled with +armed men, and gunboats were brought up the river. The Queen had shown +again and again that she was no coward, and she would have stayed in +London, but her Ministers persuaded her to take her three-weeks'-old +baby to Osborne House. All London trembled when the 10th of April +arrived; but when night came, those who had feared most laughed +heartiest. The whole affair had ended in a few thousand men starting +for Parliament with the petition. "You cannot cross the bridge in +mass," said the police, and the Chartists went home meekly, sending +their petition in cabs. + +The Queen had long wished to go to Ireland, and in 1849 she and the +Prince and the four older children went to that country in the yacht +_Victoria and Albert_. Now, however indignant the Irish might be +at England's rule of their country they would not give the Queen any +but the most cordial greeting; and when the yacht sailed into the mouth +of the River Lee, the people of the place called Cove of Cork asked +that she would step ashore, if only for a moment. "We wish to change +the name of our town," they said, "so that it may mark the place where +the Queen first set her foot on Irish soil." The flag was run up on +which was written the word "Cove," but as soon as the Queen had gone +back to the yacht, the flag was dropped, and another was run up marked +"Queenstown." + +The _Victoria and Albert_ went on to Cork, and the party also visited +several other places in Ireland. Wherever they went, the crowds pressed +to the water's edge with cheering and shouts of welcome. Cannon were +fired and bells were set to ringing. Every little cottage had its flag, +or at least a wreath of flowers and evergreens. All were interested in +the royal children, and at Kingstown an old lady cried out: "Oh! Queen +dear, make one of them Prince Patrick, and all Ireland will die for +you." + +When the Irish visit had come to its end, and the Queen was about to +leave for England, the crowds on the shore cheered her more wildly than +ever, and both the Queen and the Prince climbed the paddlebox and waved +their handkerchiefs again and again. "Go slowly," ordered the Queen, +and the boat moved very slowly along, keeping close to the pier. The +crowds cheered with more enthusiasm than before, and three times a +return was given to their salute by lowering the royal standard. One of +the Queen's party said: "There is not an individual in the town who +does not take the Queen's going on the paddlebox and lowering the royal +standard as a personal compliment to himself." + +The year following the visit to Ireland the Queen's seventh child was +born, a boy. + +"Now we are just as many as the days of the week," cried the brothers +and sisters joyfully. + +"But which of us shall be Sunday?" asked one. + +"The new baby," answered Princess "Vicky" decidedly, "because he's just +come, and we must be polite to him and give him the best." + +The little boy was named Patrick, as the old woman in Ireland had +suggested, but his first name was Arthur, for the Duke of Wellington, +on whose eighty-first birthday he was born. + +The days of the Queen were full of joys and sorrows that came almost +hand in hand. Her home life was perfectly happy, but her duties as a +sovereign took much time that she would have gladly given to her +family. "It is hard," she said, "that I cannot always hear my children +say their prayers." She had the warmest, most devoted friends, but in +the six years preceding 1850, she had lost several who could never be +replaced. Sir Robert Peel and Lord Melbourne had died, the opposing +Ministers who had both won her confidence and gratitude; and the "good +Queen Adelaide," who had loved the little Princess Victoria as if she +had been her own child, was also gone. The sorrow which Prince Albert +felt at the loss of his father had been to his wife a grief almost as +deep; and both she and the Prince were saddened by the loss of the +Coburg grandmother, who loved him so that she was almost heartbroken on +his leaving her to make his home in England, and called piteously after +his carriage, "Oh, Albert, Albert!" The three who had been nearest to +the Queen in her childhood were living, her mother, Dr. Davys, and +Baroness Lehzen. The kind, scholarly clergyman she had made Bishop of +Peterborough, and she saw him from time to time. After the marriage of +the Queen the Baroness Lehzen returned to her friends in Germany, but +the busy sovereign found time to send her long and frequent letters. + +The losses of the Queen were many, but with Prince Albert by her side, +she felt that she could bear whatever came; and it was a great +happiness to her that the better he was known in the country, the more +highly the nation thought of him. They could hardly help esteeming him, +for he seemed never to have a thought of himself; all was for the Queen +and for her people. For several years he had had a plan in his mind for +a great industrial exhibition. When he first laid the scheme before the +public, the people were wildly enthusiastic. Then, as the difficulties +arose, there was much criticism. The building would cost $1,000,000, +and subscriptions were slow. _Punch_ brought out a cartoon inscribed, +"Please to remember the Exposition." It represented a boy holding out +his cap for pennies Under the picture was written: + + "Pity the sorrows of a poor young Prince ---- + Whose costly scheme has borne him to your door; + Who's in a fix--the matter not to mince-- + Oh, help him out, and commerce swell your store." + +Prince Albert laughed heartily at the cartoon, added it to his +collection, and worked all the harder for the exposition. + +There was much opposition to admitting foreign exhibits, for many +English manufacturers had a wild fancy that the sight of them would +prevent the English from patronizing home products. "All the villains +of the Continent will be here," declared the grumblers. "They will +murder the Queen and begin a revolution." In Parliament, one of the +members invoked the lightning to fall from heaven and destroy the +half-finished building. Nevertheless, enormous masses of goods were +constantly arriving, and the mighty structure continued to rise. It was +made of iron and glass, and was like an enormous greenhouse. Thackeray +wrote of it: + + "And see, 'tis done! + As though 'twere by a wizard's rod, + A blazing arch of lucid glass + Leaps like a fountain from the grass + To meet the sun." + +The Crystal Palace, the people called it, and no better name could have +been given. It stretched out one thousand feet in length, and part of +it was one hundred feet high, so high that two elm trees which had been +growing on its site grew on in freedom under its glass roof. The +ironwork was painted a clear, bright blue. There were scarlet hangings, +fountains, statues, banners, tapestries, flowers, palms, everything +that could make it bright and beautiful. + +May 1, 1851, had been named as the day of opening. In the royal family +the day began with birthday gifts for the little Arthur--toys from the +parents, a clock from the Duchess of Kent, and, strange presents for a +baby, a bronze statuette and a beautiful paper-knife from the Prince +and Princess of Prussia. Long before noon, the Queen, the Prince, and +the two older children drove to the Crystal Palace. As they entered, +there was a flourish of trumpets, followed by tremendous cheering. The +Queen was radiant with happiness as she walked down the broad aisle +with her husband. She wore a pink silk dress of Irish poplin, and on +her head was a diamond tiara. She led by the hand the Prince of Wales, +a bright, handsome little fellow. The Princess Royal wore a white +dress, and on her head was a wreath of roses. She held her father's +hand. The cheers grew louder and louder, then the deep tones of the +organ broke in upon them. The music of two hundred instruments and six +hundred voices followed, leading the thousands present in the National +Hymn. After this the Prince left the side of the Queen, and, returning +at the head of the commissioners, he read her the formal report. She +made a short reply. The Archbishop of Canterbury offered up prayer, and +the wonderful "Hallelujah Chorus" resounded through the lofty arches. +While this was being sung, a Chinese mandarin, who had been walking +about most perfectly at his ease and quite indifferent to the gazing +crowds, now took his stand before the Queen and made a very profound +obeisance. He proved to be of considerable use a little later, for when +the long procession of distinguished Englishmen and foreigners was +formed, it occurred to someone that China was not represented, and the +dignified mandarin was taken possession of as an addition to the train. +He made no objections, but marched along with his former tranquillity, +thinking apparently that all foreigners were treated in such manner by +those remarkable people, the Englishmen. + +The Duke of Wellington was in the procession and the walk around the +building was to him a triumphal progress, for the women waved their +handkerchiefs and kissed their hands, while the men cheered and +shouted, "The Duke! The Duke!" In the midst of all his glory, he did +not forget his little year-old namesake and godson and later in the +day, his eighty-second birthday, he called at Buckingham Palace with a +golden cup and some toys of his own selection for the little boy. + +So ended what Victoria called "the proudest and happiest day of my +life, a thousand times superior to the coronation." In her journal she +wrote: "Albert's name is immortalized, God bless my dearest Albert, God +bless my dearest country!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +NIS! NIS! NIS! HURRAH! + + +Few men in England worked as hard as Prince Albert, the uncrowned King. +If a corner stone of a school, a hospital, or a public building was to +be laid, a missionary society to be formed, some new docks to be +founded, a museum to be opened, Prince Albert must be present. He must +attend naval reviews, councils to discuss reforms at Cambridge, dinners +of scientific men, and first meetings of societies to aid superannuated +servants. He must not only be seen, but he must be heard, for he was +expected to make a speech on every occasion. In fact, whenever he +opened the door of his own rooms, some delegation seemed to be waiting +to ask him to attend a meeting and make a speech. + +All these demands upon his time took him away from the Queen, and every +absence made her lonely. She wrote to King Leopold: "You cannot think +how forlorn I am when he is away; all the numerous children are as +nothing. It seems as if the whole light of the house and home were +gone." Prince Albert never let a day pass during any of these absences +without writing to her. Once when he went to an important meeting of +scientific men, he sent back the same day a little note that said: "I +have locked myself in to send you two lines as a token of my life and +love. You will be feeling somewhat lonely and forsaken among the two +and a half millions of human beings in London, and I too feel the want +of only one person to give a world of life to everything around me." +The following day he sent her another letter, although it could reach +her only two hours before his own arrival. However pressing his +business might be, he always found time to write a word to her. One of +these notes read: + +"Your faithful husband, agreeably to your wishes, reports: + +"1. That he is still alive; + +"2. That he has discovered the North Pole from Lincoln Cathedral, but +without finding either Captain Ross or Sir John Franklin; + +"3. That he has arrived at Brocklesby, and received the address; + +"4. That he subsequently rode out, and got home quite covered with +snow, and with icicles on his nose; + +"5. That the messenger is waiting to carry off this letter, which you +will have in Windsor by the morning; + +"6. Last, not least (in the dinner-speeches' phrase), that he loves his +wife, and remains her devoted husband." + +In the midst of all these engagements, the home life and the education +of the children were not neglected. Lord Melbourne and Baron Stockmar +had been consulted in regard to tutors and nursery arrangements as +earnestly as on important political actions. Bishop Davys lived so +simply that the Queen could not disturb him by a royal visit, but +whenever she passed through Peterborough, she had her train delay so +that he could come to her, and she could talk with him about the +children and have his advice in regard to their training and their +future. Lessons were important matters in the royal family, and if the +governess was ill, either the Queen or the Prince heard the children +recite, so that there should be no loss. There is a story that when a +clergyman, who was hearing them say the catechism, remarked, "Your +governess has taught you very thoroughly," they cried, "Oh, mamma +always teaches us our catechism." She was interested in every detail of +their lives, and when the man who made the clothes of the sailors on +the _Victoria and Albert_ made a tiny sailor suit for the little Prince +of Wales, she seemed as pleased as if one suit a year was the limit of +the royal purse. + +[Illustration: Queen Victoria; Prince Albert; Victoria, Princess +Royal; Albert Edward, Prince of Wales; Prince Alfred; Princess Alice; +Princess Helena. +(_From painting by F. Winterhalter, 1848._)] + +Besides the calls of home and state, many other responsibilities fell +upon the sovereign of England. In the latter part of 1851, trade was +very dull in London, and the Queen decided to give a great fancy ball +at Buckingham Palace so that sales might be increased. All the guests +were asked to come in the costume of the time of the Stuarts, and this +was so gay and picturesque that the ballroom must have been a most +brilliant sight. The Queen wore a _gray dress_, but it was hardly as +simple as one would expect from those two words, for it was glittering +with gold and silver lace, while clusters of diamonds flashed forth +from bows of rose-colored ribbon. The front of the dress opened to +display a cloth-of-gold stomacher and underskirt made gorgeous with +large emeralds. Strings of pearls were braided in with her hair, and +upon her head she wore a small crown of diamonds and emeralds. Her +gloves and shoes were heavily embroidered with gold. The costume of the +Prince was a veritable rainbow, for he was all aglow in an orange coat, +with its sleeves turned up with crimson velvet, breeches of crimson +velvet, and stockings of lavender silk. This was not all by any means, +for there were pink epaulets, pink satin bows, gold lace, a silver +baldric, and a hat with long white ostrich feathers. + +The Queen and the Prince retained their seats while the guests entered, +each one making a low bow in passing. No one would have thought a royal +ball complete without "the Duke," and he appeared in the dress of a +Stuart general, his scarlet coat adorned with gold lace and point lace, +and its sleeves slashed with white satin. Blue velvet trunks, crimson +silk sash, white hat with blue plumes, and gold lace wherever there was +room for it, completed his costume. So much he would concede to the +state ball, but he utterly refused to appear in the long curls of the +Stuart period, and in spite of all his gay trappings, he was still the +stern old commander. + +Another great ball given by the Lord Mayor of London followed this one, +and it is no wonder that Queen and Prince were glad to leave London for +a little rest. This time and many other times they went to Scotland. +They loved Osborne, but the Prince was feeling the strain of his +intense work, and the physicians thought that the air of the mountains +would be better for him than that of the sea. Therefore they went to +Balmoral, a charming little gray castle that they had bought. It stood +on the banks of the swiftly flowing River Dee, in the midst of hills +and forests. The life at Balmoral was far more simple than that of many +non-royal families. Of course a Cabinet Minister was always in +attendance, and messengers with boxes of state dispatches were +continually coming and going; but there was much greater freedom than +the Queen could enjoy elsewhere. In the early years at Balmoral, the +English court consisted of the Queen, the Prince, their four children, +the two teachers, and four other persons, secretaries and ladies in +attendance. + +At Balmoral they climbed mountains, searched for crystals and +cairngorms, took long walks through the woods, made little picnics far +up in the hills and built a cairn, or great pile of stones, each person +placing one in turn, to mark the new ownership of the place. At dinner, +the Prince wore the Scotch dress, and the Queen often wore over her +shoulder a scarf of Stuart plaid. While the Prince was out shooting in +the morning, she frequently ran about among the cottages, chatting +easily and comfortably with the cottagers, comparing the height and +weight of the latest royal baby with the latest baby of the +neighborhood, going to the little stores in the village to buy dresses +for poor people and toys for their children. On Sunday she went to the +kirk like a true Scotchwoman, and one day she wrote in her journal +enthusiastic praise of Dr. McLeod's sermons, because they were so +"simple and eloquent," she said. She was never pleased to have a +minister pay her any special attention in his sermons; she liked to +have him look upon her as only one more of his people; but she wrote +that when Dr. McLeod prayed for her and the Prince, and then said +"Bless their children," it gave her "a lump in the throat." + +In their everyday life the royal family were Scotch when they were in +Scotland. The English children of the palace wore kilts and tartans, +they played in the brooks with the Scotch children of the cottages; and +the Princess Royal of England walked into a wasps' nest and met the +same fate that would have befallen any little Scotch girl who had done +the same thing. A Highland dancing master and a fiddler were engaged to +come to Balmoral and teach the Queen and her court how to dance +Scottish reels and strathspeys. One evening, after an early dinner, the +court set off for a fourteen-mile drive to see a Scotch ball at a +neighboring castle. It must have been a weird and beautiful sight. The +dancing floor was out of doors, and all around it stood Highlanders in +their gay plaids, holding blazing torches, while seven pipers provided +the music. One of the reels was danced by eight Highlanders, each +bearing a torch. Another interesting sight was the sword dance. In this +two swords crossed were laid upon the ground, and the performer must +dance around them without touching them. + +As in the case of Osborne, it was soon apparent that the pretty little +gray castle was not large enough for the Queen's housekeeping. "Every +bed in the house was full," wrote Mr. Greville when he had been +spending a night at Balmoral. A new house was decided upon, and when +the corner stone was laid, there was one of the little family +celebrations that were so delightful to both Queen and Prince. The sun +shone brightly on the stone, as it hung over the place that it was to +occupy. The servants of the castle stood in a semicircle on one side, +and the workmen behind them. The royal family and their guests came out +of the house together and took their places on the opposite side. A +clergyman offered up a prayer for a blessing on the work and on the new +home. A parchment giving the date on which the stone was laid was +signed by every member of the royal family and put into a bottle, +together with the current coins of the country. The bottle was sealed +and placed in the cavity; the architect gave the Queen a trowel to +spread the mortar; and the stone was lowered. The Queen then struck the +stone with a mallet, and said: "I now declare that this corner stone is +laid." She poured oil upon it in token of plenty, and wine in token of +gladness; the pipers played; the workmen had a feast and a dance; and +the new house was begun. + +When the house was partly done, the builder came to Prince Albert and +said: + +"The price of materials has risen so greatly that keeping this contract +will ruin me." + +"Tell me just what the prices are now and what they were when we made +the contract," said the Prince. The builder made a rapid list and gave +it to him. + +A few days later, the Prince sent for the builder and said: + +"I find that you are right, and so I have burned my copy of the +contract. I will be the builder myself, and if you will superintend the +work of building, I will pay you the same amount that you expected to +make on the contract." + +Only a few days after one of the simple, merry evenings at Balmoral, a +telegram broke into the happiness of the household, saying that the +Duke of Wellington was dead. "One cannot think of this country without +the Duke," wrote the Queen. "Not an eye will be dry. He was Britain's +pride, her glory, her hero, the greatest man she had ever produced." A +public funeral was given him by order of Parliament. His body lay in +state in a great hall whose walls were heavily draped with black, +relieved only by the banners that he had captured in battle. Guardsmen +as motionless as statues stood at intervals along the passage, leaning +upon their muskets, which rested, muzzles down, on the door. On the +coffin lay the Duke's sword and his cocked hat, and around the bier +stood officers on guard, whose scarlet uniforms shone out of the +darkness in the light of the tall wax candles that outlined the bier. +Finally the body of the Duke was borne to St. Paul's on an iron +gun-carriage, followed by the dead commander's horse with its empty +saddle and by a long line of soldiers representing every regiment. +Thousands of people lined the street through which the funeral +_cortege_ marched. They stood with bared heads and in such perfect +silence that not a sound was heard but the steady tramp of feet and the +roll of the funeral drums. So it was that the great soldier was buried +amid the grief of the nation. + +Never was he needed more, for the sound of war was coming near. The +Emperor Nicholas, whom the Queen had called so "easy to get along +with," proved to be somewhat less easy than he had been when on a +visit. He had declared that he should protect the Christians in Turkey +from the outrages of the Turks; but France and England believed that +what he was really aiming at was to get possession of Constantinople. +If he succeeded in this, no ship could enter the Black Sea against his +will, and it would not be impossible for him to gain control of the +Asiatic lands then ruled by Great Britain. If this came to pass, Russia +would be far more powerful than any other state in Europe. This was the +belief of England and France, and they wished to oppose him. + +The Queen was always against war, but when it was finally declared, +early in 1854, she did everything in her power for the success of +England. When the first regiments that were ready to go to the Crimea +marched through the courtyard of Buckingham Palace, she and the Prince +stood on the balcony as enthusiastic as the troops. Then she hastened +to Osborne to say farewell to the warships that were starting for the +Baltic. Prince Alfred had already made up his mind to be a sailor, and +the Duke's little namesake was destined to follow the Duke's example +and be a soldier, but they were as yet only small children, and the +Queen exclaimed, "How I wish I had two sons in the army now and two in +the navy!" Nothing that affected the war was too great or too small for +her to notice, and she had a definite opinion on every subject. + +"Your Majesty," said Lord Aberdeen, the Prime Minister, "it is proposed +to have a day of humiliation and fasting for the success of our arms." + +"I approve most heartily of a day of prayer," declared the Queen, "but +not of calling it a day of humiliation. We are not humiliated. It is +not our wickedness, but the selfish ambition and want of honesty of the +Emperor which have brought on this war. We believe that our cause is +just, and that we are contending for what is right." + +"But it has long been the custom to call such days times of fasting and +prayer," the Prime Minister suggested. + +"We will thank God for the blessings we have enjoyed," said the Queen, +"and ask His help and protection, but it is my particular wish that we +call the day one of prayer and supplication." + +The war was begun, and during the two years following, no one in the +land suffered more intensely than the Queen. A powerful nation is +always inclined to expect that its enemies may be crushed at a