bourers-we trace the effect of his constant toil in the series of industrial triumphs, of which the Great Exhibition of 1851 was the magnificent precursor; and, in recent years, the same kind of objects has always enlisted the best energies of the Queen and her children. The contrast is great and touching between the scene in Westminster Abbey, when, amidst the pomp of a gorgeous ceremonial and the acclamation of her subjects, the fair Girl-Queen received the Crown of Britain, and that other scene, when, after fifty years of a government that has been unblemished, she once more kneels in the same spot-a widow surrounded by her children and her children's children, bearing the burden of many sad as well as blessed memories, and encompassed with the thanksgivings of the three hundred millions of her subjects. We can imagine how oppressive for one so loving must then be the vision of the past as she recalls, one after another, the once familiar and dear faces which greeted her coronation, those relatives, great ministers of State and war riors of whom so few survive; and when all her happy married years and the years of parting and desolation appear in vivid retrospect. But if ever monarch had cause to bless God for His tender mercies it must be she, who can combine with the memory of her own life's hopes and trials, the consciousness that, in the great work given her as a sovereign, she has been enabled to fulfil the beautiful desire of her innocent childhood, when, on her first being informed of her royal destiny, she indulged in no vain dream of power, but uttered the simple longing "to be good." That goodness has been her real greatness. The life of Her Majesty is marked by three great stages-Her Youth, Her Married Life, and Her widowhood. Each is bound to each by the tie of a consistent growth passing through those experiences which are typical of God's education of His children, whether high or low, rich or poor. Her childhood, with its wise education, is very much the key to her after-life. From a photo, by G. W. Wilson.] pressed those who saw her on the trying occasion when she was suddenly ushered Possessed into the foremost place in the greatest Emnaturally pire in the world. It was these characterof a quick istics which touched the hearts of the good intellec- Archbishop and of the Chancellor of Engtual capa- land when they announced her great destiny city and to the girl suddenly summoned from sluman unusually accurate memory, a taste for ber. That first request, "My Lord Archmusic and the arts, and a deeply affection- bishop, pray for me!" revealed the depth ate heart, she was admirably brought up of her character. It was the same when she by her mother, the Duchess of Kent, on whom the training of the future Queen devolved from her infancy. If the education was as high as it was possible to afford a young and intelligent spirit, the moral influences were equally beneficial. The young Princess, instead of being isolated within the formalities of a Court, was allowed to become acquainted with the wants and sufferings of the poor, and to indulge her sympathies by giving them personal help. The contrast was a great one between the court of George IV., or even that of William, and the truly English home where the Duchess of Kent nurtured this sweet life in all that was simple, loving, and pure. There could scarcely have been a better The earlier years of her reign were hapschool for an affectionate nature. All that pily blessed with the wise and beneficent influwe learn of Her Majesty at that time gives a ence of Lord Melbourne. His relationship consistent picture of great vivacity, thorough to the youthful sovereign was more that of a directness in her search after truth, warmth father and able political instructor than of a of heart and considerateness for others, with formal First Minister of the Crown. He was a genuine love for all that is morally good. | too experienced not heartily to appreciate These were the characteristics which im- the beautiful character of his young Mistress, had next day to pass through the ordeal of meeting the great Councillors of State for the first time. Lord Melbourne, the Duke of Wellington, Peel, and the keeneyed Secretary Greville, all felt the beautiful combination of dignity with unaffected simplicity, and of quick intelligence with royal courtesy. But they did not see the episode which followed the fatigue and excitement of the long formalities of the Council, when the young Queen rushed first of all to her mother's arms, there to indulge her feelings in a burst of tears, and then, with girlish naïveté, claiming the exercise of her royal prerogative to procure for herself two hours of absolute solitude. and the interest he took in her political joyous, affectionate, and keenly intellectual education, and in everything likely to fur- life. There were few homes in which a ther her prosperity and happiness was evi- greater amount of trying and anxious work dently kindled by warm affection. She was was more systematically accomplished, or in equally favoured in having as adviser