THE QUEEN DEAD.

Evening Star, Issue 11454, 23 January 1901, Page 2

THE QUEEN DEAD.

H SYB>K'EY, .Vannnry 23. If H (Received January 23, at 11.59 a.m.) M m The <£jieen is dead. ' p I THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL. | B SYDNEY, January 23. i M (Received January 25, at 8.52 a'.m.) P M The Governor-General has received a cable! thanks for the Commonwealth'slP with the Royal Family. Kuril ||Hopntoun is at present declining'all gocialf §3 engagements, k B OUR OWN GRIEF: 1 i MELBOURNE, January 22. 1 |j Mr Secldon bus received a reply to his cable® Egof sympathy. Mr Chamberlain desired tol || express the gratitude of the Prince and! |Pnnce?s of Wales for his kind message. | I The Hon. .Mr Carroll has cabled to tho | I Agent-General on behalf of himself and | feMaorihnders in Melbourne, expressing the | H deepest sorrow at the serious illness of°" Ouri gWhite Mother." | I THE MAORIS' SYMPATHY. | 1 tu , „ WKLLIN «TON, Januarv 22. I m the following telegram has been received!* |by the Hon. J. G. Ward, simed bv leading | ot the Ara-wa tribe :—" Deepfv grieved! tfjto hear of the serious illness of our Sovereign W> gjQueeu Victoria. We fervent lv hope that # |txotl iu His infinite mercv will'prolong her 1 W r I NEW ZEALAND TO THE OLD LAND. | P His Excellency tho Governor has for-1 gjjwarded the following message to the Secvc-1 ptary of State for the Colonies :—" My- g Egself, Mini-tors, and people of New Zealand! Sgdecply regret Her Majesty's illness, and with % Bggravest anxiety await favorable telegrams M fSKANFrr.i.v." ° m m ~ •-♦* h* M Victoria At.kx.v.cdrtxa, Queen of Great! and Ireland and Empress of India, | I was born at Kensington Palace, London, on|| J24th May, 1819. and was consequently in3| |her eighty-second year at the time of* her | |death. Her Majesty was the only child ofl |Edward Duke of Kent, fourth son of George § gill, and the Princess Louisa Victoria ofl KSase-Coburg. sister of Leopold, King of the | I Belgians. By her father's death In 18201 Ijshe betame Heiress Apparent to the English!! iThrone. but was brought up in strict retire-l anient by her accomplished mother. Ons- - 20. 1837, the death of William IV.ff her to the Throne, which she so|' |hvorthily occupied for sixty-four years, M SJreijrning longer than any previous EnglishK and only exceeded in length o£sf |life by one—George LIT. At her Itwo paths lay before the girl Queen—onel| |j rose-strewn and promising much sunshine :|jj |t.he other steep and not without dangers.|j j|The young monarch of the mighty realmlf j|miaht have been a mere Queen Regnant oiff | the. Sovereign Ruler of her Kingdom. Therefejj ||\vhs no hesitation on her part. Instinct : fcj ledncation, ambition, and a high sense ofl fright all pointed to the grander road, andp 3from the moment when Lord Conynghamsj |snd the Archbishop of Canterbury' hadlj laudienceI audience with their Queen on that" earlyil |.Tune morning in 1837 Duty has been herl| a watchword. "By tho persistent dsvotionp J" to duty she has created modern Constitu-w |j" tioualism, and more than any single personp J|"has made England and the English Mon-p ffl" arehy what they now are,'' says Mrs icent Fawcett in her 'Life of Her Majesty."|| |jOn June 21 Victoria was publicly proclaimed!! 5 Queen, and at a- Privy Council held immedi-|| |ately afterwards, as narrated by Grevitleg?] his 'Memoirs,' she presided with note-|| 6 worthy tact and self-possession, " as if shell Jhad been doing nothing else all her Hfe."J|j |jThe young Queen, he added, behaved " with|| M" a propriety and decorum beyond her years.lf with all that sedateness and the want of which was so conspicuous in|V "' "her uncle" (the laic King). It is nowll I sixty-five years since Victoria was pro-|| claimed. During her reign the has become an Empire—the greatest in theft history of the world. It is also the mostjp' illustrious. M To deal adequately with the history ofp! the Victorian era is altogether beyond" the|| limits of an article. The outline may bep familiar, but the spirit and tendency" cans hardly be gauged. For one thing, thel! dominion of mankind over the material worlds! has increased greater during this period thanlf Sin all the centuries that have intervened|| j|since the age of Aristotle and |jAlexander is said to have conquered thell Sworld, but the Empire of Victoria ihely IjGood was far greater than the world ofgS p AlexanderS Many times in the past thel! |JEast and West have touched hands, butflj Jlto-day they are firmly wedded under Uiell || English sceptre. All this has been done!?| under the precedent once and for all estab-P pLlished by Queen Victoria of a Constitutional® ffiMonarchy. Tlie England of 1837 is a veryil Power, botli in itself and the|| gjnational appreciation of it, from the 3|]'Jnrjire of to-day. Her Majesty has pre-pSj p'sided over this evolution—her name wills? pever be connected wilh it. Within freely accepted by her, her Kat Hlome and abroad has been second to|| sfthat. of no monarch who ever sat upon the|| fejthrone. Not only in her own conntry, butj§§ M throughout Europe, and. indeed, throughout!! Mthe world, her position and influence werej|| pjjunique and without parallel. Her know-jp gjedge and experience were greater than those|| |fof any other reigning Sovereign. She wa.saa |? amply versed in the affair? of State M the oldest of her present Councillors hadjfg Seven entered Parliament. Her wisdom andp |j prudence have commanded the respect and|g f||admiration of all, and the integrity, courage,jj§ ,t|and truthfulness of her character have gjfor her and retained tho universal love Oi|| fiber subjects. |g iThfl private life of Victoria has heenjj| throughout so sympathetic, and has so fullylg embodied all that is so congenial to the|| national mind in the way of domestic virtuels and kindness, that those who write of hcr|s illustrious, honorable, and useful life—both|| now and in the future time—may often bejf

a tempted to forget the grander side of that£ iesistence, which, in its gentler details, had« |so much that charms the mind and attracts! |the interest. On the high level of a throne,*? |it is the bigger national events that are thej .common routine, whilst the graceful circum-2 [Stances of individual existence arc, rarclyj :known. The history of Queen Victoria is 1 jdistinctlr that of a model woman, pnssing c £ jwith purity and dignity through all thel ■vicissitudes of human life—loving, wedding.'! bearing children, making the most illustrious | ihouso in England an ideal home, and ing throughout the highest ranks of society! Jan atmosphere of moral purity and lofty! ( meaning ; but at the game time the history! |Of one who was the first officer of the State,! |the first servant as well as the Sovereign! jof England, and whoso life, has throughout! jbeen one of conscientious duty in her public* capacity. , fe J There is something curious yet piquant! iin the aspect of public affairs as they appear! ,in those portions of the ' Queen's Journal ' j which have been given to the public, and in| the familiar letters, so womanly and simple] :in their tone, and expressing her sentiments! with so much natural and spontaneous feel-? [ing. The time has passed when private! [letter-writers used to convey jiublic news tnjj jtheir correspondents, but even when this was*? •the custom the public news was always so j (distinct from the common life'recorded ,tb| jto make it evident how different was thef [plane occupied in the writer's thoughts.? jThe Queen's letters, however, show ticsc'i ibig concerns to have been her daily business,! [perpetually close and present, but seen thus* jthrough her eyes they " suffer a sea change, "i and even across the mist of years wo become I ( more familiarly conscious of them than when?' 1 [they were transacted over our head and wc| jlooked on in the calm of distance. public questions, for example, have at-? tracted more general interest and even cx-| citement than the so-called Eastern jtion, which has come to another crisis since?