blow, +but Russia was not so easily crushed. + +The Queen was prepared for battles lost and battles won, but not for +blunders and poor management; and to a woman as prompt and as careful +of details as she, such faults were unpardonable. Before many months +came the report of the Charge of the Light Brigade, which Tennyson has +made famous in his poem. This useless charge by which six hundred men +were sent to attack an army was caused by a mistake. "Someone had +blundered." Thousands of copies of the poem were printed and sent to +the soldiers who were besieging Sebastopol. + +The Queen was in constant anxiety. Telegrams were false and misleading, +and if one brought good news in the morning, she dared not rejoice lest +it should be contradicted before night. It was then that the work of +the "special correspondent" began, for a physician who was at the scene +of the war sent letters to the _London Times_, and for the first time, +the people at home knew the daily life of their soldiers. + +The story told in the columns of the _Times_ was a narration of +terrible suffering, which was all the worse because so much of it +was unnecessary. It does not seem possible that such stupid blunders +could have been made. Food was sent that was not fit to eat. A whole +shipload of much-needed shoes braved the storms of the Atlantic and +Mediterranean--and proved to be all for the left foot! Clothes, +blankets, and medicines in generous quantities lay in the holds of +English vessels off Balaklava Bay, while men were dying for the lack +of them. Shiploads of cattle arrived at Balaklava, and instead of +being driven to the front, where there was sore need of beef, they +were killed at once, and then came a long delay in arranging for +transportation. The trouble was that it was no one's business to +transport the stores, and no one had the right to interfere. The +hospitals were so inefficient that nine-tenths of the men who died, +perished of disease and mismanagement, and not from the bullets of the +Russians. + +When such news as this reached England, the whole country was aroused, +but it was helpless. There was no time to change the organization of +the conflicting "departments," and the Minister of War finally decided +to do exactly what the Romans used to do in times of great difficulty: +he appointed a dictator, with full power to go to the Crimea and do +precisely as she thought best in making arrangements for the sick and +wounded soldiers. This dictator was a woman named Florence Nightingale. +She had a large fortune and a beautiful home, but she cared more for +helping the sick than for living in luxury. For more than ten years she +had been studying nursing, not only in England, but in France and +Germany. Late in 1854 she went to the Crimea, taking forty-two nurses +with her. It was no small task that she had undertaken, for in a short +time ten thousand sick men were in her charge. The sanitary +arrangements of the camp and the hospital were all in her hands. She +was a gentle, modest woman, by nature shy and retiring, but where the +comfort of her soldiers was concerned, she would never yield a point to +anyone. "She had a voice of velvet and a will of steel," they said of +her; and as she walked down the long aisles of the hospitals--in one of +them the rows of beds stretched along for nearly two and a half +miles--the poor sufferers kissed her very shadow. It was of her that +Longfellow wrote: + + "And slow, as in a dream of bliss, + The speechless sufferer turns to kiss + Her shadow, as it falls + Upon the darkening walls." + +Meanwhile, the Queen was doing all in her power for the soldiers and +their families. A Patriotic Fund was begun, and it soon reached +$5,000,000. The "Soldier's Daughter" and her older girls sewed and knit +for the army, the Prince of Wales, who was now thirteen years of age, +painted a picture to be sold for the fund--no small contribution, for +it brought nearly three hundred dollars--and the two older Princesses +talked, as they sat knitting, about Miss Nightingale, and wished they +could go to the Crimea and work by her side. At the opening of +Parliament, the Queen began her speech bravely, but when she spoke of +the war, her self-control failed her, and she struggled through the +sentences as best she could with her eyes full of tears. + +News of victories came, but nothing could be decisive except the +capture of Sebastopol. "If we could only take Sebastopol!" she was +always saying to herself, and one of her children said to a general who +was starting for the Crimea, "Do hurry and take Sebastopol, or it will +kill mamma." In September, 1855, the royal family and the Duchess of +Kent were at Balmoral, when late one evening on the third day after +their arrival, two telegrams were brought in, one for the Queen, and +one for the Cabinet Minister. + +"Good news," exclaimed the Queen. "This tells the details of the +destruction of the Russian ships." + +"But I have still better news," said the Minister. "Mine reads, +'Sebastopol is in the hands of the allies.'" + +"Come and light the bonfire," cried Prince Albert, and he started up +Craig Gowan, the hill opposite the house, where material for a bonfire +had been piled up nearly a year before in the hope that Sebastopol +would fall before the Queen had to return to London. + +The gentlemen of the court hastened after the Prince, in full evening +dress as they were. The little Princes were awakened and hurriedly +dressed, and they followed after their father. The servants followed, +the keepers, the workmen, the whole population of the village. The +fires blazed out and shone on all the peaks round about. The people in +the valleys knew what it meant, and they too hurried to the top of the +hill. There was cheering, dancing, shouting, playing of bagpipes, and +firing of guns. "It was a veritable witches' dance," declared the +Prince when he came down. He was soon followed by the rest of the +people, and when they were under the Queen's window, they sang to the +music of the bagpipes, they fired guns, and then they cheered the +Queen, the Prince, the Emperor of France, and last they gave a +deafening "Nis! nis! nis! hurrah, for the fall of Sebastopol!" + +It would seem as if this was excitement enough for one month, but four +days later, the young Prince Frederick William of Prussia came to +Balmoral to make a visit; and before the visit had lasted two weeks, +there was a pretty little scene on the mountain side when he gave +Princess "Vicky" a piece of white heather, the emblem of good fortune, +and contrived to make it clear to her that the best fortune which could +happen to him would be the gift of her hand. A few days before this, +the father and mother and their guest had agreed that nothing should be +said to the Princess for six months, but the secret had found its way +out. + +The Princess Victoria had always been Baron Stockmar's special +favorite, and she as well as her father wrote their good friend at +once, and sent him the news that the kindly old match-maker had been +waiting for since the Princess was a little child, for such a marriage +would make a strong alliance between England and Prussia, the two great +Protestant powers of Europe. Prince Albert wrote, "The Prince is really +in love, and the little lady does her best to please him. Come to us +soon. We have so much to talk over." A little later, he wrote again of +his hope that he should soon hear the children say, "Do you know, papa, +that the Baron is in his room below?" He closed, "We positively must +have some talk face to face." + +The Princess was to be confirmed in the spring, and until that event +was past, nothing was to be said in public of the engagement. The +marriage was not to take place until at least a year after the +confirmation, but Prince Albert felt that the time was far too short +for the preparation that her future position would make desirable; and, +busy man as he was, he set apart an hour every evening to talk with her +on historical topics, and listen to the papers which she prepared on +subjects that he had given her. In the spring came her confirmation, +which was preceded by an examination in the catechism held in the +presence of her father and mother, the Duchess of Kent, and the +Archbishop of Canterbury. + +This betrothal of the eldest daughter brought to the Queen mingled +feelings of pleasure and pain; pleasure, because the alliance with +Prussia, so desirable an arrangement for both countries, was to be +brought about by a marriage that promised the happiness of her +daughter; pain, because that marriage was the first break in the family +circle. Nevertheless, in joy or in sorrow, the public life of the +sovereign must go on. Many of the soldiers who had been severely +wounded were sent home. The Queen had often visited them in the +hospitals, and one day she said to her Minister: + +"Those brave men ought to have medals that they can hand down to their +children, and I have ordered a number to be made." + +As the day appointed for the distribution of the medals drew near, the +Minister asked if she would have them sent to the men. + +"No," replied the Queen with decision, "I want to put those medals into +their hands myself. I feel as if those men were my own children." + +It was a pitiable company of sufferers that she met. There were men +with deep red scars, men with empty sleeves, men tottering up to her on +crutches to touch the hand of their Queen. Many of them would not give +up their medals to be marked with their names, lest they should not +receive again the very ones that the Queen had given them. One man was +wheeled up in a chair. He had lost one leg and the foot from the other, +but he had refused to give up the command of his battery till the fight +was over, and had given his orders as calmly as if he had not been +touched. + +"Such bravery as that," cried the Queen, with tears in her eyes, "calls +for more than a medal, and you shall be one of my aides-de-camp." + +"That pays me amply for everything," he replied. The Queen wrote the +account of this incident to King Leopold. "One must revere and love +such soldiers as those," she added. + +She was never weary of visiting the hospitals and camps. As the +regiments returned from the Crimea in the spring and summer of 1856, +there were reviews without end. On one occasion she reviewed eighteen +thousand troops. She was dressed in the uniform of a field marshal, +with a dark blue skirt; and as she rode down the front and returned by +the rear, the thousands of men presented arms, and the bands of twenty +regiments gave her a joyful greeting. Then she rode to a little mound +from which she watched her troops as they filed past her. + +There was no limit to the enthusiasm and loyalty which were aroused by +the presence of the Queen. One review was held in a pelting rain. The +evolutions were spoiled, and the men had every reason to feel gloomy +and disappointed but the Queen saved the day, for she rose in her +carriage and made them a warm-hearted little speech of welcome that was +like a flash of sunshine. When she closed with, "I thank God that your +dangers are over, while the glory of your deeds remains," there was a +wild outburst of cheers. The men waved their hats, their sabers, +anything and everything that would wave, and shouted till the hills +echoed. + +The sailors were no less loyal. During this same summer, there was a +superb naval review off Spitshead which the Queen witnessed from the +royal yacht. Two hundred and forty ships of war were assembled, but +that was not all, for the Queen's suite alone consisted of thirty +steamships, and there were many hundred private steamboats and sailing +vessels. Every foot of the shore that would give a view of the warships +was crowded with spectators, and they had a sight well worth the +seeing. Ships and steamers were beautifully decorated with flags and +crowded with guests. The men-of-war were drawn up in a double line, and +the royal yacht steamed slowly along between them. Every vessel manned +its yards and fired a royal salute as the Queen passed. The most +enthusiastic cheering echoed and reechoed. Then came a mimic naval +attack on Southsea Castle, and the brilliant day was at an end. + +One thing more the Queen planned to do for her soldiers, and that was +to give a badge of special honor to those who had been especially +distinguished by some deed of rare bravery. This badge was the Victoria +Cross, which was then bestowed for the first time. With it went a +pension of fifty dollars a year. More than one hundred thousand people +assembled in Hyde Park to see the sixty-two chosen heroes receive their +Crosses. The Queen was now in the scarlet jacket of the army. Prince +Albert rode on one side of her and Prince Frederick William on the +other side. She remained on horseback during the whole ceremony, +leaning forward as one brave fighter after another was led up to her, +and pinning the Cross on his breast. + +The woman whose battles had been, not with Russians, but with +mismanagement and inefficiency, lingered in the Crimea until she had +seen every soldier leave for home, then she herself returned as quietly +as if she had been on a pleasure trip. She seemed to have entirely +forgotten that thousands of men in England would have been lying in +Crimean graves had it not been for her; but the men remembered, and +England gave her such a welcome as even the Duke of Wellington had +hardly received. She was an honored guest at Balmoral. Everyone was +longing to do something for her, but what should it be? "Make her a +gift," said the people, "and let her do with it as she will." Two +hundred and fifty thousand dollars was raised by popular subscription +and presented to her. She did with it as she would; she endowed schools +for the training of nurses to carry on the work that she loved. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ROYAL YOUNG PEOPLE + + +Many people had thought that the Russians hoped to get control of +India. If they had succeeded in doing so, the Queen would have been +saved the sorrow that came to her from a revolt of her Indian troops +which was known as the Sepoy Mutiny. The commanders of the troops were +English, but most of the rank and file were either Mohammedans or +Hindus. The Mohammedans looked upon the cow as sacred, and the Hindus +regarded the hog as unclean, therefore, when cartridges were given them +greased with a mixture of tallow and lard, the soldiers of both peoples +were very angry. Another trouble was that the English government had +declared that no one should lose his property on account of any change +in his religious belief, and this decree aroused the wrath of the +native priests. The revolt was one of the most fearful events known in +history, for even women and children were murdered as brutally as if +the Sepoys had been wild beasts. + +January, 1858, was the time that had been set for the marriage of the +Princess Royal, and although India was not entirely subdued, the Sepoys +were so nearly under control that England could join heartily in the +wedding rejoicings. Buckingham Palace was crowded with guests, so many +princes and princesses that when they went to the theater, they made, +as the Queen said, "a wonderful row of royalties." "Macbeth" and three +other plays were performed in honor of the occasion. For a week, eighty +or ninety persons sat at the Queen's dinner table every day. There were +operas, dinner parties, dances, concerts, and a great ball at which one +thousand guests were present. + +When the wedding gifts began to arrive, the large drawing room of the +palace became a veritable fairyland, as table after table was piled +with presents. "Fritz," as the family called Prince Frederick William, +had brought to his bride a necklace of pearls, which the Queen said +were the largest she had ever seen. This was only the beginning. The +Princess and her mother went for a little walk in the palace garden, +and when they came in, there were more tables and an entirely new +display of gifts; they went to their own rooms, and when they returned, +still more gifts had arrived. There were pictures, candelabra, diamond +and emerald bracelets, brooches, necklaces, everything in the shape of +jewelry that can be imagined, and, what especially pleased the +housewifely tastes of the Queen, there were quantities of needlework +from many ladies of the kingdom, for the Princess was a special +favorite, and rich and poor were eager to send her some token of their +love. The young girl was in ecstasies; then she remembered that going +with "Fritz" meant leaving her father and mother, and she burst into +tears. + +At the end of the festal week came the wedding day. The Queen said, "I +felt as if I were being married over again myself, only much more +nervous," and when just before the ceremony, she was daguerreotyped +with "Fritz and Vicky," she trembled so that her likeness was badly +blurred. + +Early in the morning the bells began to ring, but long before their +first peal, thousands were out in the streets, too excited to sleep or +even to remain in their homes. The procession was formed just as it had +been eighteen years before at the marriage of the Queen, and the long +line of carriages drove from Buckingham Palace to the Chapel Royal of +St. James. Trumpets were blown, banners were waved, and the whole city +reechoed with the shouts of the merrymakers. The Queen bowed to her +people as graciously as ever, but she could not forget for a moment +that her oldest daughter was about to leave her, and she wrote +afterwards, "The cheering made my heart sick within me." + +The procession was even more beautiful than that on the wedding day of +the Queen, because in this one there were so many children. First came +the members of the royal family, the Duchess of Kent nearest to the +Queen and her children, looking very handsome in her gown of violet +velvet trimmed with ermine. Then came the Prime Minister bearing the +sword of state. He was followed by "Bertie," who was now a tall young +man of sixteen, and "Affie," the sailor boy of fourteen, both in +Highland costume. Everyone was looking for the Queen, and she came +directly after her two older sons. She was resplendent in a moire skirt +of lilac and silver with a long train of lilac velvet, and was all +ablaze with diamonds. The two little boys, the namesake of the Duke of +Wellington, and Leopold, who was not yet five years old, walked one on +either side of their mother. They as well as the older boys were +brilliant in Stuart plaid, which made a glowing contrast with the lilac +velvet. Behind the Queen walked hand in hand the three royal girls, +Alice, who was fifteen, and the two younger ones, Helena and Louise. +They were in pink satin with cornflowers and marguerites in their hair. +The nine royal children were present, with the exception of baby +Beatrice, who was not yet one year old. The Queen and the royal family +took their places in the "Royal Closet," a room opening into the +chapel. + +[Illustration: Westminster Abbey.] + +All the guests had assembled long before the entrance of the +procession, and now they were all watching eagerly for the Prince of +Prussia and the Princess Royal of England. The Prince, in his dark blue +uniform, looked thoroughly a soldier. He made a profound bow to the +Queen, knelt in prayer for a few minutes, then stood waiting to receive +his bride. After the gorgeous colors worn by those who had preceded +her, the white moire dress and the wreath of orange blossoms and myrtle +made the Princess look very childlike. She walked between her father +and King Leopold, her train borne by the eight young girls who were her +bridesmaids. They were in white tulle with pink roses. Among the roses +were sprigs of white heather, for even in the excitement of this +wedding season, the Queen did not forget her Scottish home. + +The Prince was much more calm than the Archbishop of Canterbury, for +the clergyman was so nervous that he left out some passages from the +marriage service. At the moment that the ring was put on the finger of +the bride, the cannon were fired as at the marriage of the Queen; but +now the people of Germany must not be forgotten, and as the first gun +sounded, a telegram was sent to Berlin. The last words of the service +were read, "The Lord mercifully with his favor look upon you," and the +"Hallelujah Chorus" burst forth, followed by Mendelssohn's "Wedding +March," as the bride and bridegroom went forth from the chapel hand in +hand. + +All London was keeping holiday, and throngs had gathered about +Buckingham Palace, ready to greet the returning party with most +tumultuous applause. The honeymoon was to be spent at Windsor, and the +Eton boys, who always claimed a share in royal rejoicings, dragged the +royal carriage from the railroad station to the castle. + +A few days later came the final good-bys, and these were much harder +than if the bride had not been of the royal family, for kings and +queens can make few visits. It was a very tearful time, "a dreadful +day," wrote the Queen. "I think it will kill me to take leave of dear +papa," the bride had said to her mother, but the moment of parting had +to come. The snow was falling fast, but all the way to the wharf at +Gravesend were beautiful decorations and crowds of people, and on the +pier were companies of young girls wearing wreaths and carrying flowers +to strew before the feet of the bride. "Come back to us if he doesn't +treat you well," called a voice from the crowd, and the steamer moved +slowly away from the wharf. Prince Albert watched it for a few minutes, +then returned to the Queen, who was lonely in her great palace, so +lonely that even the sight of baby Beatrice made her sad, reminding her +that only a few hours before the little one had been in the arms of the +beloved eldest daughter. + +"The little lady does her best to please him," Prince Albert had +written on the day of the Princess's engagement; but now she had +thousands of people to please, and the father and mother at home waited +anxiously for letters and telegrams and reports of friends to know what +welcome the Germans had given to their daughter, for so much of her +future comfort among them depended upon the first impression that she +made. "Dear child," wrote Prince Albert to her, "I should have so liked +to be in the crowd and hear what the multitude said of you." He had +already received a proud and jubilant telegram from "Fritz,"--"The +whole royal family is enchanted with my wife." The Princess Hohenlohe, +the Queen's beloved half-sister, wrote from Berlin, "The enthusiasm and +interest shown are beyond everything. Never was a princess in this +country received as she is." + +Later in the year, the royal father and mother contrived to make a +fortnight's visit to Germany, and found the "Princess Frederick +William" "quite the old Vicky still." Prince Albert's birthday was +celebrated during their stay. The children at home were also +celebrating it with the Duchess of Kent. They recited poems and played +their pieces of music and exhibited the pictures that they had drawn. +Several days earlier, they had all sent birthday letters to Germany, +and these letters were given a prominent place on the "presents table." +The Queen's gift to her husband was a portrait of baby Beatrice, done +in oil. The Princess did not forget the Scotch home that she loved, and +among her gifts to her father was an iron chair for the Balmoral +garden. + +The farewells had to be said much too soon. Then came the return to +England and the other children. They were growing up fast. The Prince +of Wales was at Oxford, not idling his time away, but working so hard +that the irrepressible _Punch_ called him "A Prince at High Pressure." +Alfred, who was now fourteen, had just passed his examination and +received his midshipman's appointment. The examiners would have been +satisfied with fifty correct answers, but the Prince had presented +eighty; and when his father and mother landed at Osborne, there he +stood on the wharf in his naval cadet's uniform, half-blushing, and +looking as happy as a boy who was not a prince would have looked after +coming out of a three-days' examination with flying colors. Several +months earlier, Prince Albert had watched him reef a topsail in a +strong breeze, and said it almost took his breath away to see him "do +all sorts of things at that dizzy height." + +The circle of children soon began to widen, for early in 1859 Princess +"Vicky" became the mother of a boy, and the Queen, not yet forty years +of age, was a grandmother. The child was named Frederick William Victor +Albert. Ever since her marriage, the Princess had kept up a