so which there was a more exquisite blending sagacious a relative as her Uncle Leopold, of hard thinking with the enjoyment of the the late King of the Belgians. The Duke Fine Arts and the fulness of loving family of Wellington regarded her almost as a happiness. We have picture after picture daughter; and there was also, ever at given us in the life of the Prince Consort, hand, another, whose trained intellect and which put us in touch with these brilliant years loyal heart exercised no little influence on when the Queen and he were never parted her career-Baron Stockmar-to whose but for one or two brief intervals. Early lofty ideal of the functions of Royalty, hours of close labour were followed by a genial calmly-balanced treatment of all questions and hearty relaxation, and at every turn the of state policy, and high-toned moral sym- wife and sovereign felt the blessedness of pathies, both the Queen and the Prince that presence which ministered to her in Consort have amply expressed their in- sickness with the gentleness of a woman, and debtedness. which she leant upon in hours of difficulty with complete trust in the strength and trueness of his wise intellect. There was no decrease on either side in those feelings and utterances of feeling, which are so beautiful when they carry into after years the warmth of the first attachment, only hallowed and deepened by experience. Without touching further on the earlier period of her reign, which was not without many incidents of interest, we turn to the married years of the Queen as to a bright and sunny memory. The position of an unmarried or widowed Queen necessarily entails a peculiar loneliness. She is surrounded by the rigorous demands of State necessity. If she has to form a judgment upon documents submitted to her, there is no one so close to her, and so independent of all other influences as to be truly an alter ego. Faithful servants of the Crown may do their best to be of use, but no one of them can be so near as to receive such unguarded confidences as can be given to the husband, who shares every joy and sorrow. The Queen's married life was ideally perfect. She married the man she loved, and each year deepened her early affection into an admiration, a reverence, and a pride which elevated her love into consecration. There was no home in England made more From a photo.] There were many fresh features in the kind of life which was introduced by the Queen and the Consort into the habits of the Court. Among these, none were more marked Crathie Church. [By G. W. Wilson. beautiful by all that was tender, cultured, | than the breaking up of that monotony which and noble, than that in which "the blame- the restrictions that hitherto prevailed as to less Prince" fulfilled his heroic career the residence of the Royal Family in one or of duty, and shed the bright light of his two State palaces entailed. We can well brothers, and his sons, have gained of so many | Cambridge, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, parts of the Empire. The Prince Consort felt keenly the use of these influences. "How important and beneficent," he once said, "is the part given to the Royal Family of England to act in the development of those distant and rising countries, who recognise in the British Crown and their allegiance to it, their supreme bond of union with the mother country and to each other!" During each year of their married life the Queen and Prince Consort went on some interesting tour. In England-Oxford and Manchester, received Royal visits, while such historical houses as Chatsworth, Hatfield, Stowe, and Strathfieldsay were honoured by their presence. Ireland was thrice visited; Wales more than once. The first visit to Scotland was made in 1842, another in 1844, and from 1847 only one year passed without a long residence in the north-first at Ardverachie, on Loch Laggan, and then at what was to be their Highland Home on Deeside. Repeated visits were also made to the Continent, sometimes in State and sometimes in as From a photo. by G. W. Wilson.] a receiving his sovereign." It appeared like a new world when, throwing off for a time the restrictions of State, she found herself at Blair two years afterwards, climbing the great hills of Atholl, and from the top of Tulloch looking forth on the panorama of mountain and glen. "It was quite romantic; here we were with only this Highlander behind us holding the ponies, not a house, not creature near us but the pretty Highland sheep, with their horns and black faces. It was the most delightful, most romantic ride and walk I ever had." These early visits to Scotland inspired her with her love for the Highlands and the Highlanders. She found there quite a world of poetry. The majestic scenery, the fresh bracing air, the picturesqueness of the kilted ghillies, the piping and the dancing, and the long days among the heather, recalled scenes which Sir Walter Scott has glorified for all time, and which are specially identified with the fortunes of the unhappy Stuarts, much privacy as could be commanded. It is a romance. |