! Queen Victoria was lirsi called upon to consider it. But the public interest in it is of a very different character from that which; amakes the Queen say in 1840: "I think our'f |" child ought to have, besides its other: a" name, that of ' Turko-Egypto,' as we think «" of nothing else." The great events which.; |affected or might affect the nation wi>re to | her her profession, her life—holding thej |place which family affaire or special business "" |do in the ease of ordinary persons. This'j S|is a royal peculiarity which is highly inte-| to the student of human nature, fe | The record of Queen Victoria's life is one ? i |of work, diligent and unceasing, transacted \ jjday by day; and details of this Istcady work abound in all the records. At| |onc public crisis in the troubled year 1848 Uwe are told that 28,000 despatches weref |received at and sent from the Foreign | alone, all of which passed through the| iQucen's hands. The mere reading over ofy |weighty papers of this kind gives an amount! |of occupation which it is difficult to over-l and when it is considered that thislj awas but one of the many branches of public?! aaffairs, some idea may be formed of the| abusiness at which, day by day, the Queens gand her husband worked together with un : j?j |sv.-en-ing devotion- -the Prince Consort aid-| |ing her us only could so close a. companion"! !beingaman of high abilities and sound judg-| ment. But yet, though the Prince ad-1 vised, supported, and backed up the Queenl in every way, he could not be her substi-1 tute ; and, indeed,.the mere effort at liist (.fs securing her right to his constant co-operaJ tion, and establishing his -yht ij> bel consulted in everything and to share with! |her the secrets of statesmanship, gave Herl |Miijesly one care the. more. 1 I Oh personal grounds Her Majesty was! Sloved, because she was understood without > |being too evident. Her family life, with its | Ijoys and sorrows, appealed to the public feel- j I Sing, and iHer Majesty has shown how much Bshe could sympathise with the people. The |Coiirt, a model of decorum, has been ad-1 amirecl on that account by the multitude out|side the magic circle. Her Majesty's taste in art and literature accorded very much with the opinion of the public—no slight advantage in a Democratic age. To this, perhaps, may be added, as accounting for her great popularity, her seclusion for so many years, which., instead ofbeina. hurtfuL.as was, At

aonatirne feared, has been a source of strength |to tho Sovereign and possib'.y also to the a Throne. The axiom of Tacitus, " Omne ' gignotum pro magnifico." is of universal ap- ■ g plication, and the Knglish people jaw the:'r S Sovereign so seldom that the result illus-1 I trates the axiom; The deceased Queen has j S mora than made her mark on the century ju3t' ft terminated, and more politically even than'. L socially. The Crown is probably stronger *, g because practically more useful than ever it' been before. Tennyson speaks of " Our . | crowned Republic's crowning common " Ssense," and in this ago there has Soften been ' witnessed the curious Sand fatal want of sense in several Republics. At one time there Sv.'ere many doctrinaires, utilitarian poliStic;anß, and others in tho Empire who were-; |in lore with Republican forms and terms.'-j W There are few of them now who have not.': I? come -to see that a Monarchy such as that of i England is more free and of greater benefit to the people. As far as freedom is con-j! cerned—-e.g., both personal rand political'! freedom—the subjects of the English Crown '■ are better off than those of France or the': United States. Tho former know little of:! personal freedoms it is understood in tho* pßritish Empire,,.and the latter are not free) H individually as Against the great party' The English Monarchy, with "j its record of a thousand years, is not only.J |.more stable in duration, but more stable ml |jits qualities than any Republic existing or| $ known to history, and its present position,'ji | $ j" based upon the people's will," is owing in |» great measure to the great Queen whose * death will be deplored throughout the civi-') fclised world. The loss to the Empire and to"? jj?;her people throughout the vast territories *• ©over which as Queen and Empress she ruled 'j beyond the possibility of reasonable esti-| omate. To Her Majesty it is in the main* |f owing'that the peace of Europe has been', ;•£ maintained. It mayiiot perhaps be gener-1 ;|ally realised, but ifc-is nevertheless a fact well j *■ known in political and official circles, that

I Her Majesty was the most experienced and| one of the ablest diplomatists in Europe. | ; During her whole reign she has been at the : (j t. centre of affairs, behind the scenes, and! ■: exercised a live influence in international! statesmanship. She was Queen of England be-| ; fore Bismarck was heard of, and when Mr! Gladstone was an unknown quantity in| | politics ; and it is well known that many! | dangerous crises in foreign affairs have bcenl '3 averted by her tact and personal influence. | |j In concluding what is necessarily a brief,! g tinworthy, and most incomplete review of| | the work of Queen Victoria, we would refer! |. to what was perhaps her leading'character-! fistic deep religious convictions, whichl grilled even' phase of her life. As an instance! S of this we may quote a memo in regard tog |slhe religious instruction of her first child, thel t Princess Royal, which Her Majesty, then a| | young mother of twenty-five years, wrote! igfor the guidance of her deputies in this im-1 Important work:—"l am quite clear that shel be taught to have great reverences | "for God and for religion, and that she| y" should have the feeling of devotion and! a" love which our Heavenly Father encnur.-l |j" ages His earthly children to have for Him,| fg"i>nd not one of fear and trembling; that| IU" tho thoughts of death and of an after iifel |k" should not be presented in an alarming anrll view, and that she should beg H" taught to know as yet no difference off i Two queensjiave reigned over the Britisha i Empire at important crises, unlike in char-| acter and education, bat each fitted for thel special work prepared for her to do. Eliza-i beth was called to complete the reformation! in Church matters initiated by her father, | and Victoria to give effect, to the constitu- | tional administration rendered necessary by t the passing of the Reform Bill. Nothing is j more striking than the apparently evident! preparation of each for her mission by the \ influence of circumstances and training, j Elizabeth, persecuted because of her Protestant tendencies, insulted by the Pope, j and barely escaping with, her life from the bigotry and intolerance of her sister and her sister's husband, was driven, towards Protestantism. She lived in times of turmoil re- > quiring not only, firmness and courage, but a somewhat autocratic will. This was thought then, and for centuries afterwards,! .* to. be. a .Kroner attribute of roxaltr.. But'