constant +correspondence with home. She wrote her mother every day, sometimes +twice a day, telling all the little events of her life. To her father +she sent every Monday long letters on general topics, and he always +sent a reply two days later. No one knew better than he the +difficulties that lay before her in making her home in a foreign +country, and often his letters gave her bits of advice that had come +from his own experience. Sometimes they were little pictures of home +life. Once he told her of a "splendid snowman" that the children had +made, with a yellow carrot for a nose and an old hat of "Affie's" on +his head. After the birth of Frederick William Victor Albert, the +letters from Germany never forgot to tell the latest news about the +little German baby; and the English letters quoted the sayings of baby +Beatrice, whom Prince Albert called "the most amusing baby we ever +had." One day he wrote of this little one, "When she tumbles, she calls +out in bewilderment, 'She don't like it, she don't like it.' She came +into breakfast a short time ago with her eyes full of tears, moaning, +'Baby has been so naughty, poor baby so naughty,' as one might complain +of being ill or of having slept badly." + +While Buckingham Palace had still its merry group of children, the two +older sons, "Bertie" and "Affie," were on their way across the ocean. +Prince Alfred was making a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, and the +Prince of Wales was going to Canada. During the Crimean War, the colony +had raised and equipped a regiment to aid the mother country, and had +most urgently invited the monarch to visit her lands in the west; but +because of the exposure and fatigue it was not thought wise for her to +accept the invitation. Canada had then asked that one of the Princes +should be appointed governor. They were far too young for any such +position, but the promise was made that the Prince of Wales should +visit the colony. In the spring of 1860 it was decided that he should +go early in the autumn. + +The Prince was delighted with the expedition, and was ready to be +pleased with whatever came to hand. In Newfoundland a ball was given +for him, and he danced not only with the ladies of the official circle, +but with the wives and daughters of the fish-merchants, and had the +tact to make himself liked by all. "He had a most dignified manner and +bearing," said the wife of the Archdeacon. "God bless his pretty face +and send him a good wife," cried the fishermen. His visit to Canada was +not all amusement, for he had the usual royal duties to perform. He +opened an exhibition, laid the last stone of the Victoria Bridge over +the St. Lawrence, and laid the corner stone of the new parliamentary +buildings at Ottawa. No fault could be found with his manner of +attending to such duties, but he won the hearts of the people less by +laying corner stones than by such bits of boyishness as singing with +the band one day when they chanced to play some of his favorite airs. +He saw Blondin walk across Niagara Falls on a tight-rope. "I beg of +you, don't do that again," he said earnestly to the performer. "There +is really not the least danger; I would willingly carry you over on my +back," replied Blondin, but the Prince did not accept the offer. + +When Mr. Buchanan, President of the United States, heard that the +Prince of Wales was coming to Canada, he wrote to the Queen, inviting +the Prince to visit him at the White House, and assuring her that her +son would receive a very cordial greeting from the Americans. The city +of New York meant to have a royal visit all to herself, and therefore +sent a special invitation for him to come to that city. + +The United States showed no lack of interest in the young man. +Reporters from the leading American papers followed him about in +Canada; and when he crossed to Detroit, he found the whole city +illuminated, and the streets so crowded that he had to slip into his +hotel by the side entrance. He visited the grave of Washington, and +planted a tree by the tomb of the man who had prevented him from +becoming the ruler of all North America. His visit to the White House +lasted for five days, and at its close, President Buchanan wrote to the +Queen: "In our domestic circle he has won all hearts." + +In New York a ball was given for him which he enjoyed; but he was far +more enthusiastic over a parade of the New York Fire Department. Six +thousand firemen in uniform turned out one evening, all with lighted +torches except those who manned the ropes. A delightful trait in both +his parents was their feeling that honors shown them were not merely +actions due to their position, but were marks of courtesy and kindness; +and the Prince showed this same characteristic, for at the review he +cried with grateful delight, "It is splendid, and it's all for me, +every bit for me!" + +On the Prince's return voyage he was so delayed by contrary winds that +two warships were sent out to search for him. He reached home late in +November, and on his return a letter was written to President Buchanan +by the Queen, expressing her gratitude for the kindness shown her son +and speaking very warmly of the friendship between England and the +United States. + +While the Prince of Wales was receiving the honors of the western +continent, the midshipman brother was on his way to South Africa. When +he landed at Cape Town, the English governor accompanied him on a short +tour through the English possessions, during which he laid the first +stone of the famous breakwater in Table Bay. He was cheered and feasted +and received with all the honors that could be devised so long as he +was on land; but when he returned to his vessel, he was no longer +treated as a prince; for on shipboard he was simply a midshipman and in +no wise different from the other naval cadets. When the chief of an +African tribe came to visit the ship, he saw the young Prince +bare-footed and helping the other midshipmen to wash the decks. The +chief went away wondering, and a little later, he and his councilors +sent to the English a most interesting letter. It read: + +"When the son of England's great Queen becomes subject to a subject, +that he may learn wisdom, when the sons of England's chiefs and nobles +leave the homes and wealth of their fathers, and with their young +Prince endure hardships and sufferings in order that they may be wise +and become a defense to their country, when we behold these things, we +see why the English are a great and mighty nation." + +When the two brothers returned to England, they found that their sister +Alice had followed the example of the Princess Royal and had become +engaged. The fortunate man was Prince Louis of Hesse. Prince Albert +wrote to his daughter in Germany of "the great Alician event," saying, +"Alice and Louis are as happy as mortals can be." + +Not long after these cheerful times, a deep sorrow came to the loving +heart of the Queen. In the midst of the days that were so full of care +for her children, her home, and the duties of state not only in +England, but also in Africa and Asia, the constant thought of the Queen +had been her mother's comfort. When the daughter could not be with her +mother, letters were sent every day, and frequently several times a +day, and nothing was neglected that could add to the Duchess's ease and +happiness. For some time she had not been well, and in the spring of +1861 came the dreaded summons to her bedside. In a few hours she was +gone. "Oh, if only I could have been near her these last weeks!" wrote +the Queen to King Leopold. + +Save the sovereign herself, there was no woman in England whose death +would have affected the whole country so deeply. Statesmen recalled the +days when the Duchess of Kent was left alone in a strange land, without +means, disliked by the reigning king, and weighed down by the +responsibility of educating a child to stand at the head of the nation. +In the character of their sovereign, they saw proof of the able, +devoted, conscientious manner in which this sacred duty had been +performed; and the address of sympathy sent by Parliament to the +sorrowing Queen was as sincere as if it had been written by a personal +friend, and not by a body of lawmakers. "It is a great sorrow to me not +to have Feodore with me now," wrote the Queen to King Leopold; but +neither he nor the Princess Hohenlohe was able to be present at the +last services. + +"I cannot imagine life without her," said the Queen sadly; but +nevertheless, life had to go on. Others may sometimes stop to mourn, +but the duties of a sovereign may not be neglected even for sorrow. A +new cause of anxiety had arisen that came nearer home than even the +sufferings of the Crimean soldiers. War had broken out in the United +States, and the supply of cotton to England was rapidly diminishing. If +the cotton supply failed entirely, the mills of England would have to +stop; many thousands of spinners and weavers would have no work; and +the sufferings of the manufacturing districts would be intense. The +government made an earnest effort to increase the amount of cotton +imported to England from India; but the emergency was so sudden that +even during the first few months of the war, there were many honest, +hard-working people in England who were sorely in need. + +When autumn came, the Queen was free to go for a little while to the +beloved Balmoral for the rest and quiet which she so greatly needed. +The simple life of the Highlands did more for her than anything else +could have done. On this visit, Prince Albert, the Queen, the Princess +Alice, Prince Louis of Hesse, with Lady Churchill and General Grey in +attendance, went on two of what the Queen called "Great Expeditions," +that is, trips of two or three days by carriage and by pony. To the +Queen these trips were as fascinating as they were novel. The party +tried to keep their identity a secret, and sometimes they succeeded: +Prince Albert and the Queen called themselves _Lord_ and _Lady +Churchill_: the real Lady Churchill was now _Miss Spencer_, and General +Grey became _Dr. Grey_. They were as excited as children in a new +game over playing their parts properly, and the struggles of the two +men-servants to remember not to say "Your Majesty" and "Your Royal +Highness" amused them immensely. "The lady must be terrible rich," +whispered an awe-struck woman to one of the servants, "for she has so +many gold rings on her fingers." "And you have many more than I," said +the aggrieved monarch to Lady Churchill. Two or three times they stayed +all night at little village inns. The Queen wrote in her journal that +at one of them the bedroom given to her and the Prince was hardly more +than large enough for the bed, but she found no fault with it, and +called it "very clean and neat." The dinner was "nice, clean, and good" +according to her description, for this sovereign of Great Britain, with +several magnificent palaces of her own, was so ready to be pleased with +what was done for her that she could be contented in the tiny inn of a +Highland village. At a second inn, which seems to have been +particularly poor, she admits that there was "hardly anything to eat," +but closes her account less like the ruler of millions than like a half +amused and half disappointed little schoolgirl, "No pudding and no fun. +We soon retired." + +The efforts to avoid being "found out" were like a continual frolic. +The royal party trembled when they heard the distant sound of a drum +and fife, but felt safe again on being told by a little maid at the inn +that it was "just a band that walked about twice a week." Sometimes +they came to tiny villages where they were "suspected;" and at last, on +getting up one morning, they heard the tread of somewhat irregular +marching, led by a drum and fife and bagpipe. There was no escape then, +for they were found out at last. A company of volunteers was drawn up +in front of the door to do them honor; the women of the village stood +by with bunches of flowers in their hands; and the landlady was +glorified by a black satin dress with white ribbons and orange +blossoms. There was nothing to do but to bow with all gratitude and +drive away as fast as possible. + +Such a woman was Victoria of England, ready to be pleased with the +smallest things, praising what was good, saying little of what was not +good, and enjoying every little pleasure with a childlike zest and +simplicity. And yet, this gentle little lady understood so perfectly +her rights and duties as monarch of Great Britain that when her +Secretary of Foreign Affairs persisted in being quite too independent +in his methods of transacting business, she did not hesitate to write +to him the following very definite sentences: + + "The Queen thinks it right, in order to prevent any mistake for the + future, to explain what it is she expects from the Foreign + Secretary. She requires: + + "1. That he will distinctly state what he proposes in a given case, + in order that the Queen may know as distinctly to what she has + given her royal sanction. + + "2. Having once given her sanction to a measure, that it be not + arbitrarily altered or modified by the Minister. She expects to be + kept informed of what passes between him and the Foreign Ministers, + before important decisions are taken, based upon that intercourse; + to receive the foreign dispatches in good time, and to have the + drafts for her approval sent to her in sufficient time to make + herself acquainted with their contents before they must be sent + off." + +It is worth noting that the royal lady who wrote this epistle had +sufficient self-control to delay for five months forwarding it to the +offending Secretary, hoping that his methods would be amended and that +so severe a rebuke would become unnecessary. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE QUEEN IN SORROW + + +It had certainly become clear to all her Ministers that Victoria was no +mere figurehead, for while she yielded if their judgment was against +her, yet she never failed to have an opinion and a reason for her +opinion. In 1861, the fact that both she and Prince Albert were able to +think for themselves and had come to a wise conclusion proved to be a +matter of the utmost importance to two countries, England and the +United States. Everyone in England was thinking about the war in +America. The English government had declared that England would be +neutral, that is, it would do nothing to assist either the United +States or the seceded States. The United States Government was +indignant at this declaration, because it spoke of the seceded, or +Confederate States, not as if they were rebelling against the +government, but as if they were an independent power. The Confederate +States, however, were much pleased, and thought it quite possible that +England might be persuaded to help them. Their chief argument +was--cotton. These States were the ones that raised cotton, and with +the United States warships blockading their ports, there would be +little chance for cotton to reach England. Would not England, then, +help the seceders, put an end to the war, and have all the cotton that +her mills wished to use? + +The Confederates decided to send two men, named Mason and Slidell, +across the ocean for aid, the first to England, the second to France. +It was not easy to get away from a southern port, but they contrived to +escape to Havana, and from there they went on board a British mail +steamer named the _Trent_. They supposed that all difficulties were +over when they were once on board a British vessel; but before the +_Trent_ had been out twenty-four hours, a United States warship fired a +shot across her bows. The _Trent_ was not armed so that she could make +any resistance, therefore she stopped, and Lieutenant Fairfax was sent +aboard with a strong guard of marines. + +"My orders from Captain Wilkes are to ask to see the list of your +passengers," he said. + +"That list cannot be shown," was the reply of the English captain. + +"I am here to arrest Messrs. Mason and Slidell," Lieutenant Fairfax +stated, but the Captain only bowed. + +"It is well known to the United States authorities that they are +attempting to make their way to Europe as envoys from States in +rebellion against the government," said the Lieutenant, "and, +therefore, I demand their surrender." + +Then Commodore Williams, who was in charge of the mail, said +indignantly: + +"The two gentlemen are passengers in a British vessel which is carrying +the mail from one neutral port to another. On board this ship I +represent her Majesty's government. This thing is an outrage, and I +tell you that you and your North shall suffer for it. Does your Captain +Wilkes do this on his own responsibility or on that of your +government?" + +"On his own," was the reply. + +"It is an insult to England and a violation of international law," +declared the Commodore; but nevertheless the men were seized and +carried to Boston. + +When the news of this action reached England, there was wild +excitement. Troops were sent to Canada at once. The Canadian harbors +were frozen, and England had to ask permission of the United States to +land them at Portland, Maine. Permission was granted, and no one seemed +to see how amusing such a request was. Thousands of Englishmen were +ready to declare war upon the United States without a moment's delay. +Fortunately governments move more slowly than individuals, and war +could not be declared without first asking whether the United States +had given authority for the seizure or approved of it. Mr. Slidell's +wife and daughter had gone on to England in the _Trent_; and they +said Captain Wilkes did not claim to have any government authority, and +that the United States would probably set the envoys free as soon as +they reached Washington. The Prime Minister did not believe such would +be the result, and he wrote a somewhat curt demand to the United States +for an apology and the freedom of the two men. + +Neither the Queen nor the Prince Consort, for that title had been +granted to Prince Albert long before, was satisfied with this paper, +and the following morning he wrote a statement to be sent to the Prime +Minister to the effect that the paper ought to mention the friendship +between the two countries and the hope and expectation of England that +the United States would say the seizure was not done by government +authority. Prince Albert and the Queen read the statement over +together. She made two or three small changes in the wording, then +copied it and sent it to the Prime Minister. He admitted at once that +the Queen and the Prince were in the right, and wrote another dispatch +to send to the United States, saying, of course, that an apology and +the surrender of the men were expected, but wording the demand in a +most courteous and friendly manner. + +In the United States, as soon as President Lincoln heard of the +capture, he said, "This won't do. Captain Wilkes is exercising the +'right of search,' and we fought England in 1812 on that very ground. +Those men must be given up." There were thousands, however, who were so +excited that they were ready to fight anybody for anything or for +nothing, and if the Prime Minister's first dispatch had been sent, it +would have been hard to prevent hostilities; but in so moderate a +request for fairness, even the most hot-blooded could find little +excuse for demanding a declaration of war. + +So it was that Prince Albert and the Queen saved the two countries from +bloodshed, and if the Prince had done nothing else in his twenty-one +years of acting as chief adviser to the Queen, that one act would have +been glory enough. But when one remembers the vast number of matters +which he had to consider, it does not seem as if one man's mind could +have held them all. Laying corner stones, unveiling statues, presiding +over learned societies, guiding the education of his children, planning +palaces, and managing large estates--all this was but a small part of +his labors. He carried out reforms in the navy, he studied on +commercial treaties between England and other countries, he reorganized +the army, he wrote on improved methods of agriculture, he constructed +better national defenses, he kept himself well informed concerning the +condition of the United States, India, South Africa, and every country +of Europe. After twenty-one years of such intense work as this, it is +no wonder that he was exhausted. He rarely spoke of his weariness; but +here and there in his letters and in his conversation with the Queen, a +word was dropped that showed how weak and tired he felt. He slept +little, yet he never thought of sparing himself, and he wrote the +letter about the _Trent_ affair with a very feeble hand. "I could +hardly hold my pen while writing," he told the Queen, and at last he +admitted that he was thoroughly miserable. + +Then came day after day of illness. Sometimes the Prince would listen +to his wife or his daughter Alice while they read him one of Scott's +novels; once he asked for music a long way off, and a piano was brought +into another room so that the Princess Alice could play his favorite +_chorale_. Sometimes he was confused and recognized no one. "We are +much alarmed," said the physicians, "but we do not give up hope." Every +day found him a little weaker, and soon the evening came when, as the +Queen bent over him and whispered, "It is your own little wife," he +could not speak, he could only bow his head and kiss her, and in a +little while he was gone. + +At midnight the mournful tolling of the great bell of St. Paul's spread +the sorrowful news through the city of London, and the telegraph told +the children of the royal family who were away from England of the loss +that had befallen them. + +The Princess Victoria was not alone, for her husband and her child were +with her to give her comfort; but far away in the warm climate of +Cannes was Prince Leopold, the delicate little boy of only eight years, +with not one of his own family beside him. The child was already +grieving sorely over the death of the gentleman in whose charge he had +been when the telegraph brought the news of his crushing loss. "Oh, +mamma, mamma," he cried. "Do take me to mamma. I want my mother. I want +my mother." + +The warmest sympathy was felt for the sorrowing Queen in her own land +and in all lands. Even from some chiefs in New Zealand came an address, +which began: + +"Oh, Victoria, our mother, we greet you! All we can now do is to weep +with you, oh, our good mother, who have nourished us, your ignorant +children of this island, even to this day." + +Every honor that could be shown was given to the dead Prince Consort. +The Queen chose a sunny spot at Frogmore for the beautiful mausoleum +that was to be built for the body of the one who had been dearest to +her of all the world. Seven years earlier, she had said, "Trials we +must have, but what are they, if we are together?" but now the time had +come when she must bear alone whatever might befall her. Her greatest +comforter was the Princess Alice, the girl of eighteen, who seemed no +longer a merry young girl, but a sympathetic, self-controlled woman. +She and the other children went with the Queen to Osborne, and there +passed the first three months of the lonely woman's sorrow. King +Leopold and the Princess of Hohenlohe came to her; but the weight of +her grief was hers alone, and no one could lessen it. + +Crushed as she was by suffering, she did not cease to feel for others. +Within a month after the death of the Prince, a terrible colliery +accident occurred by which many lives were lost, and the Queen sent at +once a generous gift and the message, "Tell them that the Queen's own +misery only makes her feel the more for them." In her own heartbreak, +she could not neglect the state business, whose delay would cause many +difficulties, but she could not bear to meet others than her children +and a few of her nearest friends. Again it was the Princess Alice upon +whom she and the whole country relied, and this girl of eighteen went +back and forth between the sovereign and the Ministers with such +strength of mind, such thoughtfulness and tact, that the whole realm +was amazed and grateful. + +It would have been a comfort to the loving mother if she could have +kept her oldest son with her during those sad months; but, even to +lessen her loneliness, she would not break in upon the plans that his +father had made for him. It had been decided that he should travel in +the Holy Land, and not many weeks after the death of the Prince, he set +out with Dean Stanley and others for the East. + +[Illustration: Balmoral Castle.] + +It had long been the custom in the royal family to spend at Balmoral +the Queen's birthday, in May, and the birthday of the Prince, in +August, and even during this sad year of 1862, the usual May visit was +made. Hard as it was for the Queen to go without the Prince to a place +that had been so dear to him, there was comfort for her in going among +the cottagers. She loved the Scotch because, while they had a profound +respect for her, they had also respect for themselves, and would talk +with her without the subservience that she disliked. She taught her +Scotch tenants to look upon her as a friend to whom they might come for +help in time of trouble. In sickness they were encouraged to send to +the castle for whatever they needed. When the Queen went to London, she +did not forget them, and whenever a marriage or a death or the arrival +of a new baby occurred among her Balmoral people, it was reported to +her at once. + +During the last visit of the Prince Consort to Balmoral, the husband of +one of the cottagers was very ill, and the Queen was continually +sending him delicacies from her own table, and not always by the hands +of servants, for the Princess Louise was often her messenger. The story +is told of the young girl's taking some dainty from one of the pockets +of her jacket and asking, "Can't he eat this?" and then, when the wife +shook her head sadly, of her taking something else from another pocket +and saying, "Surely, he can eat this." The husband died, and when the +Queen arrived at Balmoral on this first visit without the Prince, she +went at once to see the widow. Both women burst into tears. + +"I ask your pardon," said the cottager humbly. "I ought not to cry in +your presence." + +"Oh, it does me good," replied the Queen in the midst of her own tears. +"I am so thankful to cry with someone who knows just how I feel. It was +all so sudden, so sudden." + +This visit to Balmoral was in May, and in July the brave-hearted Queen +gave away her chief comforter, for she did not think it right to allow +the marriage of the Princess Alice to be postponed longer. Many +preparations for it had already been made before the illness of the +Prince. The Highlanders were all interested in the marriage, for the +Princess Alice was a great favorite among them; and in the autumn of +1861, many wedding gifts had been made by the Princess to the +cottagers, for in the Queen's family it was the custom to make presents +as well as receive them at the wedding seasons. + +The marriage took place at Osborne. The day which all had expected to +be so bright and happy was sad and lonely for the want of the dead +Prince. There was no rejoicing, for everything was so associated with +him that no one could be merry. Even the wedding dress of the bride was +of lace whose pattern he himself had chosen. + +In a few days Prince Louis and the Princess Alice left England for +their German home. According to what had become a custom among the +Queen's children, the Princess wrote to her mother almost every day. +Her life in Darmstadt was far more simple than the Queen's had been +immediately after her marriage. The usual time of rising was half-past +seven or a little earlier. Coffee was drunk at eight, and generally the +next two hours were spent out of doors in riding or walking. From ten +to twelve, the Princess wrote or worked with her private secretary, and +some time in the morning she read the newspapers, an occupation which +she called "a great bore." Breakfast took the time between twelve and +one. At two, people began to come to call upon her. Dinner was at four. +After dinner came a little leisure, then a drive "somewhere for tea." +By half-past ten the day was over. The Princess lamented that she had +so little time for her music and drawing, and when she was away from +the city, she made many sketches, but she was in a wooded country, "And +the trees are my misfortune," she said, "as I draw them so badly." +After a few months, the twelve-year-old brother Arthur went to visit +her. He was a bit of home, and she was delighted to have him. "He has +won all hearts," she wrote to the Queen, "and I am so proud when they +admire my little brother." When September came, the Princess and her +husband went to Thuringia to meet the Queen; and there, much to the +Queen's pleasure, it was decided that her daughter and Prince Louis +should spend the winter in England, though the Princess with her ready +sympathy wrote that she should regret not remaining in Germany for the +one reason that the people would feel her absence so much. "They are +most kind," she added, for she shared the feeling of her mother that +the devotion of the people was not a thing that they could demand, but +was a personal kindness shown to them. + +On this visit to the Continent, Queen Victoria spent a few days in +Belgium with King Leopold; and while she was with him, a young girl was +invited to be his guest whom she was especially desirous of meeting. +Her name was Alexandra, and she was the eldest daughter of the heir to +the throne of Denmark. She had grown up in the quaint old palace in +Copenhagen within hearing of the murmur of the sea. When summer came, +she was taken to a delightful house in the woods, where she had dogs +and ponies and flowers and long walks through the forest; and when +friends came from the town, there were picnics and boating and all +sorts of good times. Indeed, every day was a kind of picnic, for in the +country home the family almost lived out of doors, and there were +always her two brothers and three sisters for company. + +The life of the children was merry and happy, but it was even more +simple than that of the little girl who went from Kensington to the +throne of England, both because the father and mother believed that it +was best for children to live simply, and also because, especially +during the children's earlier years, there was not much money to throw +away in luxuries. The little girls put on their nicer dresses, which +perhaps their mother had made, when they were going out; but as soon as +they came back and were ready to play, the street dresses were +exchanged for something more substantial. The children had learned when +they were very young that they could not have everything they wanted +and that they must be obedient and helpful and punctual. If they were +not ready for a meal or for their lessons, they were often sent to +their rooms as a punishment. Those rooms had to be in perfect order, +for each daughter was required to take care of her own. As they grew +older, they were taught to do many things for themselves. If one of +them wanted a new dress and her rather slender allowance would not pay +the dressmaker, she knew how to make it for herself; and if a new hat +was wanted, she could trim it. + +This was the way in which the young girl had grown up who was going to +visit the Queen of Great Britain when her first year of sorrow was +drawing to its close. This was no ordinary visit, for several persons +were very anxious that the Queen should like the Princess. They need +not have feared. Everyone who met Alexandra loved her, for this bright, +cheerful young girl carried sunshine wherever she went, and it shone +upon even the lonely heart of the sorrowful Queen. + +There had been a great deal of discussion about who would be the bride +of the Prince of Wales, and not a little scheming among no lesser +people than some of the great dignitaries of Europe; for there were +several young princesses whose parents would have been glad to form an +alliance with the heir of England's crown. But while the schemers were +scheming, the Prince was forming a very definite opinion of his own. At +the home of his grand-aunt, the Duchess of Cambridge, he saw one day a +portrait of a very beautiful young girl. + +"And who is that?" he asked his cousin, the Princess Mary. + +"That's Alix," was the reply, "and she is the dearest girl in all the +world. You know that grandfather left his palace of Rumpenheim to his +six children and asked them to meet there every two years. We all go, +and now there are twenty or more of us cousins, but Alix is the +prettiest and sweetest and dearest of us all. You must have seen her, +for she came to visit me when she was ten years old, and she went to a +children's party at Buckingham Palace." + +Boys of twelve do not always remember little girls of ten. The Prince +of Wales did not say whether he had forgotten "Alix" or not, but while, +in 1861, the officials were talking about several other European +princesses as well as the Princess Alexandra, he was making it clear to +his father and mother that _she_ was the one whom he wished to see. +Princess "Vicky" always had her own opinions, and she too had been +charmed by the lovely Danish Princess. "Come and visit me, and you +shall see her," she wrote. The Prince went to Germany, the Princess was +on her way to Rumpenheim, and nothing was easier than to arrange a +meeting. Prince Albert wrote, "The young people seem to have a warm +liking for each other." Some months after the death of Prince Albert, +the two met again; next followed the little visit to Queen Victoria, +and the loving welcome to the young girl who then became the betrothed +of the Prince of Wales. + +Denmark was delighted, and England was no less happy. Prince Christian +soon carried his daughter to London to visit Queen Victoria; and then +came a busy time, for all the wedding trousseau except the lingerie was +to come from England. Princess Mary was delighted to help in selecting, +and probably the Prince of Wales had now and then a word to say. While +this was going on in England, scores of women in Denmark were cutting +and stitching the finest of linen and embroidering on every article a +crown and the initials of their beloved Princess. The whole land +subscribed to give her a generous dowry, and then the wedding presents +began to come. There were many of great value, of course, for all the +courts of Europe were interested in the marriage; but the Princess +cared most for the gifts that came from her own people, who knew her +and loved her. Among those tokens there was a painting of her brothers +and sisters in a group, a pair of shoes embroidered in gold from the +shoemakers of Copenhagen, and some vases from the villagers who lived +near the summer home in the forest. The Danish king gave her a necklace +of diamonds and pearls, and King Leopold sent her a most beautiful +dress of Brussels lace. At the end of the last sermon that she heard in +her own church, the pastor, who had known her from babyhood, gave her a +loving benediction and farewell. + +The wedding was to be in England, and in February of 1863 the young +bride with her father and mother and brothers and sisters went aboard +the royal train. The Queen had sent to Antwerp her own _Victoria and +Albert_, the yacht that had so often carried happy people, and after a +few days' rest at King Leopold's court, the party crossed the Channel +with a little squadron of British men-of-war as escort. As they neared +the English coast, the water swarmed with every kind of vessel that +would float, from a steamship to a rowboat, for everyone was eager to +see the young girl whose beauty had been heralded throughout the +kingdom. There was one boat which had the right of way, and soon the +Prince of Wales was meeting his bride and giving her a hearty, +old-fashioned kiss that satisfied even the hundreds of spectators. Her +dress would seem to-day exceedingly quaint, but it must have been +wonderfully becoming. It was of mauve poplin, made very full, for those +were the days of hoop-skirts. Over it she wore a long purple velvet +cloak with a border of sable, and her lovely face was framed in a white +"poke" bonnet trimmed with rosebuds. + +As soon as she had landed the difficulties began; for the people who +had been waiting for hours to see the face that they had heard was the +prettiest in the world meant to see it, and they thronged about her +carriage in such determined crowds that the police were helpless. There +is a story that one inquisitive youth actually twisted his head between +the spokes of her carriage wheels to get a glimpse of her in some way; +and the legend says that the Princess herself helped him out of his +dangerous position. Addresses were presented before she had fairly set +her feet upon English soil, one of them signed by the eight hundred +Eton boys. Whenever there was a moment's delay, some delegation was +always waiting, ready to make a speech of welcome. There were rockets +and bonfires and salutes from vessels and forts, and, fascinated as she +was, the young girl was thoroughly tired before she was safe at Windsor +Castle. + +A week later the royal wedding was celebrated in St. George's Chapel. +The Prince was in the long flowing purple velvet mantle of the Order of +the Garter, which made a rich contrast with the white lace and satin +and orange blossoms of his bride. She was loaded with jewels, for the +gifts of the Queen, the Prince, and the city of London must all be +treated with respect. In her bouquet were sprigs of myrtle that had a +history, for they had come from a bush grown from the myrtle in the +bridal bouquet of the Princess "Vicky." There was more jewelry that was +of special interest, for while the Prince was satisfied with a plain +hoop of gold for the wedding ring, the guard was set with stones the +initials of whose names formed the word, "Bertie,"--beryl, emerald, +ruby, turquoise, jacinth, emerald. The lockets that he gave to the +bridesmaids were made after a new fashion, for they were wrought of +crystal, and in each were the initials "A. E.--A." intertwined in a +design drawn by the Princess Alice. These letters were made of diamonds +and coral to display the red and white of the Danish flag. + +There was all the brilliancy and gorgeousness that can be imagined, for +it was the wedding of the heir to the British crown. There were +heralds, drummers, and trumpeters, all in quaint and handsome costumes. +The gleam of gold, the flash of diamonds, and the burning glow of +rubies made the Chapel a wilderness of color and brightness. Very +slowly the beautiful Princess and her bridesmaids moved up the long +aisle to the altar, too slowly for the comfort of Prince Arthur and his +brother Leopold in their Highland dress, for the small German nephew +had been put under their care, and the naughty little Frederick William +Victor Albert bit their bare legs whenever they told him to be quiet. + +The whole floor of the Chapel was radiant with beauty and aglow with +happiness, but in the "Closet," up above the heads of the joyous +throng, stood the Queen of England in the deepest mourning, glad in the +gladness of her eldest son and in her love for the maiden who was his +choice, but with the sorrow at her heart that forbade her to share in +the rejoicings of her people. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE LITTLE FOLK + + +In the midst of all the royalties that were present at the wedding of +the Prince of Wales were the two great novelists of the realm, +Thackeray and Dickens; but Tennyson, the Poet Laureate, was not there. +Again "someone had blundered," and his invitation had been missent. +Both the Queen and Prince Albert felt a sincere admiration and +reverence for the poet, and the Prince had asked the favor of an +autograph with far more hesitation than most schoolboys would have +shown. This is the way in which he made his very modest petition: + +"Will you forgive me if I intrude upon your leisure with a request +which I have thought some little time of making, viz., that you would +be good enough to write your name in the accompanying volume of the +'Idylls of the King'?" Prince Albert was very fond of the "Idylls," and +when, only a month after his death, Tennyson brought out a new edition +of the poems, it contained a beautiful dedication, which began: + + "These to his memory--since he held them dear." + +The lines do not sound as if the poet felt obliged to write them +because he had been appointed Laureate, but rather as if he meant every +word that he wrote. In this dedication he speaks very earnestly of +Prince Albert's wisdom and ability and unselfishness, and gives us the +exquisite line which everyone quotes who writes of the Prince Consort: + + "Wearing the white flower of a blameless life." + +The following year, just before the wedding of the Prince of Wales, +Tennyson wrote a welcome to the bride, beginning: + + "Sea-kings' daughter from over the sea, + Alexandra! + Saxon and Norman and Dane are we, + But all of us Danes in our welcome of thee, + Alexandra!" + +The Queen was much pleased with the poem and said, "Thank him very +warmly, and tell him with how much pleasure I have read the lines, and +that I rejoice the sweet and charming bride should be thus greeted." + +There is a story that when the Danish Princess was a very young girl, +she and three of her girl friends sat together in the forest talking of +what they should like to do when they were grown up. + +"I want to be famous," said one. "I want to paint a picture that +everyone will go to see, or to write a book that all Denmark will be +eager to read." + +"If I could do just what I liked," declared the second, "I would travel +all over the world; so I will wish to be a great traveler." + +"I want to be rich," said the third, "and then I can travel whenever I +choose, and buy all the books I choose without having to write them, +and all the pictures I choose without having to paint them. But what do +you want, Alix?" + +The Princess Alix had been thinking, and she answered slowly, "If I +could have just what I wanted, I would choose that everyone who saw me +should love me." + +However it was with the others, the Princess Alexandra surely had her +wish, for everyone who met her seemed to love her. The Queen called her +"the fairy," and so great a dignitary as Dean Stanley thought of her in +the same way, for after he had had a long talk with her in the corner +of the drawing room, telling her how the service of the Church of +England differed from that of the Danish Church, he wrote in his diary, +"She is as charming and beautiful a creature as ever passed through a +fairy tale." "The little gem of Denmark is the pet of the country," +declared the newspapers. The unbounded admiration that had been shown +to Queen Victoria in the early days of her reign was given to +Alexandra. When the Queen came to the throne, young girls who were +small and had fair hair and blue eyes were happy. _Now_, it was bliss +to have any feature that resembled the Danish Princess. She had a +custom of letting two curls of brown hair fall on each shoulder, and +straightway English fashions demanded that every girl should wear four +curls hanging on her shoulders. For months London was at the height of +gayety. The Princess represented her royal mother-in-law at the drawing +rooms of the season; no easy task, for so many ladies attended the +first that it took four long hours for them to pass the throne. All +this time the Princess Alexandra and the Princess Alice stood to +receive them, except for one little resting time of twenty minutes. +There were receptions and most magnificent balls, at which all the +dignitaries tried their best to make themselves agreeable to the young +Princess. + +Of course the Queen had no heart for these festivities, but she was +glad to have the people pleased, and for one of the most elaborate +entertainments she sent decorations and furnishings from Buckingham +Palace. The Princess Alice and Prince Louis were with her for several +months before the marriage of the Prince of Wales; and only three or +four weeks after the great event, a little Hessian granddaughter was +born at Windsor Castle. The chaplain of the Hessian court came to +England for the christening of the wee maiden. The usual number of +names was given her, but the first two were Victoria Alberta. + +In the autumn the Queen made the customary visit to Balmoral; but only +a few days after her arrival she took an evening drive that put her +into a great deal of danger, for the carriage turned over, and the +Queen, the Princess Alice, and "Lenchen," as the Princess Helena was +called, were thrown out. Brown, the Queen's favorite Highland +attendant, had little regard for court manners at any time, and less +than ever in this predicament. He called out, "The Lord Almighty have +mercy on us! Who did ever see the like of this before! I thought you +were all killed." The Queen had fallen on her face, and was somewhat +bruised. Princess Alice, with her usual calmness, held a lantern so +that the men could see to cut the horses free. Then while the driver +went for help, the monarch of Great Britain sat in the road wrapped up +in plaids and using the floor of the carriage for a back. The Princess +had brought her page along, a Malay boy whose father had presented him +to a traveler in return for some kindness, and little "Willem" sat in +front with one lantern, while Brown held another. It was a strange +situation, a Queen, with thousands of soldiers at her command, sitting +in a broken carriage waiting for horses and guarded by one Highlander +and a little black boy. She wrote in her journal for that day: "People +were foolishly alarmed when we got upstairs, and made a great fuss. Had +my head bandaged and got to bed rather late." + +This soldier's daughter could make little of pain, but she could not so +easily put away sorrow. Every place about Balmoral reminded her of +something that Prince Albert had said or done, and she could not bear +that his presence should be forgotten. On the summit of a hill which +they had often visited together, she built a great cairn, on which was +inscribed, "To the beloved memory of Albert, the great and good Prince +Consort; raised by his broken-hearted widow, Victoria R." + +She was touched and grateful when the citizens of Aberdeen wished to +put up a statue of the Prince, and asked her to be present at the +unveiling. It was nearly two years since his death, but she had not yet +taken part in any public ceremony, and she dreaded to have the morning +come. When it did come, however, she wrote in her journal the words +that were the keynote of her courage in meeting difficulties, "Prayed +for help and got up earlier." The rain poured, but the streets of +Aberdeen were thronged with people. Out of sympathy with her grief, +there was no cheering, and no band playing. For more than twenty-five +years she had never appeared on public occasions without both cheering +and music; and although she appreciated the thoughtful sympathy of the +people, the silence only made the contrast greater between the past and +the present. The exercises began with an address to the Queen by the +Lord Provost. She handed him a written reply. Then he knelt before her; +her Minister gave her a sword; and touching the Provost with it on each +shoulder, she said "Rise, Sir Alexander Anderson." _Mr._ Anderson had +now become a knight, and would be called Sir Alexander all the rest of +his life. After this little ceremony, the bunting was drawn away from +the statue, and what the Queen called a "fearful ordeal" was at an end. + +The one upon whom the Queen depended most was Princess Alice. She often +went on little picnics or drives "because Alice advised." The Princess +and Prince Louis spent as much time in England as possible, and when +they were in Germany the letters of the Princess gave her mother a +great deal of pleasure. They were full of the details of her daily +life, some of which might have come from a palace and some from a +cottage. One described a gift just received from the Empress of Russia, +"a splendid bracelet;" and a few days later, the young mother wrote +exultantly that the baby looked about and laughed. This young +housekeeper was deeply interested in all the details of her home. She +was grateful to her Queen mother for the big turkey pie and the other +good things that arrived at Christmas time; and she wrote of her +various little dilemmas, ranging all the way from a half-hour's hunt +for a pen just after a journey to the whirl of making the dining room +into a bedroom to accommodate a guest. One morning she wrote "in the +midst of household troubles," as she said, for the Emperor and Empress +had just sent word that they were coming to breakfast with her, and +"Louis" was out. But of all the bits of home life in her letters, those +about the children--for in a year and a half there was also a little +Elizabeth--must have given the most pleasure to the royal Grandmamma. +On one page the Princess described some political complication between +kingdoms, and on the next was the astounding news that little Victoria +could get on her feet by the help of a chair and could push it across +the room. Before long, she was walking out with her father before +breakfast, with her independent little hands in her jacket pockets. +Money was not especially plenty in the home at Darmstadt, and the +Princess mother wrote at one time of the little Elizabeth's wearing +Victoria's last year's gowns, and at another said that she had just +made seven little dresses for the children. With a German father and an +English mother, the little Victoria spoke at first a comical +combination of German and English, and she announced one day, "Meine +Grossmama, die Konigin, has got a little vatch with a birdie." + +There was also a little boy in England who was taking much of the +Queen's attention, the baby son of the Prince of Wales. He was born at +Frogmore House, and as all the clothes provided for him were at +Marlborough, he fared no better for raiment at first than if he had +been born in a cottage. The loss was made up to him, however, when he +was christened; for then he was gorgeous in a robe of Honiton lace, the +same one in which his father had been christened, while over the robe +was a cloak of crimson velvet with a lining of ermine. Nothing could be +too rich and costly, for some day, if he lived long enough, he would +wear the English crown. One matter in which the royal family were most +economical was in regard to names, for they used the same ones over and +over. This little boy was named Albert, for his English grandfather; +Victor, for the Queen; Christian, for his Danish grandfather; and +Edward, for his father. Princess "Alix" was as eager to be with her +precious baby as the Queen had been to stay with her children, and she +looked like a mischievous child when she had succeeded in slipping away +from some grand company long enough to give baby "Eddie" his bath and +put him to bed. + +The little Princess Beatrice was scarcely more than a baby herself, but +she seems to have felt all the responsibility of being aunt to so many +small people. When she was hardly more than three years old, Princess +"Vicky's" second child was born, and then Prince Albert wrote of the +little girl to his eldest daughter, "That excellent lady has now not a +moment to spare. 