limes changed, and when a crown was inlj prospect as the inheritance of the lady justs •. departed, it was evident to her wise mothers ■ and her counsellors that toleration, justice,!! and a bending of her own will to the re-{§ | quirements of the British Constitution! '). would be required of her. The' doctrine ofl ' reigning by "divine right," that had beeni ; held so firmly by her predecessors, »nd|j * which had been made the plea for maintain-!! ; ing the privileges of the higher classes and! ' oppression of the lower, was no longer ac-S - cepted as tree. Kings, aided by nobles,! had ruled, while the people were held to bea born only to obey. Even William IV., thel : immediate predecessor of the late Queen,fe hesitated long before he consented to allows the people to participate in the government?? .. of the country. He " held the right"—nowf 2, not recognised—" to dismiss his Ministers| ; ; when he pleased and because be pleased."** His father had even retained Ministers mil defiance of repeated votes of the House ofl <. Commons. It was a traditional privilege,® | once suppoeed to inhere in the office of tbef *, Sovereign', but now abandoned as mcon-1 . Bistent with the rights of a free people. K | The way for the experiment of constitu-s ; tional government had been cleared for the| i young Sovereign. The long and bloody wars'! I springing out of the French Revolution off -. 1789 were over; the combination laws were* ;| repealed; the Test and Corporation Ac.tsf | were abolished with one slight exception;! 4; the Catholics were emancipated from i t,e£ |. intolerable disabilities which for centuries! | they had suffered; slavery in the colonies! £ was no more; the education of the psopleV | was begun—feebly, but actually ; the lie-| .; form Bill had .extended the franchise andfe j; mainly abolished the electoral corruption off I ages; and amended poor laws had 1 some of the glaring abuses of the old tys-l |tem. In fact, the absolutism of "privilege ! '| 1 was at an end, although the v once privileged! | classes to this day strive to regain their as-| | cendancy. The times required a specially-1 j prepared monarch to give effect to the new* a order of things. That champion of privi-i

i|lege, the late Duke of Wellington, felt tbis| ||when he said "he was of opinion that ihel (the representatives of privilege)? ||would never have any chance with a youngl ||woman for a Sovereign." It requires nol ||very profound knowledge of human nature! ||to remark that had a young prince been! ||heir to the throne instead of Victoria, much! ||more difficulty would have been experienced! sfin reconciling Monarchy with Democracy! Pthan actually occurred. His education, as-1 gscciations, and pursuits would have par'-| Steken more or less of the past. The Court,! purged of much of the corruption! into it by George IV., had not al-i lost the impress of his baneful in-i Influence. New ideas do not readily find ac-| ||ceptance with society trained in special! |»modes of thought, and men do not easily! Ifgive up privileges to which they have beenl to consider themselves entitled.! »jAn heir to the throne would have imbibedpi notions from his birth, nurtured! githem in his imaginings, and would most pro-s jabably have resisted change. In order tol Bgive stability and vitality to the changes in-i Rtroduced it was necessary that the Sove-i Sreign should be freed by education and! Hhabits of thought from the traditions of thefe ijpast—that, the training should be outside ofij 5 Court influence, and more in sympathy with|> ffithe wants and feelings of the people. Forces Wof circumstances placed the Princess Vic-5 litoria in the necessary conditions. Heri llfather, Edward Duke of Kent, the fourthv Pson.of George IDT., married late in life the| iprincess Leiningen, a sister of the Duke of| ||Saie-Coburg. She was a widow with one! —the Princess Fendora, afterwards! llPrirlcess Hohenloe. Shortly after the birthf ||of the Princess Victoria her father died.l ||Like the rest of the sons of George 111., he| Shad led a somewhat extravagant life, and! |Ms widow was left in very straitened cir-1 Scumstances. To the disgrace of the Go-| jsvemment of William IV.. she was allowed! j|to be greatly indebted to her noble-mindedl |brother, the Duke of Sase-Coburg, for thei Ikindly help he gave her. As for the Royal! SFamily of England, they were not kind'tol |her. It thus happened that many 6i the ■families of the middle classes were in far j jimoro comfortable circumstances than the j Smother of England's future Queen ; and hcv | family shared with her in the practice of j I that economy and seclusion which their com- j fjparative poverty rendered necessary, j

| Two consequences followed which pre-! Spared Her late*? Majesty for worthily fulfill-8 ling the high station to which she was! •shortly to be called. Trained to the careful! Juse of money, she never burdened her sub-S Jjects with costly personal expenditure; and,! Hiving a somewhat recluse life, she was pre 4 aserved from acquiring the false notions that! |prevailed to so great an extent within jcharmcd circle of the nobility. She wass {carefully educated under the supervision off |her prudent and thoughtful mother with! Ispecial regard to the exalted position that? Ithere was every probability she would oc-fi |cupy. She was, though by birth a princessj |by education one of the people, specially! jfitted to understand their wants and wishes.l jHer habits, as we learn from the interesting! J pages of the ' Memoirs of the Prince Con-fc fsort,' were reamed and. simple. When a| SQueen she could enjoy the pure and inex-| pleasures of ber people. She needed! |no pageants to gratify vanity. In herj ifamily she was a, devoted wife and a kind Smother; and when, her ; noble husband the |Prince Consort was taken from her, time Inever effaced from her memory the partner Iwitk whom she had lived for many years so happily. . i No pictures of domestic life can be more: hpleasing than thnse-presented to us in these j | interesting memoirs; but their chief charm | Slies in the constant aim of Her Majesty toj gexalt the husband of her choice. The Queen His sunk in the wife and mother. Though fruler of the mightiest Empire that earth! alias yet known, she was content to accept |the conventional position of woman, and to § place him above herself ashsad of her household. It was thought by many that her jlong-continued mourning for his loss was I too protracted, and occasional murmurs were i; uttered by pleasure-loving courtiers and interested tradesmen at her seclusion from [•society. But the country generally ici spectod her grief and sympathised with her. 1 knowing well that she who could thus 2 worthily exhibit the natural feelings of hu- | inanity would be equally faithful in all the j! duties of her station, and equally tender of j> the griefs and sorrows of others. And so | it was. She was ever ready to relieve disi tress, and where that was impossible to ex- £ press the sympathy of a kind and feeling | heart. The wounded soldier or bereaved :■ mother received soothing messages or kindly | words, or needful help, equally with the :< bereaved or fugitive monarch, or the widow | of the murdered President. Reigning thus if in the affection of her people, she was safe 'i with them. She had no need of a regiment I to guard her. Two insane attempts, or I; sham attempts, were made upon her life, s but they only served to bring into promi. jj nenco the universal love and devotion of her £ people. No-civilian could move more safely ij unguarded than Queen Viotoria. While | other Sovereigns dared not go abroad with--5 out the protection of almost an army, she 3 might have gone alone from the Land's End iito'the extreme north of Great Britain, and I found a champion willing to die to save her 5 in every sane man. I While thus personally beloved on account v of her private virtues, her reign has been | marked by ■unparalleled advancement in art, l science, morality, religion, and general edu T r j cation. Much, no doubt, was due to the ■< change that took place in the rational sentiE; ment with regard to the social rights of the !j middle and working classes. The barrier of being broken, although there still s* remained a strong party combined to resist jj further change, every stand made by them ''only served to bring to the front, men of !< transcendent genius, who identified thema selves with the efforts made to remedy the S errors and corruptions of the past, and to I remove every impediment to advancement 1 in the future. In every age there have been | Englishmen who, according to the light that i was in them, were prepared to resist oppresjj sion and to sacrifice themselves in need I when great principles were involved. The ij reigns of Elizabeth, Anne, and George 111. adorned with orators, politicians, literal atti, and warriors. Unfortunately the last, § owing to the old passion for war, were held I too long in the highest esteem. But the .j comparatively peaceful reign of Victoria was a not favorable to the development of warlike I genius. The heroes of the Crimea, pf "Abyssinia, and India had been mainly Strained in the war brought to a close in the fifteenth year of the century, and but | few opportunities occurred elsewhere in I which more than ordinary military talent I has been needed to achieve victory. The' | wars into wliich the country has been or which have been engaged in during Her late Majesty's reign, with the cxHception of the Russian war, were mainly With countries or tribes partially civilised t-, or barbarous; and though serious reverses Sjwere experienced occasionally, they resulted jjj almost wholly through endeavors to carry Sout our purposes by inadequate means. It Jjinay therefore be considered as one of the | glories of Victoria's reign that but few Inames of heroes are associated with it. The 2world-wide Empire, though rarely without a disturbance in some portion of it, has on {itho whole been an Empire of peace. | But mightier changes took place under |her rule than were ever achieved by the Ssword. Even when used in the most righteous' jjcause, it has seldom done more than] atransfer power from one tyrant to another. 8 lit may occasionally crash a tyranny, but! geven then it must act the tyrant until mens Jhave evolved institutions from the ruin it hasf nwrought. To the late Queen was allotted] |the task of directing the affairs of the coun-| atry immediately after the bloodless revolu-f sjtion achieved by the Reform Bill of 1832.f its operation power passed virtually from? the Crown and aristocrucy"~into the control; of the middle classes. The prestige of the aris-f tocracy departed, and statesmen elected by| the newly-enfranchised classes, drawn from? families enriched by commerce, identified;! Sin sentiment with the people, and by edu-t Ication with the aristocracy, and freed from? Sclass prejudices, ornamented the Senate.! JOther reigns have had their orators :\ Burke, Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and* j&others thrilled the House of Commons with* jltheir eloquence in that of George 111. Cnn-j Sning, Wilberforce, and Lord Grey followed ;S |and they, with other able and worthy men'j Iconquered prejudice and won victories for) Jfreedom, aided by the threats and scarcely! risings of an angry people. But' Egreat and noble as were their efforts, their | achievements were feeble compared with! jjwhat was accomplished by Lord Russell, Sir! |Robert Peel. Cobden, John Bright, c'lad-j Jstone, Disraeli, O'Connell, Shaftesbury, W.j |E. Forster, Roimdcll, Palmer, Selborrej Sand others. Those great truths which! dimly as theories on the earlier' became practical principles withj 3 their successors, and through their efforts > the nation was educated to cast aside the' and rivalries which had led toj \ wars and restricted intercourse with other! and to rely upon ,industry, skill,] justice, and free communication for prosi perity and power. The army, which under! | former reigns had been employed to destroy! j the fruits of industry of other countries, was | mainly used as a conservative agent in main-i Staining order within the Empire; the navy J | more powerful than under any other Sovel reign, became an active police, maintaining 1 free to all nations the great ocean highway, i S While in former reigns nations looked upon' I each other with antagonistic feelings, and ij fettered intercourse with restrictions that L repelled them from each other, in Victoria's treicn the development of commerce enlisted!