'I have no time,' she says when she is asked for +anything. 'I must write letters to my niece!'" + +Around her and across the Channel were children in whom she was most +warmly interested, but the Queen's own childhood was rapidly growing +more distant, not only by the passing of time, but also by the death of +those who were most closely associated with her early days. Bishop +Davys died in 1864, and in 1865 the death of King Leopold occurred. He +was well called "the wisest king in Europe," and more than one dispute +between kingdoms had been left to him for settlement. He knew all the +royal secrets, and he made a judicious and kindly use of his knowledge. +Ever since the Queen's accession he had aided her with his counsel, and +now there was no one to whom she could look for disinterested advice. +In that same year the assassination of President Lincoln occurred. The +Queen was not satisfied with a formal telegram of regret; she wrote a +letter, not as the sovereign of England to the wife of the President, +but as one sorrowing woman to another, expressing her warm sympathy. + +Few people realized how much severe mental labor the Queen had to +endure. Often in the course of a single year many thousand papers were +presented to her, and of these there were few to which she did not have +to give close thought. For twenty-one years she had discussed +everything with Prince Albert, and when they had come to a conclusion, +he would, as in the _Trent_ affair, write whatever was necessary. +Then they would read the paper together and make any changes that +seemed best. After his death, the Queen had to do all this work alone. +She could wear the Kohinoor diamond, and she could build a +million-dollar palace if she chose, but there were few persons in the +kingdom who worked harder than she. What belonged strictly to matters +of state was more than enough for one person, but besides this there +were schools, hospitals, and bazaars to open, prizes to distribute and +corner-stones to lay. Then there were entertainments, fetes, +receptions, balls, etc., frequently in behalf of some good object, +whose success was sure if it could be said that the Queen would be +present. The Prince and Princess of Wales could not lessen the weight +of the public business that pressed so heavily upon the Queen, but they +could relieve her from the strain of these public appearances, and this +they did. They were both beloved by the people, but after the Queen had +lived for five years in retirement, some of her subjects began to +complain. + +"What has she to do," grumbled one, "but to wear handsome clothes, live +in a palace, and bow to people when she drives out?" + +"Yes," declared another, "she has nothing to do. Parliament makes the +laws, and she just writes her name." + +"She's good to her cottagers in the Highlands," said a Londoner, "but +she ought to care a little for the merchants here in London. Everybody +likes the Princess, but the Queen's the Queen, and there never were +such sales as when she was giving her fancy-dress balls." + +"She thinks of nothing but her own sorrow," said another. "She has lost +all sympathy with the people." + +This last speech was made at a public meeting. Mr. John Bright, the +"great peace statesman," was present, and he replied to it. His closing +words were, "A woman who can keep alive in her heart a great sorrow for +the lost object of her life and affection is not at all likely to be +wanting in a great and generous sympathy for you." + +Little by little the Queen learned the feelings of her people, and +she soon published a response which must have made the grumblers feel +ashamed. She said she was grateful for their wish to see her, but so +much was now thrown upon her which no one else could do that she was +overwhelmed with care and anxiety, and did not dare to undertake +"mere representation," lest she should become unable to fulfill the +duties which were of real importance to the nation. Some months +later, she wrote of herself in a private letter: "From the hour she +gets out of bed till she gets into it again, there is work, work, +work--letter-boxes, questions, etc., which are dreadfully +exhausting." + +The Queen wished sincerely not only to do what was best for the people, +but also to please them. She could not go to balls and theaters, but +early in 1866 she determined to open Parliament in person. The London +world rejoiced. They tried to imagine that the old days had come again, +and they put on their jewels and their most splendid robes. All the way +to the Parliament Building the streets were full of crowds who shouted +"Long live the Queen! Hurrah for the Queen!" In the House of Lords +there was a most brilliant assembly. Silks rustled and jewels sparkled +as all rose to welcome the sovereign. As she entered, the Prince of +Wales stepped forward and led her to the throne. The royal +Parliamentary robes with all their glitter of gold and glow of crimson +were laid upon it, for the Queen wore only mourning hues, a robe of +deep purple velvet, trimmed with white miniver. On her head was a Marie +Stuart cap of white lace, with a white gauze veil flowing behind. The +blue ribbon of the Garter was crossed over her breast, and around her +neck was a collar of diamonds. All the radiant look of happiness with +which those were familiar who had seen her on the throne before, was +gone. She was quiet and self-controlled, but grave and sad. Instead of +reading her speech, she gave it to the Lord Chamberlain. At its close, +she stepped down from the throne, kissed the Prince of Wales, and +walked slowly from the room. + +[Illustration: Houses of Parliament.] + +The Queen's two daughters, Helena and Louise, had attended her in +opening Parliament. This must have been a little embarrassing for the +older one, inasmuch as the Queen's address declared that the royal +permission had been given for the Princess Helena to marry Prince +Christian of Schleswig-Holstein; but members of the royal family cannot +always consult their own feelings. When they rule different countries, +it is not always easy for them even to remain friendly. The fact that +the Queen, her daughters, and her Danish daughter-in-law were as fond +of one another at the end of 1866 as they were at the beginning of 1864 +is proof that the English royal family were very harmonious. Trouble +had arisen between Denmark and the German states in regard to the +duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, and in 1864 war had broken out between +the little kingdom of Denmark and the united powers of Prussia and +Austria. Both countries were anxious to win the help of England. +Princess "Vicky" and Princess Alice naturally sympathized with the +German states; while Princess Alexandra's affection was of course with +her own home land, which had now become her father's kingdom. The +Emperor of France did not wish to have the German states increase in +power, and he was ready to help Denmark, provided England would stand +by him. England was willing, but England's sovereign would not hear to +any talk of war with Germany, and the Ministers hesitated to act +against her decided opposition. Of course the Danish Princess was +grieved that the Queen would not consent to help her beloved country. +Bismarck was the German statesman who was pushing on the war, therefore +he was the man who was most abhorrent to the Princess of Wales. There +is a story that the Queen had promised the little Beatrice a present, +and that when she asked, "What shall it be?" the wee maiden, who had +been carefully tutored by her sister-in-law, replied demurely, "Please, +mamma, I'd like the head of Bismarck on a charger." + +Two years later, there was a still more difficult condition of affairs +in the Queen's family, for now that Prussia and Austria held the +Schleswig-Holstein duchies, it was a question to which of the two +powers they should belong; and to complicate matters even more, +Princess Helena had married Prince Christian. Prussia and the north +German states held together, and Austria joined the forces of the south +German states. Prince "Fritz" belonged to the north and Prince Louis to +the south, and therefore the husbands of the two English Princesses +were obliged to fight on opposite sides. The war lasted for only seven +weeks, but it was an anxious time for Queen Victoria, who shared so +fully in the troubles of her daughters. Princess Alice's two little +girls were sent to England to be safe in her care, but in the midst of +the war, a third little daughter was born. The boom of the distant guns +was heard as she lay in her cradle in Darmstadt. Wounded men were being +brought into the town, and the residents were fleeing in all +directions. By and by the end came, and then the little dark-eyed baby +was named Irene, or peace. Never before had a child so many godfathers, +for when Prince Louis said farewell to his cavalry, he delighted them +by asking the two regiments, officers and men, to be sponsors to his +little girl. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MOTHER AND EMPRESS + + +While the German wars were going on the Queen was thinking for her +country as a sovereign and feeling for her children as a mother. In the +midst of all the claims upon her, she had one aim that she never +forgot, and that was to make her country understand and appreciate the +talents and character of Prince Albert. She concluded to have a book +prepared that should tell the story of his life, for she felt that no +one who really knew him could fail to honor him. When the first volume +was published, even her children were surprised that she should tell +matters of her own private life so fully; but she loved and trusted her +people, and she was as frank with them as she would have been with an +intimate friend. + +The year after this book was brought out, the Queen herself became the +author of a book, "Our Life in the Highlands." It is made up of +extracts from the journal which she always kept. "Simple records," she +calls them, but they often give charming pictures of the merry times at +Balmoral. Sir Arthur Helps aided her in preparing the book for the +press. "He often scolds me," she said, "because I am careless in +writing; but how could he expect me to take pains when I wrote late at +night, suffering from headache and exhaustion, and in dreadful haste?" +She arranged to have Sir Theodore Martin complete the life of the +Prince, and she spent much time in arranging her husband's papers and +letters for him to use. She generally chose the selections to be +inserted, and she read every chapter as it was written. + +About her own authorship the Queen was very modest, and when she sent a +copy of her book to Dickens, she wrote in it, "From the humblest of +writers to one of the greatest." At Sir Walter Scott's home, she was +asked to write her name in his journal; and, although she granted the +request, she wrote in her own journal, "I felt it a presumption in me." +When Carlyle met her, he said, "It is impossible to imagine a politer +little woman; nothing the least imperious, all gentle, all sincere; +makes you feel too (if you have any sense in you) that she is Queen." + +Her being Queen gave her a peculiar power over the marriages of her +children, for they were not legal unless she gave her formal consent. +Early in 1871 she was called upon again to exercise her right, for far +up in the hills about Balmoral there was a momentous little interview +between the Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne. "Princess Louise +is so bright and jolly to talk with," one of the Scotch boys had said +of her when she was a very young girl, and this Scotch Marquis was of +exactly the same opinion. + +The Queen had guessed before how matters stood with her daughter and +the gentleman whom she had once called "such a merry, independent +child." The young man had proved his independence by asking for the +hand of the Princess, inasmuch as it was three hundred years since a +member of the royal family had married a subject, but the Queen paid no +attention to tradition. She felt sure that the Marquis would make her +daughter happy, and that was enough. Most of her subjects agreed with +her; and one of the newspapers said jubilantly, "The old dragon +Tradition was routed by a young sorcerer called Love." + +The wedding was celebrated at Windsor. It was a brilliant scene, of +course, and if all the gentlemen were arrayed as vividly as the Duke of +Argyll, the father of the bridegroom, the ladies did not monopolize +gorgeousness of attire. The Duke was a Scottish chieftain, and he +appeared in Highland dress. His kilt and the plaid thrown over his +shoulders were of the gay Campbell tartan. His claymore, a broad +two-handed sword, was at his side, and in front there hung from his +belt a sporran, or deep pouch made of skin with the hair or fur on the +outside. His dirk sparkled with jewels. Altogether he might have +stepped out of some resplendent assemblage of the middle ages. After +the wedding breakfast, the bride laid aside her white satin and Honiton +lace and arrayed herself in a traveling dress of Campbell plaid. The +carriage door was closed, and the young couple drove away for Claremont +in a little shower of white slippers, accompanied, according to +Highland tradition, by a new broom, which was sure to bring happiness +to the new household. + +The Queen's daughters were now in homes of their own except the +Princess Beatrice, a merry little girl of fourteen, who had been +radiantly happy in her new pink satin at her sister's wedding. The +Queen was devoted to her children, but it would have been easier for +her to pass through the next few years if she had been all sovereign +and not woman. War broke out between France and Germany, and both +Prince "Fritz" and Prince Louis were in the field. Anxious as she was +for them, she was even more troubled for the Princess Alice, who was +really in quite as much danger as if she had been in the army. For +several years she had been deeply interested in lessening the +sufferings of the poor in times of illness; and in providing trained +nurses for wounded soldiers. While this war was in progress, she not +only went to the hospitals daily, but she brought the wounded men to +her own house and cared for them herself. She was exposed over and over +again to typhus fever and other diseases, but she seemed to be entirely +without fear. One of her friends describes seeing her help to lift a +soldier who was very ill of smallpox. + +Princess Alice little thought of what value her skill in nursing would +be to her own family, but near the end of 1871, the Prince of Wales was +taken ill with typhoid fever, and her help was of the utmost value. It +was just ten years before that Prince Albert had died of the same +disease, and to the anxious Queen every day was an anniversary. She +hastened to the home of the Prince at Sandringham, and when she saw how +ill he was, she sent at once for the other members of the family. The +days passed slowly. One day he seemed a little better, and there was +rejoicing, as the telegraph flashed the news not only over England, but +to Canada, India, to every part of the world. Then came a day of +hopelessness. The Queen mother watched every symptom. "Can you not save +him?" she pleaded; and all the physicians could answer was, "You must +be prepared for the worst. We fear that the end is near." + +Bulletins were sent out to the public every hour or two. All London +seemed to tremble with fear and anxiety. Stores were open, but there +was little of either buying or selling. Day and night the citizens +crowded the streets in front of the newspaper offices. They talked of +no one but the Prince. + +"He's a good boy to his mother," said one, "and she'll miss him +sorely." + +"He's living yet, God bless him, and perhaps after all he'll mend," +declared another of more hopeful spirit. + +"Did you ever hear that when he was a little chap and his tutor was +going to leave him, the young man couldn't go into his room without +finding a little present on his pillow or perhaps a note from the +little boy saying how much he should miss him?" + +"It'll kill the Queen," said one man. "The poor woman's had all she can +bear, and she'll never go through this." + +"And the Prince's boy's but eight years old," declared another. +"There'll be a regent for ten years, and no one can say what harm will +come to the country in that time." + +So the days passed. The fourteenth of December came, the anniversary of +the day on which the Prince Consort had died. The Prince breathed and +that was all. The people about the offices were hushed. Everyone +dreaded to hear the next message, but when it came, it said "Better." +London hardly dared to rejoice, but the Prince continued to gain, and +at last the Queen joyfully granted the wish of her people and appointed +a Thanksgiving Day. The special service was held at St. Paul's Church, +and there were many tears of joy when the Queen walked up the nave +between the Prince and the Princess of Wales. + +After the religious ceremony was over, the guns roared out the delight +of the people, and a wild excitement of happiness began. At night St. +Paul's was illuminated, and everyone was jubilant. The Queen was deeply +touched and pleased with the warm sympathy shown by her subjects, and a +day or two later she sent a little letter to be published in the papers +to tell them how happy they had made her. + +Only two days after this letter was written, there was a great alarm, +for when the Queen went out to drive a young fellow sprang towards the +carriage and aimed a pistol at her. He was seized in a moment and +proved to be a half-crazed boy of seventeen whose pistol had neither +powder nor bullet. Most of the Queen's personal attendants were +Highlanders, and one of them, John Brown, had thrown himself between +her and what he supposed was the bullet of an assassin. Both the Queen +and Prince Albert were always most appreciative of faithful service, +and looked upon it as something which money could not buy. She had been +thinking of having special medals made to give to her servants who +deserved a special reward, and she now gave the first one to John +Brown. With the medal went an annuity of $125. + +John Brown seemed to have no thought but for the Queen. To serve her +and care for her was his one interest. He cared nothing about court +manners, and was perhaps the only person in the land who dared to find +fault with its sovereign to her face. Statesmen would bow meekly before +her, but the Scotchman always spoke his mind. He even ventured to +criticise her clothes. The Queen never did care very much for fine +raiment, and in her journal where she narrates so minutely as to +mention the fact that a glass of water was brought her, she describes +her dress merely as "quite thin things." John Brown thought nothing was +good enough for his royal mistress. "What's that thing ye've got on?" +he would demand with most evident disapproval, if a cloak or gown was +not up to his notion of what she ought to wear; and this Queen, who +knew so well what was due to her position, knew also that honest +affection is better than courtly manners, and kept Brown in close +attendance. She built several little picnic cottages far up in the +hills, where she and some of her children would often go for a few days +when they were at Balmoral. There is a story that when she was staying +at one of these cottages, she wished to go out to sketch. A table was +brought her, but it was too high. The next was too low, and the third +was not solid enough to stand firmly. So far John Brown had not +interfered, but now he brought back one of the tables and said bluntly, +"They canna make one for you up here." The Queen laughed and found that +it would answer very well. + +One cannot help wondering what Queen Victoria's guests thought of her +attendant's blunt ways, but they must have often envied her his honest +devotion. In 1872 and 1873 she had several very interesting visitors. +One of them was David Livingstone, the African explorer. + +"What do the people in the wilderness ask you?" queried the Queen. + +"They ask many questions," he replied, "but perhaps the one I hear +oftenest is, 'Is your Queen very rich?' and when I say 'Yes,' they ask, +'How rich is she? how many cows does she own?'" + +Other visitors were a group of envoys from the King of Burmah, a +monarch with such strict regard for what he looked upon as royal +etiquette that he would not allow the British representative to come +into his presence unless the indignant Englishman took off his shoes +before attempting to enter the audience room. His letter to the Queen +began with the flourishes that would be expected from so punctilious a +potentate: "From His Great, Glorious, and Most Excellent Majesty, King +of the Rising Sun, who reigns over Burmah, to Her Most Glorious and +Excellent Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland." He +sent among other gifts a gold bracelet which must have been of more +value than use, for it weighed seven pounds. + +The guest who made the greatest sensation was the Shah of Persia. For +more than two months he was on his way to England, and the nearer he +came, the more wild were the fancies that people had about him. The +newspapers were full of stories about his dagger, whose diamonds were +so dazzling, they said, that one might as well gaze at the midday sun. +They told amazing tales about the pocket money which he had brought +with him, some putting the amount as $2,500,000, others as $25,000,000. +"When he walks about, jewels fall upon the ground," one newspaper +declared. "He wears a black velvet tunic all sprinkled with diamonds, +and he has epaulets of emeralds as big as walnuts," romanced another. + +The curiosity seekers were disappointed when he appeared, though it +would seem as if he had enough jewelry to make himself worth at least a +glance, for up and down his coat were rows of rubies and diamonds. He +wore a scimitar, and that, together with his belt and cap, was +sparkling with precious stones, while his fingers were loaded with +rings. + +The Queen came from Balmoral to welcome him. Whether she gave him the +formal kiss that was expected between sovereigns, the accounts do not +state, but all sorts of entertainments were arranged for him, a great +ball, a review of artillery, an Italian opera, and many other +amusements. He was much interested