I science in belting, the world, with means'of instantaneous communication. Countries hitherto so distant that they scarcely were known to each other became thus drawn together by feelings of cornmon. brotherhood. The two ends of the earth seemed separated only by a. few minutes of time, and colonies 16,000 miles away were made acquainted with the leading events at Home m less time than at the commencement of the reign a northern county would have heard of doings in London. Equally remarkable have been the developments of art,- science, philosophy, and mechanical invention. What was theory m bygone ages has been applied intelligently to the service of man. Fire, watW| nrnerals, electricity _ powers before na|known— have been subdued and compelled |to work the purposes of man. And amid kail this restless activity, amid the strife of Iparty and the struggles of classes, Her late |Majesty maintained a wise and equitable Whatever her political leanings, she never allowed them to bias her conduct.' She seems to have regarded her office as one of administration rather than rule. If, therefore, the nation by its representative* preferred as Prime Minister Peel to Melbourne or Russell, or Beaeonsfield to Gladstone or Palmerston, she accepted the verdict and gave effect to the national will. The freedom thus accorded to popular opinion produced its natural effect. Everv class of the community was felt to be of importance. Education, once the privilege of the rich has become the right of all; industry is free |from legislative fetters; religious societies |send their missionaries to humanise and |Chnst:anise heathen peoples; morals have |improved, society is purified, the boundaries |of the Empire extended, and its inhabitants There is much yet to be done, for ! some remnants of privilege in both Church iad State still maintain, though weakened their position. These cannot remain many years, and their removal may become the glory of a succeeding reign. But whatever is in store for her successors, the chief glory of Vwtoria's reign has been that she |Shown by example how to unite Monarchy »with Constitutionalism, and that goodnefs |punty, truth, and justice exalt a monarch ||and give prosperity to a nation. | .TWO GLIMPSES OF THE QUEEN. | WRITTEN FORTHE CHILDREN. I [By O.ve Who Had Seek Hek.] I I wonder how many of you children in have seen the great and good Queen who has passed away. Not many, I expect. But, of course, you have all heard of her; even the little tots who are not v«t too big to he nursed. Your mothers have told you about her, and your big sisters and brothers, your uncles and aunts, have shown you pictures of her. You all know what sue is like. She is not a grand, splendid, | unapproachable lady, dressed in costly robes Band furs, and covered with jewels and gold gj and diamonds, with a crown upon her head— I the dear Queen seldom dressed like that—al- | though, of course, there are some such pictures of her; but what you v have mostly I seen is the picture of a grey-haired, sadeyed, worn-faced lady dressed in black, with a widow's cap on her head. And this is the portrait that the millions of vounc people, and old people as well, the" wide world over best like to look at and think of. ior, you see, it makes the Queen our. Queen ; it brings that great lady, whose face we can see on all the money and stamps and seals, i:nd who is Empress of India, as well as Queen of Great Britain and the colonies, very near to us. There is nothing awesome ahout her then, nothing to make us either lafear or tremble, as people once did; bub ||just such a loving .kindly person as we are Ijused to see in many of'our own mothers. | We must not think of the Queen as we think |j of some of the Queens of whom history tells & us—she would never have been so reveIjrenced and loved had she been like them; ||but we must regard her as an effectionate, || tender woman, who knew what pain, sorHrow. and grief were, who had loved and lost ESlittle children of her own, who was never | happier than when Visiting the poor and | aged and helpless ; in fact, wo must think raof her just as we think of some of our own mothers or grandmothers. For ||this is what she was, and this is how she gSvrill he best remembered and live the longest. ||And this is why we call her " good." I like II that word better than the word "great." ||This last may mean so many things* that are ganot really great, or which may depend not ||so much upon the Queen herself as upon her |gstatesmen and warriors and inventors and ggi'-rtists. These, when gathered round kings p:ind queens, are apt to shed their lustre upon §atke throne, and weak and foolinsh people the glory in the wrong place, and cry ft]" lie is great." Now, the greatness of many f§ kings has been made in this way, so that we Mdo not think it a nice term to apply to the pQuecn. ,We only use it to signify that the ijjEmpire over which she has ruled is a great Inand grand one, and that she has been worthy ||of her high position. But then, you see, fjjanyono born a king or queen might be that pwithout doing very much. Jt is only when ||we say that they are "good" also that we feare saying something that depends upon jjjHthemselves and no others. * We do not use ||it of many, do we? In fact, we have to go [ijback a thousand years in British history begljfore we meet with any monarch that we Istkink worthy of it. So when we say " our *ggood Queen" we are saying something that |3 means far more than when we say our II" great" Queen m I was saying, I think, how simple and inordinary our late Queen was in her wavs jaaud life. She liked nothing better than gj'going about in a comfortable old hat and a svery loo;e wrapper amtng the cottages of glher subjects—which does not mean what it |gused to mean—and talking to those who were jßin trouble. I remember once—it was many jwyears ago—cresting near Westminster AbSbey, in London, when I saw a small crowd j|of people and a plain carriage which was Sv.drawn by two horses, and had a seat at the ivback as well as in the iiont. And just a.% I Ijy.ent over to see what it meant there was a llliillc movement- in the crowd, and a lady, || rather stout and not very tall, with "a pmothcrly look upon her face,' just such a face qas you can see any day of your life, and pjdressed very simpiy in black, came down (gsomc steps from a_ house, got into the carjgriugo after bowing' as we raised our hats to jj|hur, and as soon as a wiry, active old man, jpjwith grey hair and wearing a Scotch cap, &jhad jumped on to the little seat 1 have men- |; turned at the back drove away. Well, that gjwus the Queen, and the little man was her jSjfaithful Highland John Brown, and gthe house sJie came out of was the house of HFthe celebrated Dean Stanley, a great ficpfcacher and writer and friend of the Queen. SHe was. dying then, and his faithful and afQueen had been in to see him and i%to sit bcsid.i his deathbed. She never forgot those whom she loved, and that is .why her f7people never forgot to love her. That, I gjihink, was the first time I saw the Queen, I may, when I was young, have poteen her often, for I have many times been "near her home at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, and the ;>lace where she now g?.iics dead. p The second time T saw her was a. much if grander affair.. It was when she was going iUo open i-.n-iiumenr, ,v.d wasn another great jftfriend of hers, Lord Beaeonsfield, was Prime of England. Then there were a H large number of people in St. James's Park || along the line of route she was to come, and [* flags were waving and colors were everyajwhere, and cannou were booming and drums t&beating. Then thero came a cheer, and the Kjeheer grew louder and louder, and soon there ©appeared two horsemen magnificently dressed Sin gold and with gold cloth on their K horses and gold squares, beautifully fringed, to the.ir trumpets, and with black gjvclvet jockey caps on their heads. And g{these two gorgeously dressed men blew their jßprumpets as.(hey came along, and after them |jj pranced a number of soldiers, known as the ig Queen's Life Guards—tall men, wearing hel|*mets with plumes and shining steel breast Ijand back plates, and long polished boots and gSsAvords and tassels. And then came the |j Queen's carriage, drawn by six white horses, H with a rider on each one "of them. And in jgthe carriage was the..Queen.and Princess

Beatrice, and a lady and gentleman. And | - the Queen bowed on either side and smiled, f and, looked much happier than when I had I iirst seen her. And all the way along the | drive, right up to the Honse3 of Parlia- § ment, men and women and boys and girls | were waving their hats a.nd handkerchiefs I and cheering loudly, for they were all glad S ; to- see their Queen. ' ' | And now she has gone. Her people, will 1 never see her again, and soon all that will $ 'be left of her will be " her memory." That 1 is.all she has left to m: But it is sufficient | to cheer and encourage the most despondent | and weary. Queens have temptations and | trials the same as every one of us—only more 8 so. Our Queen had many. And through | them all she has worn what her great, friend 3 Lord Tennyson called " the white flower of aK blamelss life." She has endrrred. suffered, f and rejoiced : sho has been both Queen and 1 mother ; she has made many of vs view life | more seriously and earnestly; she has I gained our respect and reverence; and that | is why we. call her "good." and why your | parents are sad, because they know that her i life is a living heritage, bequeathed to us all, | and one whose, beauty wo did not, perhaps, S appreciate until it had passed from among | us into the everlasting silences- | THE QUEEN'S CHILDHOOD AND 1 MARRIAGE. | J73t Lady Jaxe Harriett Exuce.] i I think it must bo s»venty-fcwr>-years ago ? Rinco I first saw the Princess Victoria, then I about six years old, and one month younger | than myself. I was taken by my grand- | Jmother, Lady Radnor, who had, I believe, S /been on intimate terms with the old Royal § Family, to Kensington Palace, when she A paid a visit to the Duchess of Kent. The | room, which 1 remember with some distinct- S ness, had a large window, I think a bay, in p which a little girl was playing by herself, and whom I joined, while tho elders con-W versed together. I do not know whether Ip may have shown a too easy familiarity offe manner in my ignorance of Court etiquette,K , but the young Princess quickly and wam-E ' ingly told me, referring to the toys scat>p ; tered around, "You must not touch those,P they art mino; and I may call you Jane, l| but you must not call me Victoria." Beingf| by nature inclined to obedience, I hope, and | think, I did not transgress in these matters, t but I have no recollection of how the visit '-j passed off. or how we parted. ijf When I was about fourteen or fifteen my t mother went from Wiltshire to the Isle of 3 Wight to hold a stall, I think, at a bazaar jj patronised, and I believe attended, by the | Duchess of Kent, to r.Jso funds to meat dis- * tress in Ireland. From the sale my mother | brought me back an impression from a draw- | ing on stone by the Princess Victoria, whose | signature "s lithographed in the comer. It 1 is a pretty picture of a village child leaning £ against a projection of a cliff, while a pitcher | on the ground is being filled with water from | a pipe let into the rock. In a, moment of $ folly, years afterwards, I pasted the picture | on to a screen, where I fear I must now leave | it; but one day I hope somebody will have it | carefully removed and framed, for its own | sake, and that of the hand that executed it. | I have often wondered whether many copies | of it now exist, and, if so. where. | When I was seventeen my family passed a % winter at Ramsgate, where the Duchess of | Kent and her daughter were also staying, | and with whom my parents one evening went | to dine, while I, not quito emancipated I from the schoolroom, was left at home. To *j my surprise and somewhat, no doubt, to my s consternation, mingled with pleasure, ames-| sage came back to say the carriage was to, a call for me and take me to join the party ing the evening. Not an evening dress fit fqrS "society" did I possess, at any rate not® there; but for that there was no help, so'a I was attired, if I remember rightly, in frock of washed white book-muslin, as theK material was then called, without sash org bows to brighten it, black silk mittens forK my hands and arms, and probably blaekjl prunella shoes on my feet, with sandals m crossing over the instep and fastened rounds the ankle, and away I went We danced a» quadrille while some one of the company I& think played, and I dare say I most con-s scientiously pointed the toes of my prunellap shoes, rounded my arms into two semi-|| circles, and held up the skirt of the washedH muslin frock, in strict accordance with thep teaching of my kind old French dancingp master. Dancing was dancing in those | 'days, not skirmishing. The Princess joined S in the qnadriDe, but I cannot, recall anyjs other particular circumstance relating to the 1 part she took that evening, and the few | guests dispersed early. The strongest im- fl pression 1 brought a.way with me was the $ gracious, smiling, gentle kindness of the Duchess of Kent, which always seemed to ;<j shine in her face whenever wo afterwards Jj met. ijj When our Queen was married I was | named to be odg of her twelve bridesmaids. | an honor the sen.'-e of tie greatness of which $ has strengthened with passing years. We? 3 •were at, the time living in Berkshire, and|J my mother and I. had then our first ex-¥ perience of railroad travelling—as afterK posting. I think to Reading, we joined the|| Great. Western line, not. however, a public carriage. To have done so would. I imagine, have startled our as unpleasantly as a very few years agofe staid grandmammas and demure aunts werel* startled by hearing of granddaughters andfij nieces skipping into omnibuses or elimbingjf to their tops, and so careering along LondonES streets. On this occasion our own carriages was placed on a truck; in this we sat, and[| so steamed to town. j| The morning of tbe wedding the twelve $ "bridesmaids assembled in St. James's Palace * pome considerable time before our services \ were required ; so when we perceived that l * one- of our number had her rose on the * wTong side of her head we had plenty of 'i leisure to remedy the mistake, the victim I most good-humoredly submitting to our I criticism and amateur hairdressing. Shelf was one of those nine of our number who | have passed away since then to the "un-jv known land." How simple our dress was! | A double skirt of white tulle over white J silk, the upper one looped up on one side 1 and fastened by a large white rose with J green leaves similar to the one worn on the J head, though maybe bigger. They were 1 placed on the right side of those who were -i to walk on the left, and on the left side nff| the six on the opposite side of the train. $ Holding up that train we walked along a J corridor with spectators ranged in tiers | along tbe wall, and turned into the chapel, | when for a moment came a startling dis- 'i cordant crash, as the band in the passage a did not stop playing outside before the organ I took up a totally different strain within. | I daresay the bride heard nothing of it, for 3 doubtless heart and thoughts were ' tool deeply engrossed to notice anv outwardre masters. Like out attire, all was simple andfl plain in the chapel. There were no ball-? room-like decorations, no glitter or pomp, I ecclesiastical or otherwise, no light but that | from Heaven. But there was calm serious-1 ness, deep tender interest, and a reverent jf hush, save the reading of the Prayer Book I service. The great Lady— the very great [j Lady—knelt, visibly trembbng, before the \ Commtmion rails, and a noble woman and I a noble man were joined together in matrimony and by tic bond of a consecrated % love. ' I Ah me! what years of happiness followed, \ »J)d then wharf, mourning and woe! Tt was I God's will that onr Sovereign should be | visited by a crushing sorrow; but we mav 1 well praise and thank Him that, in spite offi the bitter trial. He of His grace a.nd merer \ rpared her to the. affection and the vp.nera- $ tion of her people and to the tender love | of her children. 