in the review, and the troops must +have been interested in him, for he rode an Arab horse whose tail had +been dyed a bright pink. At this review one of the newspaper stories +proved very nearly true, for a member of the Persian suite fell from +his horse and really did scatter diamonds about him on the grass. After +a visit of a little more than two weeks, the Shah bade farewell to +England. Before his departure there was an exchange of courtesies +between himself and the Queen. She made him a knight of the Garter, and +he made her a member of a Persian order which he had just instituted +for ladies. The Queen gave him a badge and collar of the Garter, set in +diamonds; and he returned the gift by presenting her with his +photograph in a circle of diamonds. + +In the midst of this entertainment and display, the tender heart of the +Queen was more than once deeply grieved by the death of dear friends. +The cherished Feodore, the Princess Hohenlohe, died; then the Queen +lost Dr. McLeod, the Scotch clergyman who had so helped and comforted +her in her troubles. Hardly two months had passed after his death +before heart-broken letters came from Darmstadt. Princess Alice had +been away for a short time, counting the hours before she could be with +her children again. At last she was at home with them and happy. The +two little boys were brought to her chamber one morning, and as she +stepped for a moment into the adjoining room, one of them, "Frittie," +fell from the window to the stone terrace, and died in a few hours. The +heart-broken mother longed to go to her own mother for comfort in her +trouble, but she could not leave her home, neither could the Queen come +to her. + +Warm, tender words of sympathy came from England, from a Queen mother +who well knew what sorrow meant. "Can you bear to play on the piano +yet?" she asked some three months after the accident; for it was long +after the death of Prince Albert before she herself could endure the +sound of music. Princess Alice replied, "It seems as if I never could +play again on that piano, where little hands were nearly always thrust +when I wanted to play. Ernie asked, 'Why can't we all die together? I +don't like to die alone, like Frittie.'" + +While the heart of the Queen was aching with sympathy for her daughter, +she had also to attend to arrangements for the marriage of her sailor +son "Affie," now Duke of Edinburgh, with the daughter of the Emperor of +Russia. She herself could not go to the wedding at St. Petersburg, but +she asked Dean Stanley to go and perform the English ceremony; for as +the bride was a member of the Greek Church, there was a double rite. To +Dean Stanley's wife she sent a mysterious little parcel containing two +sprigs of myrtle, and with it a letter which asked her to put them into +warm water, and when the wedding day came, to place them in a bouquet +of white flowers for the bride. The myrtle had grown from the slip in +the bridal bouquet of the Princess Royal, and in the five marriages of +royal children that had preceded this one, each bride had carried a bit +of the bush. + +When the bride reached Balmoral, a company of volunteers in kilts were +waiting to receive her. Just beyond were the tenants on the Queen's +estate, all in their best clothes. The pipers were present, of course, +and the best clothes of the Queen's pipers were well worth seeing. The +kilt was of Stuart plaid, and the tunic of black velvet. Over the +shoulder was a silver chain from which hung a silver powder horn. The +bag for the pipe was of blue velvet. Ornaments were worn wherever there +was a place for them, but the only jewels were cairngorms, and they +were always set in silver. The shoes had heavy silver buckles. The +bride and all her royal friends drove to the castle, where their health +was drunk by a merry company. The end of the Queen's account of this +reception of royalty sounds delightfully simple and homelike. "We took +Marie and Alfred to their rooms downstairs," she says, "and sat with +them while they had their tea." + +In so large a family as that of the Queen there was always a birth or a +marriage, a coming or a going. Not long after the marriage of his +brother Alfred, the Prince of Wales left England to spend some months +in India. This journey was not a pleasure trip, it had a state purpose, +and that was to pay honor to the native princes who had aided the +English in their efforts to govern India. The Prince was well +accustomed to being received with cheering and the firing of guns, but +his Indian reception was something entirely new. At one place +twenty-four elephants painted in different colors trumpeted a greeting. +In another, which was ruled by a lady, the sovereign met him, but she +could hardly be said to have made her appearance, for her face was +thickly veiled. At still another he was carried up a hill in a superb +chair made of silver and gold. There was a boar hunt, an antelope hunt, +and an elephant fight; there was a marvelously beautiful illumination +of surf; there were addresses presented by people of all shades of +complexion and all varieties of costume, often so magnificent that some +one called the wearers "animated nuggets." + +This visit of the Prince of Wales was followed by the Queen's +assumption of the title of Empress of India. There was a vast amount of +talk about the new title, for many English thought that it was foolish +and childish to make any change. On the other hand, "Empress" was the +proper title for a woman who ruled over many kings, even kings of +India. There were stories afloat that one reason why the Queen wished +to become an Empress was because the Russian Princess, who was the +daughter of an Emperor, had claimed precedence over the English +Princesses, who were only the daughters of a Queen. However that may +be, the title was formally assumed in 1876. It was proclaimed in India +with all magnificence. Sixty-three princes were present to hear the +proclamation. There were thousands of troops and long lines of +elephants. A throne that was a vision of splendor was built high up +above the plain; and on this sat the viceroy of the Queen, who received +the honors intended for her. + +Queen Victoria was much pleased with the new title, and soon began to +sign her name "Victoria, R.I.," for "Regina et Imperatrix," to all +documents, though it had been expected that she would affix it to her +signature only when signing papers relating to India. Another title +which she enjoyed was that of "Daughter of the Regiment." The Duke of +Kent had been in command of the "Royal Scots" at the time of her birth +and therefore they looked upon her as having been "born in the +regiment." In the autumn of this same year she presented them with new +colors, and there was a little ceremony which delighted her because it +was evidently so sincere. There was first a salute, then marching and +countermarching, while the band played old marches that were her +favorites, among them one from the "Fille du Regiment," to hint that +she belonged especially to them. Then there was perfect silence. Two +officers knelt before her, and she presented them with the new colors, +first making a little speech. The Royal Scots were greatly pleased, +because in her speech she said, "I have been associated with your +regiment from my earliest infancy, and I was always taught to consider +myself a soldier's child." In spite of her many years' experience in +making short speeches and of her perfect calmness in public in her +earlier years, the Queen was never quite at ease in speaking to an +audience after Prince Albert died, and she said of this occasion, "I +was terribly nervous." She never ceased to miss the supporting presence +of the Prince, and she wrote pitifully of her first public appearance +after his death, "There was no one to direct me and to say, as +formerly, what was to be done." + +The Queen was soon to feel even more lonely, for late in the autumn of +1878 there came a time of intense anxiety, then of the deepest sorrow. +Princess Alice's husband and children were attacked by diphtheria. +"Little Sunshine," as her youngest daughter was called in the home, +died after three days' illness. The mother hid her grief as best she +could that the other children should not know of their loss. Three +weeks later, she too was taken with the same disease, and died on the +seventeenth anniversary of her father's death. Little children and poor +peasant women of Hesse were among those who laid flowers on her bier +and shared in the grief of the sorrowing monarch across the Channel. + +The Queen had built a cairn at Balmoral in memory of the Prince +Consort. Others had been built from time to time, one rising merrily +with laughing and dancing to commemorate the purchase of the estate; +others erected to mark the date of the marriage of the sons and +daughters of the house. To these a granite cross was now added to the +memory of the beloved daughter, "By her sorrowing mother, Queen +Victoria," said the inscription. + +So it was that the happy circle of sons and daughters was first broken; +so it was that the years of the Queen passed on, full of the joys and +sorrows that seemed to come to her almost hand in hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE JUBILEE SEASON + + +With the exception of Prince Alfred, the Queen's children had married +according to the German proverb, "The oldest must leave the house +first." The next in age was Prince Arthur, or the Duke of Connaught. He +married in 1879 Princess Louise of Prussia with the usual magnificent +display at St. George's Chapel. The real home welcome, however, was +awaiting them at Balmoral, where they arrived a few months later. When +the train came to a standstill, there stood the Queen and Princess +Beatrice, with the Royal Scots for a guard of honor. The Queen gave the +bride a bouquet of heather, and they set off for the castle. At the end +of the Balmoral bridge was an arch of moss and heather with a motto in +flowers, "Welcome to Balmoral." There stood the castle guests, and +there were all the tenants, the women in their Sunday clothes, the men +in kilts, and the pipers playing their best and loudest, while the +children tossed flowers into the carriages and shouted their welcome. + +Of course a cairn had been begun in honor of the marriage, and two or +three days later the happy party went to visit it, the Queen on her +pony and the others walking. There was a speech of congratulation made, +and the health of the young people was drunk. "The health of the +Princess Beatrice ought to be drunk," Brown declared, and that was done +with so many cheers that even the dogs objected to the tumult and began +to bark. After the cheering, each one of the party walked up to the +cairn and laid a stone upon it. One of the stones in the foundation was +already marked with the names of the Duke and Duchess and the date of +their marriage. + +Three years later St. George's Chapel was again ablaze with the +splendor of another royal wedding, that of Prince Leopold, the eighth +child of the Queen, to Princess Helene of Waldeck-Pyrmont. In the +evening a state banquet was given, and some of the guests were much +amazed when, just before the Queen was to rise from the table, her two +Scotch pipers in their full Highland costume appeared at the door and +marched twice around the room, playing merry Scottish airs. + +The home of the newly married couple was to be at Claremont, the place +where the little Princess Victoria had so enjoyed herself. It had been +granted to King Leopold when he married Princess Charlotte, but on his +death it again became the property of the Crown. The Queen now bought +it for the King's namesake. She had given to her son the title of Duke +of Albany, and some of the superstitious among her subjects shook their +heads at that, for so many who had borne the title had met with +misfortune or even with early death. + +The wedding celebrations were hardly over before the Queen's thoughts +were centered upon Egypt. The Khedive of Egypt was a great borrower, +and to fill his ever empty purse he had offered England some seven +years previously his shares in the Suez Canal for $20,000,000. England +had been very ready to buy them and also to guarantee that people who +had loaned money to this spendthrift should not lose their interest. In +1882 some of the Khedive's subjects rebelled against him and got +control of the government. To maintain taxation and so pay the promised +interest, England must support the Khedive and put down the rebels. + +The Queen hated war as badly as her predecessor Elizabeth, but as soon +as she saw that it was necessary, she had no patience with delay or +poor preparation. She sent directions continually to the War Office, +now about arms, now about blankets or food or the comforts that would +be needed in the hospitals. She never had the slightest sympathy with +indecision or lack of promptness, and the moment that she thought of +something that ought to be done for her soldiers, she sent a message to +the Minister of War. During one day she sent him seventeen. + +[Illustration: Windsor Castle.] + +The troops sailed. Telegrams were frequent, and on a Monday morning in +September there came to Balmoral one marked "Very secret." It was +written in cipher and said, "Determined to attack the enemy with a +large force on Wednesday." There could be no report of the battle for +two days at least, but the Queen and her family tried hard to be brave +and cheerful. More than once the Queen slipped away from them to pray +that her son might return to her in safety, for the Duke of Connaught +was in Egypt in command of a brigade. Wednesday morning a telegram +came, "The army marched out last night." A second arrived a little +later, "The enemy has been routed at Tel-el-Kebir, but fighting is +going on." "Louischen," the wife of the Duke, was with the Queen. They +could think of nothing but the husband and son, far away beside the +Nile. Any moment might be the fatal one. They almost fancied they could +hear the boom of the cannon. Never was a morning so long, but at last +the word came, "A great victory; Duke safe and well; led his brigade to +the attack." The Queen hurried to find "Louischen," and threw her arms +about her neck. "How glad and proud and thankful we can be!" she +exclaimed with tears, not of sorrow but of joy. + +That afternoon the Duke of Albany and his wife arrived, and then there +was a double rejoicing. After the drinking of healths of bride and +bridegroom, John Brown stepped forward and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, +let us join in a good Highland cheer for the Duke and Duchess of +Albany; may they live long and die happy!" and then there was such +cheering as made the woods and hills ring. + +Twenty-six years before, when word had come of the fall of Sebastopol, +a bonfire had been lighted on the top of Craig Gowan, and now there was +another in honor of the Egyptian victory. It was very dark, but no one +cared for that. The two princesses and many of the people in the house +walked up to the top of the hill with the pipes playing jubilantly. +There the bonfire was lighted, and the Queen watched from the windows +and listened to the pipes and the cheering. When the princesses came +down, they all had a little supper together "in Louischen's room." + +With all these family celebrations, indeed with almost every action of +the Queen's life, John Brown was closely associated. In private and in +public he was the attendant of his sovereign, ever on the watch to save +her, not only from danger, but from the least annoyance. On one +occasion, the Queen's carriage stopped in a village after dark, and +curious people thronged about. One man actually held up a lantern to +get a plainer view of her face, but all that met his eyes was the +rugged, determined features of John Brown, for the faithful man had +calmly put himself between the Queen and her inquisitive subject. On +another occasion, a woman pushed up to the carriage and stood leaning +upon the wheel and staring at the Queen. John Brown thought it a waste +of courtesy to be gentle with such a person, and he growled "Be off +with you!" like an angry policeman to a crowd of troublesome +ragamuffins. In 1883 this faithful servant died. There could hardly +have been a time when the Queen had more need of him, for by a fall on +the staircase at Windsor she had become unable to walk or even to +stand. + +During the months of her lameness, she prepared for publication a +volume of extracts from her journal for 1862 to 1882. The dedication +read, "To My Loyal Highlanders, and especially to the memory of my +devoted personal attendant, John Brown." She was as modest about this +book as about the first one, and with the copy that she presented to +Tennyson she sent an almost shy little note saying, "Though a very +humble and unpretending author, I send you my new book, which perhaps +you may like to glance at. Its only merit is its simplicity and truth." + +The Queen's lameness did not prevent her from making her usual spring +visit to Balmoral in 1884, but the most unusual precautions were taken +to insure her safety. Within two or three years the Emperor of Russia +had been assassinated, and in London several attempts had been made +recently to blow up public buildings with dynamite. Generally when the +Queen traveled, her time-table was known, and people were at every +station to give her welcome. An engine was always sent before the train +to make sure that the road was clear, but this time, however, the +time-tables were kept secret, and no spectators were allowed to gather +at the stations. Men were usually at work on the road, averaging one to +every half-mile. These men were now supplied with flags to wave as the +train came in sight. If the engineer saw a white flag, he knew the way +was clear for half a mile; but if the red one was waved, he knew there +was danger or some obstruction ahead, and that he must stop at once. + +The Queen was still so much of an invalid that she could stand only a +few minutes when the day came that she had to be told of the sudden +death of her youngest son. He was the only one of the nine children who +had not been strong, but the Queen loved him all the better for his +sufferings. He was much like his father in mind, and she had hoped that +he would be able to act as her private secretary. Even when he was ill, +he was so merry and unselfish that all who saw him loved him. He never +seemed to realize that there was anything in him to call out their +affection and he once said very simply, "I can't think why people +should always be so kind to me." + +The Queen felt that the joy had gone from her life, but she sent to her +people the message, "I will labor on as long as I can for the sake of +my children and for the good of the country I love so well." + +The government of her country gave her little pleasure at that time, +for in spite of all that she could do, grave trouble was arising from +what she believed was the mistaken course of her Ministers. Egypt had +been pacified three years before, but there was revolt in the Soudan. A +man named Mohammed had gone about among the wild Arabs declaring, "I am +the prophet who was to follow the great Mohammed. For twelve hundred +years the world has been awaiting me. Come and fight under my banner." +Thousands rose to join him, and Mohammed, or the Mahdi, as he was +called, led them against the Khedive. That ruler was helpless to +repulse them. England was responsible for the good order of his +country, and the Ministers debated the question long and seriously, +what to do in Egypt. + +"Let us send troops to the Soudan and suppress the rebellion," advised +one. + +"That is what the Queen wishes," said another, "but it may be that the +Soudan is not worth so many lives as would be wasted in conquering the +rebels." + +"It is not," declared another positively. "Let us attempt nothing but +to keep the Mahdi out of Egypt." + +"But what of our English and Egyptian garrisons in the Soudan?" That +was a grave question, and a long discussion followed. The government +then in power was ready to do almost anything to avoid war. The Queen +looked upon the matter differently. She was now no girl of eighteen, +she was a woman with nearly fifty years' experience in dealing with +nations civilized and nations uncivilized. She believed that it was +best to hold on to the Soudan; but since her Ministers were determined +to abandon it to the revolters, she saw that the only thing to do was +to lose no time in confronting the Mahdi with an army so overwhelmingly +superior to his own forces that he would not dare to attack the +garrisons. + +The Ministers did not agree with her. "General Gordon has already shown +that he knows how to manage the people of the Soudan," they said, "and +he will be able to persuade the Mahdi to let the garrisons go free." + +"With an army to support him, yes," said the Queen; "but alone, no." + +Nevertheless, General Gordon was sent to cross the desert almost alone. +In spite of all that the brave commander could do, the Mahdi could not +be persuaded to let the garrisons go, and soon the envoy himself was +shut up in Khartoum. "Help us," he pleaded with England. "Send us +troops." Still the government delayed, in spite of the Queen's +warnings. No help came, and General Gordon then sent a messenger to beg +private parties in the British colonies and the United States for money +to organize a relief expedition; but the messengers were captured and +put to death. The Queen urged and insisted that relief should be given, +and the people insisted with her. Troops were sent at last, and they +hastened on till they were only a mile and a half from Khartoum. But +they were forty-eight hours too late, for the city had fallen, and +General Gordon had been slain. + +Queen Victoria was a constitutional monarch. She had stood firmly by +her Ministers ever since the Bedchamber Plot of the first year of her +reign; but she was also a woman, a loving, tender-hearted woman, and +she wrote to General Gordon's sister a letter in which sympathy for her +loss and indignation for the "stain left upon England" were mingled. +She said: + + "DEAR MISS GORDON, + + "How shall I write to you, or how shall I attempt to express what + I feel! To think of your dear, noble, heroic brother, who served + his country and his Queen so truly, so heroically, with a + self-sacrifice so edifying to the world, not having been rescued! + That the promises of support were not fulfilled--which I so + frequently and constantly pressed on those who asked him to go--is + to me grief inexpressible." + +General Gordon's diary was found and sent to his sister. Its last entry +was, "I have done my best for the honor of our country. Good-by." His +Bible was presented by his sister to the Queen. It was placed on a +cushion of white satin in an exquisite casket of carved crystal with +silver mountings. "This is one of my greatest treasures," the Queen +often said, as she sadly pointed it out to her friends. + +The Queen was aroused from her sorrow over what she ever looked upon as +a disgrace to her country by the approaching marriage of Princess +Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg. Their wedding was quite +different from those of the other royal children, for it was celebrated +at the country church near Osborne. No one knew how to manage a royal +wedding in a little village church, and there were all sorts of +momentous questions to be settled before the arrangements were +complete. It all came out well in the end, however. There was not room +for quite so many royalties as usual, but the wedding day was a +delightful holiday for the people of the Isle of Wight, for there were +fireworks, bands, a dinner and a dance for all the tenants and servants +on the estate, and a most beautiful display of sailing vessels and +steamers. Tennyson's home was on the Isle of Wight, and the Queen sent +him a charmingly informal invitation to the wedding. "It would give me +the greatest pleasure," she wrote, "if you would come over for the +wedding in our village church, but I fear you won't do that? But pray +come and see me when all is quiet again." Tennyson did not attend the +wedding, but the Princess must have counted among her choicest gifts +his message, "To the royal bride the old poet sends his blessing." This +marriage alone of all those in the royal family was not to bring +separation, for it was agreed that the Princess and Prince Henry should +remain with the Queen. + +This Queen and Empress had now been on the throne for nearly half a +century, and throughout her dominions there was a feeling that so rare +an