3 I cannot recall what passages or apart- 1 merits we passed through after the. oerc-1 mony, but we finally found ourselves in a 1 room with the Queen and Prince, with no \ guests or relatives present. They were I standing by ~, table, when an attendant § brought m what looked like a plain colored I baize or cloth bag, and gave it to the! Queen who drew from it, one at a time, a| little dark-blue velvet case, giving one toH each of ns. Then she and the Prince passed 1 out at a side door, and we saw them no | more. Ihe case contained brooches in the&l form of a spread eagle studded with tur-H quoises with ruby eyes and holding % a pearl m each claw. The royal ini \-\ tials and the date were, engraved at the l back. We afterwards received permission I to wear them in a white rosette on our \ shoulder, as a kind of bridesmaids' order. 1 But the use of this privilege gradually died | out. I hazard the conjecture that "under I

! similar circumstances in these days the gifts 1 would be brought in -with stately ceremony, | resting on a richly embroidered velvet | jMcushion lying on a golden salver. Yet I 1 S rejoice to remember it was not so then, and | I look back with respectful admiration to'the % S unostentations, simple habits of those times. | § But, "autres temps, autres mceurs," I had | i a great appreciation of the beauty of the 3 [ royal hridegroam, as I have also of his up- '& P right character, marked mental endowments, 8 i and practical wisdom ; but T had no other i| Slpersonal knowledge of his charm. | !Tn the evening a banquet was held in the | palace, to which T was escorted by my stop-1 brother-in-law, Colonel Buckley, one'of the | earliest equerries of Her Majesty. There | jawero little tables, at one of which wo sat j§ J with others, but I have no recollection who | j were our companions.; while at a large | B table, presided over, I think, by the | \ Duchess of Kent, wero the greater folk. jjj \ After the feast the guests departed, and so s \ the wedding day was ended. % 1 Sinco then kind words in the sweet and § \ gentle voice of our Roya.l Mistress have been a J spoken to me, when I have felt almost too g * |shy and neryons to hear them; but that be-1 Slongs to a far-away past. I have a posses- 3 Ssion I value much. Jt is a slight pencil | Ssketch drav/u by the Queen, and sent to me | ■Jj through ray brother-in-law, to show what | athe bridesmaids' dress was to be. It is on 1 Ijnote paper, stamped with a gold crown in a [gone comer. ] was told that one of the | M other bridesmaids had a similar gift, but 1 »j whether there were more I never heard. | tfWh.cn I am gone hence, I hope this little | Ijtreasure will pass to a near relative of my i»1 Sown who already possesses a letter written a Jflby Queen Elizabeth to one of her maids of 3 ilhonor. I think it would be fitting that the j5 vlsame house should contain a letter written | !3by Queen Eliza.beth the Great and a draw- H filing from the hand of Queen Victoria the B sGreatly Beloved. | JXHE SECRET OF HER MAJESTY'S $ $ VITALITY AT EIGHTY-ONE. \\ I CAREFUL DIET AND OPEN AIR. | f t THE QUEENS DOCTORS. | | The Queen is eighty-one (said the ' Daily jl jjMiiil,' a few months ago), and is well and§ f| hearty. 4 yfj On this fact Her Majesty's doctors Lave J | much reason for self-congratulation. .<! M It you turn up a page in your Whitakei i? fayou will find a great arra.y of names of doc- ■§ tators of the Queen, though not all of thems Shave a Royal practice. In the men upon; 3 rawhom such honors have been bestowed the i/j taSovereign has been fortunate. They foi-m:? 9a splendid array of all that has been | and cleverest and in every sense worthiest t 8 in medical and surgical science for nearly * | a century. Worthiness is nob the least ne-1 i| ccssary qualification for such an office, for if | [| a doctor were ever so brilliant and distin-1 jjj guished in his knowledge and practice he § could never aspire to attendance upon Her g I Majesty if any tongue could cast upon him 1 I the least reproach. In this matter she is jj % characteristically punctilious. | I If it. be not lese-majeste to say so, the | j Queen has not always been an ideal patient jg jj from the doctor's point of view.' With her. *l I permanent good health always seemed to be \ I assured till she suffered great bereave-1 gment of her life, and then for"the first time! I she showed a disposition to fullv avail her-'* I self of the resources at her disposal. Forif 3a long period she has followed a few rules | f of life which the late Sir William .Tenner | «i Ibid down for her guidance. Their essence 3 simplicity. A part of them is a simple $ | and careful diet; another is regularity, andfo | a third is open-air life. Tljese rules Her % has observed, but the last one not ijf | very long ago was rather too much observed. | I and many an anxious time did the Rova! I | doctors experience when their Sovereign % | would persist iu risking the dangers 'of I | weather of such inclemency that would se-jj| gjverely test most constitut'ions. However.&| I a few autumns ago at Osbone she received^! * a fright, and has since exercised more care. I I THE ROYAL RULE OF LTFE. A | Perhaps you think vou would like to live U | according to the Royal rules of life— the |3 * rules that bring yon "to eighty-one, heartv '$ |and well. You mav. The Queen's doctorsff |will tell you that a Queen is but flesh andjjf J blood, and that they can do no more forif I Her Majesty than for any other. I£ | I asked Sir Francis Liking, one of theK inmost eminent, of those who have attended! | upon Her Majesty, to tell me some, suchl S rules of life, tlie conditions being just, nor-fe amal. While he reflected for perhaps five|| j|seconds, he took a cigarette from a well-fl | filled case and lighted it. Tliis prevented'* 0 the enlargement of the question for theft 1 benefit of the multitude who are wholly ortl U partly con\-inced that alcohol and nii.-otineE || have a lot to dc» with it. \S | Then, said Sir Francis, deliberately : " | anything you like, but do nothing to ex-ffi B cess.'' Is ffl "It is rather a, —well, brief rule," I said.p W with a, hint ;U inadequiicy. [\ | "Yes," ho replied with decision, "hut iS a it not a. good nilc'.' And it. i.s complclt.|v; * People nowadays will put themselves top t* extremes, and they become ill by excessesß a and not by deficicDcies. Moderation | be the rule of life," Rj | LIVE BY INSTINCT. U | A distinguished colleagne of Sir Francis,[| || Sir Samuel Wilks, Physician the Queen, to whom 1 put, the samel? | question, gave an answer winch was pra-c-lj |jtically the same on© expanded. [S | "It is a, difficult question," he xaid.f, Habit is a. great denl; it. is second na-K l|ture. A man accustomed to walk j* miles a day lunnot do without it. men organs seem to take the pla.ee|j ["jj of csich other. Everyone ha,s n. temperament. Follow thai, and avoid ex-gj | cesses. Tha,fs all. A quack may tell vouß gyou must ait an ounce ot albumen, so mtiehM $i starch, so much water, and so on ; and whatiS | should you do? Co and have a nice chop.s ;s Tho instincta of people are right. .Tenner | I would have said to you : ' I never walk at | S all, except from my house into my carriage, y jgj 1. Late walking, and if I could l'would got'j! Amy servants to carry me. to bed.' That was | Sir William Jenner, tho Queen's eminent | I physician ; and what about exercise then?