event ought to be celebrated with fitting magnificence. The Jubilee +feeling was in the air. Every town and every little village wished to +mark the time by something that should remain as a lasting memorial. +Libraries, hospitals, and museums were founded, and parks were +purchased and thrown open to the public. Memorial clocks, statues, +schools, and towers sprang into being in every corner of the land, and +in all the colonies. "God Save the Queen" was sung in Hindustanee on +the shores of Asia and in Hebrew in the synagogues of London. Addresses +of congratulation and loyalty came in by the score; representatives of +all the colonies flocked to England, as sons and daughters hastened +homeward to a family gathering. + +The part to be taken in the celebration by associations, cities, and +kingdoms had all been planned when it occurred to the editor of one of +the London newspapers that nobody had remembered the children. "Let us +give the boys and girls of London a feast and an entertainment in Hyde +Park," he suggested. "You can't do it," declared the grumblers. "It is +a foolish, wicked scheme. There will be a crush, accidents will happen, +and hundreds will be injured." Nevertheless, people subscribed so +generously that soon all the money needed had been provided. When the +children came to the Park, they were taken in groups to great tents; +and when they came out, each one had a paper bag which contained "a +meat pie, a piece of cake, a bun, and an orange." Their little hands +must have been full, for besides the eatables, each one received a +little medallion portrait of the Queen and a Jubilee mug. The mugs saw +hard service among the thirsty little folk, for all day milk, lemonade, +and ginger beer were free to every child who presented his empty mug. +The children were amused by all sorts of games and shows. Dukes and +princes and representatives of powerful kingdoms came to see the good +time; and at last the Queen herself came and gave a special greeting, +not to the grown folk, but every word of it to the children. Long +before bedtime had come, every one of the twenty-seven thousand small +people was safe in his own home, and the grumblers grumbled no more. + +June 21, 1887, was "Jubilee Day." Fifty years had passed since the +young girl had been aroused from her sleep to hear that she was Queen +of a mighty nation; and now, in all the glory of her half century of +successful sovereignty, she was to go to Westminster Abbey to thank God +for his help and protection. + +She now represented, not a kingdom, but an enormous empire, and every +corner of it wished to do her honor. The streets of London were spanned +by triumphal arches. They were made into a fairyland of flowers, +banners, drapings of silk and velvet and tapestry. Staging for seats +had been put up all along the route, and every seat was filled. +Fabulous prices were paid for a house, a window or even a few square +inches on a rough plank. Thousands of people had been out since sunrise +to secure a place to see the grand procession; and at last it came in +sight, moving slowly toward the multitude that waited all a-tremble +with excitement and with devotion to the noble woman who was the symbol +of home and country. + +First came the carriages containing the dark-faced princes of India, +robed in cloth of gold, and shaded with turbans glittering with +priceless jewels. Many carriages followed, filled with kings, queens, +crown princes, and grand dukes. There were equerries, aides-de-camp, an +escort of Life Guards, and a guard of honor composed of princes riding +three abreast, the Queen's sons, grandsons, sons-in-law and +grandsons-in-law. Towering up among them was the superb figure of +Prince "Fritz," Crown Prince of a united Germany. His uniform was of +pure white, his helmet of burnished steel, and on it was the Prussian +eagle with outspread wings. At last the woman for whom all were waiting +came in sight. The splendid robes of her coronation were fifty years +behind her, but even in her plainer dress she looked every inch a +queen. The Princess Alexandra and the Crown Princess of Germany were +with her. For twenty-five years the sovereign had so rarely appeared in +public that to her subjects this was more than a mere royal procession, +it was the coming back to them of their Queen. A great wave of devotion +and loyalty swept over the hearts of the throng. "Not _the_ Queen, but +_my_ Queen," they said to themselves, and such a greeting was given her +as few monarchs have received. + +The Abbey had been filled long before. Rich strains of music were +coming from the organ. There was a moment's silence, then the silver +trumpets of the heralds were blown, and the church resounded with +Handel's march from the "Occasional Oratorio." The Queen entered. She +was preceded by archbishops, bishops, and deans, all in the most +elaborate vestments of their offices. The guard of royal princes walked +slowly up the nave, three abreast, the Prince of Wales and his two +brothers coming last. Slowly the Queen to whom all the world was doing +honor, ascended the steps of the throne. The vast assemblage was +hushed, and stood for a moment with heads bowed in reverence. + +A short, simple service followed of praise and thanksgiving. Then her +sons and daughters, who had been grouped around the Queen, came forward +one at a time to bow before her and kiss her hand. As they rose, she +gave each of them a kiss, not of state, but of warm, motherly affection +that in this crowning moment of her career could not be satisfied with +the restrictions of ceremony. + +That evening there were fireworks and illuminations in all the +principal cities. England shone literally from shore to shore, for a +beacon fire was lighted on Malvern Hills, and in a moment, as its +distant gleam shone on other hills, other beacons blazed, till from +Land's End to the Shetland Islands it was rejoicingly written in +letters of fire that for fifty years the realm had been under the rule +of a pure and upright womanhood. + +At last the day was fully ended. "I am very happy," said the Queen; and +well she might be, for this day had shown her that she was sovereign, +not only of the land and its treasures, but of the loving hearts of her +subjects. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE QUEEN AND THE CHILDREN + + +There had been only one drawback to the Queen's happiness during the +Jubilee rejoicings, and that was the poor health of her favorite +son-in-law, the Crown Prince of Germany. In the procession he had +looked superbly well and strong, but his throat was giving him so much +trouble that he remained in England the rest of the year, hoping that a +change of climate would do him good. + +Everyone loved "Our Fritz," as he was called in Germany, both his own +countrymen and the English. His father, the Emperor, was over ninety +and so feeble that he could not possibly live many months. Ever since +that summer day on the hills of Balmoral when the Prince had given the +sprig of white heather to the maiden of his choice, the Queen had hoped +that Germany would unite under one emperor and that Prince Frederick +William would become its ruler. The German states had united, and it +was clear that the German throne would soon fall to her daughter's +husband; but the physicians declared that his disease was incurable. + +For several months the whole world watched for news of the beloved +Emperor and his equally beloved son. Early in 1888 the Emperor died, +and Queen Victoria's ambition of thirty years had come to pass; her +daughter was Empress of Germany. But it was a sad accession to a +throne, and the Queen forgot all about her ambitious hopes in her +daughter's grief and her own. Hardly a day passed that she did not send +some message of sympathy to the sorrowing wife. In three months the end +came. The Emperor "Fritz," whose sufferings had been none the less +because he sat on a throne, was dead. His son, the Frederick William +Victor Albert who had given his young uncles so much trouble at the +wedding of the Prince of Wales, now wore the German crown; but the +Queen, instead of rejoicing in her daughter's being Empress of Germany, +could only try as best she might to help her bear her loneliness. + +No one, whether Princess Royal or Highland cottager, ever appealed to +the Queen for sympathy in vain. She was always especially interested in +the sick. In her Jubilee year, the women of England made her a present +of $375,000, and she gave almost all of it to found an institute which +should provide trained nurses for the poor in their own homes. When +injured soldiers returned to England, she was never weary of going to +see them, of walking down the long rows of beds, saying to one man, "I +am afraid you are in great pain," to another, "England owes much to her +brave soldiers." If she only asked "Where were you wounded?" or looked +at a sufferer with that peculiarly sweet smile of which everyone spoke +and which the photographers could never catch, he was content. Some of +the hospital patients almost believed that her coming would cure them. + +"Oh, it does hurt so," sobbed one little girl in a ward for children, +"but if the Queen would only come and see me, I know I'd be well." + +"Perhaps she will," said the nurse. + +"No," cried the little one. "She went right by the door." + +Somehow word was carried to the Queen that a little girl who had been +terribly burned was crying to see her. + +"Is there another ward that I have not visited?" she asked. + +"Yes, Madam," answered the Doctor, "but it is at the extreme end of the +hospital." + +"Never mind," replied the Queen. "I will go and see the child." + +After this visit the little girl who had been so honored was the envy +of all the other children as she told over and over her story of the +royal visit. "She came down just to see me," said the little one, "the +Doctor told me she did. She put her hand right on my forehead and she +said, 'I have a little granddaughter about as old as you, and I hope +you will soon be able to run about as she does.' And then she said +'Good-by,' and she said, 'I shall come to see you again.' I wish she +would come to-morrow." + +All her life Queen Victoria was fond of children. She liked even the +little boy who declared stoutly, "No, I don't like you because you cut +Mary Queen of Scots' head off." When she first became Queen, she always +managed to have some little folks staying in the palace as visitors, +and the ninth child of her own family was just as welcome as the first. +In all the displays that were made at her various receptions, she was +never more pleased than when throngs of children were gathered together +to greet her. She knew how to please children, and when she went to +visit a school for boys, she won their hearts by requesting the master +to give them an extra week's holiday. She never could bear to +disappoint a child. One day when she was driving very rapidly, she +caught sight of a little boy by the roadside looking much grieved +because he had tried to throw a bunch of flowers into her carriage, and +it had fallen into the road. "Drive back," she ordered, and the +carriage with its four horses and driver and attendants was turned +back. "Will you give me those pretty flowers?" she asked, and the +little boy with tears on his cheeks suddenly became the happiest little +fellow in the Highlands, as he shyly handed her the rather dusty +bouquet. The children of the Balmoral tenants knew that she would never +forget her promises, and if she said a toy was coming to them at +Christmas, it was as sure to come as the day itself. When the little +daughter of the minister in the village nearest to Balmoral was born, +the Queen asked that she might be named Alexandrina Victoria for +herself. Many gifts were sent to the little namesake, but perhaps the +one that pleased her most was the tall sugar ornament from the Queen's +birthday cake which the Queen herself brought over to the home of the +tiny damsel and presented to her. + +As the many grandchildren began to circle around Queen Victoria, she +had a warm corner in her heart for everyone. She always wore a bracelet +with a place for a miniature, and here the picture of the "new baby" +was put, to remain until there was a newer baby whose little portrait +should take its place. The numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren +were taught to greet her with the utmost respect, and little boys who +could hardly walk would make a bow to her or kiss her hand as gravely +as any grown-up courtiers. There the ceremony ended, and the good times +began. + +Of all the groups of children there were some to whom she was +especially devoted. The daughters of the Princess Alice, as she was +always called in England, she cared for almost as if they were her own. +They made her long and frequent visits, and, little as the Queen cared +for handsome clothes, she saw to it that when these orphan +granddaughters were to be married, they should have all sorts of fine +apparel and many beautiful jewels. + +The children of whom she saw most during the last years of her life +were those of Princess Beatrice. Two of them were born at Balmoral, +first, a little Victoria Eugenie, the first child of the royal family +born in Scotland for three hundred years. The tenants felt that this +child was really their own, and they put their shillings together and +bought her a very handsome cradle. They were all invited to come to the +castle and see the baby, and a carriage was sent for any who were too +feeble to walk. When the second child, a boy, was born, Craig Gowan +again blazed with a bonfire. The pipers played, and all the people on +the estate lighted their torches and marched up to the top of the hill +for a dance. + +It is to be hoped that the Princess Beatrice did not have as much +difficulty in managing her own children as she did when she was six +years old in commanding the obedience of Prince Frederick William of +Germany and his sister. She is said to have gone to Dr. McLeod, +declaring indignantly, "Just think, my nephew William and my niece +Elizabeth will not do as I bid them and shut the door, and I am their +aunt! Aren't they naughty?" + +One little grandchild who was especially dear to the Queen was the son +of her son Leopold, who died so suddenly. The Duke of Albany commanded +the "Seaforth Highlanders," and after his death the little Duke was +looked upon as their commander. The story is told that when he was six +years old, he was allowed to "review" his troops. Very seriously he set +about it, wearing a uniform made just like that of the tall +Highlanders. He had been carefully taught how to give some of the +orders, and he piped them out as gravely as if the fate of a battle +depended upon his words. He was delighted to see how promptly the men +obeyed him, and he felt quite like a grown man; but he too had to obey +as implicitly as his soldiers, and when he made a boat of a scrubbing +brush belonging to a tenant, and it floated off down the river, the +small boy was taken straightway to a village store to buy another and +pay for it with his own pocket money. + +With so many children in whom she was interested the Queen might well +have been forgiven if she had forgotten a few of them at Christmas, but +such a thing never occurred; and even when the birthdays came around, +they were never overlooked. She always had a little pity for her own +lonely childhood, and she was very fond of giving her children and +grandchildren feasts and entertainments that they could enjoy together. +Dancing bears were brought to Windsor to perform for the children; +Punch and Judy often gave them a merry hour; and once at least a monkey +was "commanded" to appear before the Queen with his owner and the +hand-organ. Where other people "invited," the Queen "commanded." +Performers were very ready to obey, for besides the price paid them by +the palace commissioner, the Queen almost always made them a personal +gift of money or jewelry. Moreover, it was an excellent advertisement +for them to perform before the royal family. Among other performers +Buffalo Bill and his troupe were commanded to Windsor to show her +Majesty and the little people what wild life on the plains of America +used to be. + +Once at Balmoral the Queen commanded a circus to perform before her. It +was only a little circus, and the proprietor must have been almost +overwhelmed with amazement and delight, but he made ready and set out +for a field near the castle. The "Battenberg children" and the little +folk from the other two castles which the Queen had built near Balmoral +were summoned to come to the show. The little Alexandrina Victoria was +invited, and word was sent to all the tenant children. The circus +began. The children were happy, and even the performing donkey did so +finely that the Queen wished to buy him. Unfortunately he was only a +borrowed donkey and could not be sold; but after this fortunate day, it +is very likely that whenever he entered the sawdust ring, he was +announced as "Donkey in Special to Her Majesty the Queen of Great +Britain and Ireland and Empress of India." + +The Queen was never bored by these little entertainments, for with all +her dignity, she had, as her husband said of his eldest daughter, "the +brain of a statesman and the heart of a child." When the circus came to +Balmoral, she watched it for two long hours, and was apparently as much +amused as her small grandchildren; and when the organ-grinder and his +monkey were at Windsor, the Queen laughed as heartily as any of the +children as the little creature tried his best to find a way into the +castle. + +When the Queen was amused, she was very much amused, and sometimes she +found it as hard to keep from laughing outright as any young girl. One +who was present describes the reception of an embassy from one of the +Oriental countries when it was all the Queen could do to "keep a +straight face." On the English side everything was very ceremonious, +for it was desirable to pay special courtesy to the strangers. The +embassy, too, wished to show extreme respect, but no one guessed how +they would do it. They entered, and after making all sorts of strange +gestures, they "suddenly bowed themselves, apparently as men struggling +with acute internal pain, and squeezed their hands together between +their knees." The Queen was as motionless as a statue, her face +becoming more and more grave as the formalities proceeded. The moment +the envoys had left the room, however, she broke down and laughed till +her eyes were full of tears. "But I went through it," she cried to her +ladies. "I did go right through it." + +The Queen was no less kind to her servants than to children; but just +as her children were taught to obey her, so her servants were required +to give her prompt and excellent service. "I can't afford to be kept +waiting," she would say, whether the delinquent was a servant or a +court lady. "If I am to get through my work, I mustn't have my moments +frittered away." After the housekeeping was once fully in her own +hands, there was little more of the irregular, negligent management +that had formerly prevailed. Everyone employed had his work and was +responsible for its being well done. It is said that she even made use +of the ancient expedient of housekeepers whose dusting has not been +properly done, and that with her own royal forefinger she once wrote +her name on a dusty cabinet. The next day the dust was still there, and +then she wrote under her own name that of the servant who was in fault. +When the poor girl discovered that she had been reproved by the Queen +of Great Britain and Empress of India, she was so overwhelmed with +alarm that she ran away. It is a pleasant ending to the story to know +that the royal mistress sent for her to come back. The Queen's rule was +very strict, but if trouble came to any of her attendants, she was as +sympathetic as if she had been one of their own family. She wanted them +to have plenty of amusement, and when in 1886 a great exhibition was +going on in London, she gave to her Balmoral servants an invitation to +spend ten days at Windsor Castle to see the exhibition and the other +sights of the city. The Queen demanded the best of service, but when it +was given, she never felt that money alone would pay for it, and she +was honestly grateful to those who served her well. She had to meet so +many strangers that it was a pleasure to her to have familiar faces in +her household. When new attendants were to be employed, she was always +glad to have members of the families that already served her; and at +the death of John Brown, she gave his place to one of his cousins, who +was already in her employ. When her servants were ill or unable to +work, she always cared for them, and saw to it that they had a +comfortable home for their old age. + +The life of the Queen was gradually becoming very regular in some +respects, and especially in the way that she divided her year. For a +long time she had made two visits to Balmoral each year, one in the +spring and one in the autumn. She made also three visits to Osborne and +spent a week or more in London. The rest of her time was given to +Windsor and to her "vacation," which she spent somewhere on the +Continent. It is hardly fair to say that she had a vacation, for +wherever she went, one of her Ministers accompanied her and the +ever-present dispatch boxes followed her. At Balmoral the "Queen's +Messenger" arrived about six o'clock every morning with his box of +papers. These were arranged by the secretary in such a way as to save +her all unnecessary trouble. About ten, she entered upon the government +business of the day, reading, thinking, signing papers, and writing. At +half-past two the messenger set out for London. + +But this was not all her work with the pen, for the royal family +carried on a vast amount of correspondence with the Queen. As nearly as +possible, she wished to hear from each one of them every day, not the +kind of letter that says, "I am well and hope you are the same," but +letters that told what the writers were doing, and what they thought of +the events in which they took part. The Queen could not answer all +these communications, of course, but if there was need of her advice or +sympathy, she never failed to write; and those of her letters that have +been made public are charmingly frank and sincere and full of most +tender affection. + +Her own marriage had been so happy that in the marriage of her +descendants she paid little attention to whether a proposed alliance +would be of advantage to the kingdom; the chief question in her mind +was whether the young people would be happy together. Two years after +the Jubilee, the eldest daughter of the Prince of Wales married the +Duke of Fife. According to English custom, the daughter of a Prince is +not a peer, but a commoner, and although a title is usually given her, +it is only by courtesy and not by right. The Princess Louise, then, was +a commoner, but by marrying a Duke she became a duchess, and would have +the right to precede her sisters if they did not also marry dukes or +men of higher rank. One other privilege that she acquired was that, if +she was accused of any crime, she could demand to be tried by a jury +composed of peers. + +In 1891 came the fiftieth anniversary of Queen Victoria's marriage, her +"Golden Wedding," as her children tenderly called the day. They gave +her a prayer book in which was written a stanza given them by Tennyson: + + "Remembering him who waits thee far away, + And with thee, Mother, taught us first to pray, + Accept on this, your golden bridal day, + The Book of Prayer." + +Through the sorrowful memories that thoughts of her own wedding +aroused, the Queen was looking forward with much pleasure to a marriage +that she hoped would take place. Next to the sovereign herself and the +Prince of Wales, the interest of the English centered upon "Prince +Eddie," the Duke of Clarence and Avondale, for after his father, he +would wear the English crown, and the whole country was waiting to see +whom he would choose for his wife. Princess Mary of Cambridge, who had +always been a warm friend of Princess Alexandra, had married the Duke +of Teck. Their daughter Mary was the choice of the Duke of Clarence, +and late in 1891 the engagement was announced. Only a month passed +before the Duke was taken ill, and in a few days he died. There was a +deep and general mourning, for "Prince Eddie" was greatly loved; but to +the Queen there was the loss not only of the first child of her +first-born son, but of the heir to her crown. She wrote to Tennyson, +"Was there ever a more terrible contrast, a wedding with bright hopes +turned into a funeral?" + +The English people grieved for the loss of "Prince Eddie," whom +Tennyson called "so princely, tender, truthful, reverent, pure," and +they were sad for the young Princess, "Princess May," as she was always +called, for her merry disposition and good heart had made her a general +favorite. She said of herself that when she was a child, she was "very +naughty, very happy, and very uninteresting," but the people who knew +her did not agree that she was either naughty or uninteresting. She and +the children of the Prince of Wales were old playfellows and the best +of friends. Time passed on, and it began to be whispered that a +marriage would take place between Princess May and Prince George, the +second son of the Prince of Wales. He was now the heir to the throne, +and the people were glad that Princess May would some day become their +Queen. + +Prince George, or the Duke of York, had spent some years of his life at +sea, for before he was twelve years old he entered the navy. The other +midshipmen were on the watch to see whether he would put on airs +because he was the Prince of Wales's son, but he soon showed himself +ready to take part in whatever came up, and no more favor was shown him +than to any other young sailor. Like his uncle, the Duke of Edinburgh, +he was called the Sailor Prince. After his marriage to Princess May had +taken place, and the young pair were on their way to Sandringham, they +found arches built over the road, and on one was "God bless our Sailor +Prince." + +A loss which in her daily life touched the Queen even more nearly than +that of the Duke of Clarence, was that of Prince Henry of Battenberg. +In 1895 the Africans of Ashanti revolted against British rule, and +forces were sent to suppress them. Prince Henry wished to serve. "I +have been brought up as a soldier," he said, "and now is my time to +show what I can do." The Queen was not willing to have him go, but he +did not give up. "England is my adopted country," he urged. "I belong +to her regular army, and I ought to help protect her interests; and for +the sake of my children I ought to establish my position." Even the +Princess Beatrice could not deny that this was true, and at last the +Queen yielded. The service of the Prince was short, for not many weeks +after reaching Africa, he was sent home ill of fever, and died on the +voyage. The Queen suffered with her daughter, for the bright, merry +ways of the Prince had been a real delight to her. "I have lost the +sunbeam of my household," she said sadly. One by one she was losing +those who were dear to her, but in every trouble the love of her +subjects was her great comfort, and this love was soon to be manifested +even more clearly than at the Jubilee of 1887. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE CLOSING YEARS + + +One autumn day in 1896 vast numbers of telegrams were sent to Queen +Victoria, not only from the English colonies, but from almost all the +countries of the world. They were full of congratulations on the length +of her reign; for now she had been on the throne longer than any other +English ruler, and longer than any one who had ever ruled on the +Continent except Louis XIV. No European monarch who had been on the +throne at her accession or even ten years after her accession was still +reigning. She had seen change of government, assassination, revolution, +in other kingdoms, but the monarchy in England had stood firm and was +much stronger than when she became Queen. + +[Illustration: Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. +(_From a photograph by A. Bassano._)] + +England would not permit such an event as this to pass without a +celebration. Preparations for the "Diamond Jubilee" to mark Victoria's +sixty years of sovereignty were commenced many months before the time +appointed. More than a million strangers were expected to be in London +during the two weeks of the festivities, and the hotel-keepers began to +plan how to feed them. Non-perishable foods were brought thousands of +miles, and fields of vegetables were bought before they were planted. +Next to something to eat, the visitors would wish for a place to see, +and owners of houses standing on the route to be taken by the +procession expected to get more for a single window than the usual rent +of a house for a year. The tenants of these houses were given notice to +quit, and as the time drew near, those who refused to leave were put +out by force. These removals were called "Jubilee Evictions." + +Not everybody was busy with plans for money-making. There was an +enormous amount of decorating going on. "V. R." was everywhere and in +all sorts of materials, from cut glass and gold to red calico. There +were roses, lions, crowns, unicorns, wreaths, banners, and pictures of +the Queen at every turn. The route which the procession was to follow +wound past the homes of the poor as well as those of the rich, and even +the poorest found means to brighten the dingiest abode with a bit of +color. + +As June 22, 1897, drew near, troops from every British colony began to +be seen in the streets of London. Uniforms of red, white, yellow, +brown, green, blue, and all kinds of minglings and mixtures decorated +the city. There were so many Chinese, Africans, and Hindus, brown +people, yellow people, and white people, from every part of the world, +that one might almost wonder whether there would be room in the streets +for the Londoners, if they should attempt to leave their homes. It +looked as if it might be a little difficult to leave some of the +houses, for scaffoldings had been built in front of them, and sometimes +even far above the roofs, so that as many seats as possible might be +rented. The procession was to follow a route six miles long, and so +many high scaffolds had been raised that the march would be like a +journey through a canyon whose sides were all aglow with every kind of +decoration that could be imagined; for the people seemed to feel that +the brighter their hangings were, the more loyal they were showing +themselves to be, and the result was gorgeous if not always beautiful. + +In the colonies the day was being celebrated, and telegrams of loyalty +and congratulation were coming to the Queen by the score. As she passed +through the doors of Buckingham Palace at eleven o'clock, she sent to +every colony the message: "From my heart I thank you, my beloved +people. May God bless you." Then she entered her carriage and passed +on, escorted by kings, princes, long lines of seamen, masses of British +troops and masses of colonial troops. The long cavalcade went on slowly +to Temple Bar, the old entrance to the city. There the Queen paused, +and the thousands in line paused. The Mayor, most imposing in his long +velvet cloak, presented her with the sword of London in token of the +city's homage. She touched the sword in acceptance, and the procession +moved on. + +The second stop was at St. Paul's. The eight cream-colored horses were +reined up before a superb mass of color and glitter, for on the steps +of the church were ambassadors, bishops, archbishops, judges, and +musicians, flashing with diamonds, gleaming in cloth of gold, gorgeous +in the red, blue, and pink hoods of the universities, and all framing +in a great square of white-robed little choir-boys. Prayer was offered, +the Te Deum was chanted, "God Save the Queen" was sung, and thousands +of people wiped their eyes as they joined in "Praise God from whom all +blessings flow." The benediction was pronounced and the procession +turned slowly away. And as the tread of the horses sounded again on the +pavement, the Archbishop forgot his magnificent canonicals, he forgot +everything except that he was an Englishman and that Victoria was his +Queen, and he led the whole ten thousand people in three tremendous +cheers for their sovereign. + +That night everything was illuminated that could be illuminated; and, +as in 1887, beacon fires flashed from hill to hill and from headland to +headland. The Prince of Wales suggested that the best memorial of the +day would be a general subscription to pay the debts of the principal +hospitals, and in a great sweep of generosity $3,750,000 was promptly +subscribed. The Princess of Wales wrote to the Lord Mayor of London, +expressing her interest in the poor of the city, and gifts amounting to +$1,500,000 were made at once for their benefit. The rejoicing went on +for a fortnight. There were reviews of soldiers and of battleships, +there were concerts, exhibitions, and dinners for the poor. One part of +the celebration was the manufacture of a mammoth cake by the same firm +that made the coronation cake. This Jubilee cake weighed five hundred +pounds, and five hundred more was added to it in frosting and sugar +ornaments. Around it was a great wreath of sugar roses. A lofty tower +of sugar rose from within the wreath with many monograms, medallions, +crowns, lions, unicorns, angels of fame and of glory blowing great +sugar trumpets; and at the very top was the angel of Peace with white +and shining wings. + +It would have been a source of deep happiness to the Queen if peace +could have prevailed throughout the empire during those last years of +her life, but in 1899 war arose between the English and the Boers of +South Africa. As usual, she hoped to the last that there would be no +war, but when she saw that it must come, she had no patience with the +least delay in sending troops, and she urged re-enforcing the army so +that the war might be ended as soon as possible. She was not satisfied +with acting through others; she wanted to do something for the men +herself with her own hands, and she set to work to knit caps and +comforters to be sent them. When Christmas came, she distributed toys +and candy among the soldiers' children; and, remembering that "Men are +only boys grown tall," she sent 100,000 boxes of chocolate to her +soldiers at the front. When the wounded and the ill were brought home, +she often went to the hospitals, and she had many convalescents come to +visit her at Windsor. + +In this African war the Irish troops had shown such bravery that the +heart of the Queen was completely won. She said to her Ministers: + +"I have decided to pay a visit to Ireland to thank those brave +Irishmen." + +The Ministers were delighted to have her make the visit, but they +remembered that she had not been in Ireland for forty years and that +the Irish felt they had little reason to love the English government. +"It will be only wise to have an escort of cavalry around your +carriage," they suggested. + +"No," she answered. "I am their Queen, and they are my people. If I +showed any distrust of them, they would think I deserved to be afraid +of them." + +_Punch_ published a picture of Hibernia kissing the hand of the +sovereign and saying: "Sure, your Majesty, there's no place like home, +and it's at home you'll be with us." + +The Queen was right in trusting herself without fear to the people of +Ireland; for however they might feel toward the English government, +they would show nothing but respect to the English Queen who had made +herself the guest of their country. + +She landed at Kingstown and was received with all due form by the Lord +Lieutenant of Ireland; but the more ceremonious reception was awaiting +her at Dublin, where elaborate preparations had been made. The Lord +Mayor and the other officials of the city were all in their long red +robes heavily trimmed with fur. Attendants in black velvet and silver +lace followed them, one holding a great basket of flowers high up, so +that all the people could see it. A table, richly draped with silk, was +placed before the Mayor. On the table was a blue satin cushion, and on +the cushion was a golden casket. The casket was lined with +pearl-colored silk strewn with shamrocks embroidered in blue, and in +the casket were the keys of the city, and an address to the sovereign. + +Of course these were not real keys of a real gate, for Dublin has no +gates, but in order to carry out the interesting old ceremony, tall +gates and towers of painted canvas had been erected, and as the Queen +and her escort drew near, a trumpeter from the highest watchtower blew +three resounding blasts and cried: + +"The Athlone pursuivant is at the gates." + +"With what message does he come?" asked the Lord Mayor. + +"He is the bearer of a request from the Queen of Great Britain and +Ireland," replied the trumpeter. + +"He may enter." + +The pursuivant entered, and the Lord Mayor demanded: + +"With what message do you come to the gates of the city of Dublin?" + +"I bear the request of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland that she +may enter her city of Dublin," he replied. + +"Open the gates and admit the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland," +commanded the Lord Mayor. + +The pursuivant galloped back; the gates were flung wide open; the +Household Cavalry dashed through; and then came the Queen. The Lord +Mayor presented the beautiful casket and made his address; the Queen +handed him a written reply; the Lady Mayoress presented the basket of +flowers; and the Queen had been formally received as the guest of the +nation. + +This three-weeks' visit to Ireland was one of the Queen's "vacations," +but it was hardly a restful time, for she visited hospitals, orphan +asylums, schools, and convents; she received delegations of nurses and +doctors, and entertained the prominent people of the country. She went +to the Zoological Gardens and made the acquaintance of a baby bear, and +two baby lions, who were just as cross as if she had not been their +lawful sovereign. She took drives about the city and the country; she +reviewed troops; and finally she accepted an invitation to review +thirty thousand school children. In this review, she was much amused +when one small child called out, "Sure, you're a nice old lady!" One +school was delayed, but in order not to disappoint the children, the +Queen arranged a little reception for them later in the day. + +The visit to Ireland had given the Queen pleasure, but the continued +fighting with the Boers was a grief to her, and in the summer of 1900 +she had to meet trouble that touched her even more nearly in the death +of her son Alfred, Duke of Connaught. The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha +had asked him to become its ruler, and the Duke of Albany had been +appointed his successor. This Duke of Albany, who had reviewed his +regiment of Highlanders when he was six years of age, was now sixteen, +and in two years more he would sit on a throne. + +So the years of the Queen passed on with their joys and sorrows. Her +visit to Ireland took place in 1900. For four or five years previous to +this date she had suffered so much from rheumatism that it was hard for +her to walk, and in the house she was generally moved about in a +wheeled chair. The door of her special car was widened so that the +chair could be taken in easily. Two years before going to Ireland, her +eyes began to trouble her. "Use black ink and a broad pen" were the +instructions she gave to her Ministers; but even though her sight grew +faint, she would not lay down the task that she felt was her own. + +Toward the end of 1900 she seemed less strong than usual. "You must +save yourself in every possible way," ordered the physicians, "and you +must not write more than is absolutely necessary." Christmas was near, +but this year her greetings to each member of her family were written +for her. Letters and telegrams were read to her, but her interest in +all matters was as strong as ever, and her judgments were as rapid and +sagacious. She met Lord Roberts on his return from South Africa and +questioned him closely about all the details of the war. Two or three +days later, when she awoke in the morning, she seemed very weak, and +her speech was less clear than usual. Telegrams were sent to the +members of her family. Germany was in the midst of an enthusiastic +celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the establishment of +the Prussian monarchy; but Emperor William said: "It is my sorrow and +my nation's sorrow. Let the festivities cease." He left his kingdom and +hastened to England. On the day after his arrival, January 22, 1901, +Queen Victoria, with her children and grandchildren about her, passed +quietly away. + +The Queen had never liked the gloomy trappings of funerals, and long +before this she had bidden that about her own there should be no touch +of the somber and sorrowful. The room in which she lay was hung with +deep red. There were palms and flowers around it, and about the bier +were many tall white candles. The ermine-lined robe of the Garter was +laid upon her coffin together with the flag of the country that she had +loved. Grenadiers stood motionless, two at the head and two at the +foot, keeping guard about her with bowed heads and arms reversed. + +So she lay in her own home at Osborne until the day of the funeral was +come. No hearse was driven to her door, for the soldier's gun-carriage +was to bear the soldier's daughter to her resting place. The bier was +covered with ruby velvet. Over it was thrown a pall of white satin with +heavy edge of gold and the royal arms in each corner. On this was laid +the royal standard, the crown, the insignia of the Garter, and the +golden orb of empire which she had carried in her hand at her +coronation. In white and gold, the emblems of purity and royalty, she +went forth from her home for the last time. Her children and +grandchildren, princes and princesses, walked slowly behind her down +the long avenue of trees, whose branches shown out clear and distinct +against the bright blue of the sky. At the water's edge, the +gun-carriage was drawn on board the yacht _Alberta_. Followed by the +_Victoria and Albert_, the _Osborne_, and the massive _Hohenzollern_ of +the Emperor William, the little yacht moved through the mighty lines of +warships, English, German, and French, whose cannon thundered out their +last salute. + +This was the farewell of the navy. That night the yacht with its +precious burden lay quietly in harbor; and in the morning the body of +the Queen was placed on the train to be carried to London. There houses +that so lately had been all aglow with the colors of gladness were now +draped with purple and white. Throngs were in the streets, but they +stood in perfect silence, the men bareheaded, and every woman with some +badge of mourning. Slowly the gun-carriage was drawn through the city, +followed first by the two sons of the Queen with the German Emperor, +then by her other relatives, by members of the royal family in Europe, +and troops representing every branch of the army. The navy was also +present in a guard of honor of sailors, and it was they who were called +upon to perform a last service for their Queen. At Windsor the horses +of the gun-carriage had become uneasy, and in a moment, with hardly a +word of command, they were unharnessed, and the sailors themselves drew +the gun-carriage to the castle. That afternoon the funeral rites were +observed in St. George's Chapel with words of prayer and the strains of +music that the Queen herself had chosen. The herald made solemn +proclamation that Queen Victoria was dead and that her oldest son, +Edward VII., was King of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of +India. + +On the following morning the body of the Queen was borne to the +beautiful mausoleum at Frogmore which she had erected for Prince Albert +nearly forty years before. Muffled drums were beaten; sad, sweet +funeral marches were played by the martial bands; and so, through the +long avenues lined with soldiers, the procession moved onward. At +Frogmore, the bands were hushed, and the Highland pipers, walking +before the coffin, played the weird, mournful strains of the "Lament of +the Black Watch." Prayer was said, earth from the Mount of Olives was +dropped softly upon the coffin, and the Queen was laid to rest beside +her beloved Prince. + +Next morning the flowers were faded, the flags were no longer at +half-mast, the stores and offices were opened, and life went on as +before; but in the homes of England those who had known and loved the +Queen were talking of her tenderly and thoughtfully. "She always did +what she believed was right," said some. "She was always sorry for +those who suffered," said others; and some repeated reverently the +words of the Scottish pastor who had known her so well: + +"I admire her as a woman, love her as a friend, and reverence her as a +Queen." + + +THE END + + + + +American Heroes and Heroines + +By PAULINE CARRINGTON BOUVE Illustrated, 12mo Cloth, $1.25 + +This book, which will tend directly toward the making of patriotism in +young Americans, contains some twenty brief, clever and attractive +sketches of famous men and women in American history, among them Father +Marquette, Anne Hutchinson, Israel Putnam, Molly Pitcher, Paul Jones, +Dolly Madison, Daniel Boone, etc. Mrs. Bouve is well known as a writer +both of fiction and history, and her work in this case is admirable. + + "The style of the book for simplicity and clearness of expression + could hardly be excelled."--_Boston Budget._ + + +The Scarlet Patch + +The Story of a Patriot Boy in the Mohawk Valley + +By MARY E. Q. BRUSH, Illustrated by GEORGE W. PICKNELL, $1.25 + +"The Scarlet Patch" was the badge of a Tory organization, and a loyal +patriot boy, Donald Bastien, is dismayed at learning that his uncle, +with whom he is a "bound boy," is secretly connected with this +treacherous band. Thrilling scenes follow in which a faithful Indian +figures prominently, and there is a vivid presentation of the school +and home life as well as the public affairs of those times. + + "A book that will be most valuable to the library of the young + boy."--_Providence News._ + + +Stories of Brave Old Times + +Some Pen Pictures of Scenes Which Took Place Previous to, or Connected +With, the American Revolution + +By HELEN M. CLEVELAND, Profusely illustrated, Large, 12mo, Cloth, $1.25 + +It is a book for every library, a book for adults, and a book for the +young. Perhaps no other book yet written sets the great cost of freedom +so clearly before the young, consequently is such a spur to patriotism. + + "It can unqualifiedly be commended as a book for youthful readers; + its great wealth of illustrations adding to its value."--_Chicago + News._ + + +For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers, + +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON + + + + +Famous Children + +By H. TWITCHELL, Illustrated, $1.25 + +We have here a most valuable book, telling not of the childhood of +those who have afterwards become famous, but those who as children are +famous in history, song, and story. For convenience the subjects are +grouped as "Royal Children," "Child Artists," "Learned Children," +"Devoted Children," "Child Martyrs," and "Heroic Children," and the +names of the "two little princes," Louis XVII., Mozart, St. Genevieve, +David, and Joan of Arc are here, as well as those of many more. + + +The Story of the Cid + +For Young People + +By CALVIN DILL WILSON, Illustrated by J. W. KENNEDY, $1.25 + +Mr. Wilson, a well-known writer and reviewer, has prepared from +Southey's translation, which was far too cumbrous to entertain the +young, a book that will kindle the imagination of youth and entertain +and inform those of advanced years. + + +Jason's Quest + +By D. O. S. LOWELL, A.M., M.D., Master in Roxbury Latin School, +Illustrated, $1.00 + +Nothing can be better to arouse the imagination of boys and girls, and +at the same time store in their minds knowledge indispensable to any +one who would be known as cultured, or happier than Professor Lowell's +way of telling a story, and the many excellent drawings have lent great +spirit to the narrative. + + +Heroes of the Crusades + +By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS, Cloth, Fifty full-page illustrations, $1.50 + +The romantic interest in the days of chivalry, so fully exemplified by +the "Heroes of the Crusades," is permanent and properly so. This book +is fitted to keep it alive without descending to improbability of cheap +sensationalism. + + +For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers, + +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In the Days of Queen Victoria, by Eva March Tappan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE DAYS OF QUEEN VICTORIA *** + +***** This file should be named 35576.txt or 35576.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/7/35576/ + +Produced by Bethanne M. 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