| | In the last three or four centuries we have | J done better intellectual work tha.n ever be- S >r fore, and these have been the times of tea, | feoffee, toljacco, and alcohol. What can yo«a |jmaJve of that? It, is surprising. Again 1 1> | say, follow your instincts." | | SPARTAN METHODS UNNECES- 1 I SARY. | '$ In one sense this is very reassuring, in 3 J another it is disappointing. No Spartan I [M methods are necessaiy for octogenarianism. | 'j It is the easiest and pleasuntest thing in £ ■3the world to keep these mles of life, fort pthey are simply that you pletuse ypurself. | J(Tne would hardly have expected that from I [fithe of the medical profession, igdoctors of the Queen, when your village! SM.D. idways impresses you by his omnfs-i H cienee. Instead you "would" fanev then I Queen's doctors to know about all the new 2 I poisons that lurk in potatoes and beef and | | ncc puddings that those of lower de-'ree 1 g( wot not of. ° 3 I In other respects, too. thev are for I most part just like ven- highly respcctablejl S iamily doctors. Sir .lames lieid, who as?| | .being the resident physician is more theg | Queen's doctor than the others, is vervra I much so. He is man of marvellous tact.lf g Jenner almost, trained him, one 1 gsay, to be the Queen's doctor, and when!? J he treated Her iMajesty so skilfully when 4 % she injured her knee at Windsor,' a longjj a time ago now, his quick promotion wajsil | certain. John Brown, it is said, was in M | manner responsible for his introduction g|the hoosehold. yet, strange to say, Johnsj I Brown had no greai, opuiion himself, itlj would seem, for the physician who wasH good enough for his Royal mistress, andS for his pajt, when he was ailing, he calleds3 for Jenner. You see. Sir James was toll honest John a prophet in his own country,l| tein- an Aberdeenshire man, whose familyra Mr Brown knew very well. H A GREAT SURGEON'S RELAXATIONS.! Sir Francis Laking, who has attended thcij Queen and Royalties great and small, is af| man of quite different mould, though he andjl Sir James have one good thing incommon.p and that is, considering their eminence, theirjlj very considerable youth. Neither is morejl than a little past "fifty. Sir Francis, youjf would say, is an ideal doctor for the sicks room where fear and melancholy are in the* air, for he bubbles with cheeriness and op-fl timism. To step from the pavement across!* the threshold of 62 Pall Mall is like l>eing« suddenly transported from'the East End tot*

Ithe seaside. It is quite likely that the HQueen's Surgeon-Apothecary will tell you Ithat he is just a doctor who practises like |any other doctor does, that patients come to jjsee him, and give him fees, and go their way |again. If you let your eyes wander from shim a moment they cannot escape a box of i stones, add if ho sees you notice them he | may remark : " Such are my hobbier—geoI logy, chemistry, science, sport. Medicine is J only my bread and butter. When I have § done with it for the time being I lose myself Sin the others. - ' There may be patients in | the outer room, and when thev come in and | take a seat near the table Jjnev will hardlv j miss seeing upon it a, book"with 'Trigond|metry' writ large across the cover, and Bothers concerning higher mathematics |Then, in wondering what in the name of I.Fsculapius tans and sines and co-tans have to do with tlie liver and lungs, they will tbirik what a wonderful Qnoen's doctor is athis, vrho always talks two hundred to tbe B minute, and whose face, bright and cleanj shaven, glistens with the best of both humor i and Rense. * s Of course you can find all types among the i Queen's medical men. If you walk intoHar- | ley s'fcrecfc and seek out Mr George Lawson § tho Queen's own surgeon-oculist, and tiere- | tore a very important man, vou will tee I quite a different sort, of person" to Sir Fran- | cis. Mr Lawson is beaixled, and bears the I more solemn look, and, if he would but ad- ! Mit it, the thins he glories in most of nil | is that he is a self-roade man, who struggled | from the lowest position to the topmost, j with the help of no one but himself. When | lis was a young medico he served in the I Crimean War, and he will tell you stories of | what the doctors had to do and did in the ! campaign with a " wars were wars in those § days " sort of air. He will tell you how he s was there when Lord Raglan was given a | piece of tlie medical staff's mind by its chief, | ind how there were threats of court-martial. 8 and how Lord Raglan admitted that the i doctors were right, and that the condition S of things in his camp was far worse than he S had imagined. Mr Lawson was one of the jj earliest living specimens of the genus | M'Cormac and Treves. I THE ROYAL DENTIST. | Turn, then, to Wimbledon Common, and I in a truly delightful retreat, surrounded by | every luxury that, taste and refinement can a suggest, you will find a happy old gentlejj man whom you would indeed think would ?J make a lovely doctor—so genial, so pleas sant-~but. as to whose walk in life you •| would hardly make that your first guess. if Yet Sir Edwin Saunders is he who has at- | tended for half a centuiy to the Royal teeth |j—the surgeon-dentist. 'He has ever been a $ favorite with tlie Royal Family, and Lis jj beautiful home is full"of royal mementoes. I Why. he has one little room—his Pompeian | room—overlooking the lawns, which is little | but an autographed royal portrait gallery. | and some of (he signatures must needs call 4 up to his mind memories of the dear old | days of long ago. when at Windsor, and I Osborne, and Balmoral he saw the family I in its infancy, ;md watched the good Prince | Consort teach his boys the movements of the war. | Such is a little concerning a few o* Her | Majesty's doctors. Like all Englishmen, a 1 hey love the Queen, and thev in I their appointments. Thev like "the Queen. J too. because, she in her* turn is so loyal |to the profession. And if thev would thev I might tell you that Her Majesty's beautiful l health—beautiful is the precise wotd that i the medical mind would suggest—is dependent not so ranch upon any skill which her f doctors may possess as upon her own indopower of will, which in itself conquers illness, upon her very regular habits, imd upon her abstemious mode of living. A \ weaker spirit would find octogenarianism s less happy. 5 And the Queen is healthy and well at s eighty-one. I A short, service to Her Majesty the Queen ij was held in the square at Port Chalmers last I night. A very large number of townspeople 3 and visitors attended. A strong choir and J the Port Chalmers Naval Band assisted. { The Mayor (Mr De Maus), with a few rc- | marks, brief, but appropriate to the occasion, I opened the meeting. The Rev. Mr Tavlor | gave out the well-known hymn ' Jesu, Lover of my soul," which was sung by all present Sto the accompaniment of tho band. Tlie rev. | gentleman then read a passage from the I Scriptures, and the beautiful hymn 'Abide jj with me,' raid to be one of Her Majesty's | favorites, was very feelingly sung in the J literal fall of the eventide.' A prayer for | Her Majesty having been offered un, all j present sang ' God save the Queen '* with | great fervor. j =