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THE QUEEN'S JOURNAL.

We (Independent) select extracts from the excellent book written by Her Majesty, which gives an insight into the Queen's " Life in the Highlands," presents us with bright pictures of a happy home where ostentation and state ceremonial are laid aside, and tells how our most gracious Sovereign enjoyed herself with her husband and children. Throughout these colonies the volume will be read with delight, and we are sure that the narrative will greatly increase the respect, loyalty, and affection, in which the Queen is held by all classes of her subjects.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OV BALMORAL

" Balmoral, Friday, Sept. Bth, 1848.— We arrived at Balmoral at a quarter to three. It is a pretty little castle in the old Scottish style. There is a picturesque tower and garden in front, with a high wooded hill ; at the back there is wood down to the Dee, and the hills rise all around. There is a nice little hall with a billiard room ; next to it is the dining room. "Upstairs, ascending by a good broad staircase, immediately to the right, and above the dining room, is our sitting room, formerly the drawing room — a fine large room — next to which is our bedroom, opening into a little dressing room, which is Albert's. Opposite, down a few steps, are the children's and Miss Hilyard's three rooms. The ladies live below, and the gentlemen upstairs. . . The scenery is wild and yet not desolate, and everything looks much more prosperous and cultivated than at Laggan. Then the soil is delightfully dry. W"o walked beside the Dee, a beautiful rapid stream, which is close behind the house. The view of the hills towards Invercauld is exceedingly fine. When I came in at half-past six, Albert went out to try his luck with some stags which lay quite close in the woods, but he was unsuccessful. They came down of an evening quite near to the house."

THE NEW ROYAL PALACE AT BALMORAL

Her Majesty and the Prince took possession of the New Castle at Balmoral in 1855. We quote the words of the royal authoress : —

" Sept. 7, 1855.— At a quarter past seven o'clock we arrived at dear Balmoral. Strange, very strange, it seemed to me to drive past — indeed, through the old house, the connecting part between it and the offices being broken through. The new hoxise looks beautiful. . . The towers and the rooms in the connecting part are, however, only half finished, and the offices, are still unbuilt ; therefore the gentlemen (except the minister) live in the old house, and so do most of the servants. There is a long wooden passage which connects the new house with the offices. An old shoe was thrown after us into the new house for good luck, when we entered the hall. The place is charming ; the rooms delightful — the furniture, papers, everything perfection."

THE FALL OF SEVASTOPOL

"Sept. 10, 1855. — All were in constant expectation of more telegraphicdespatches. At half-past ten o'clock two arrived — one for me and one for Lord Granville. I began reading mine, which was from Lord Clarendon, with details from Marshal Pelissier of the further destruction of the Russian ships, and Lord Granville said, ' I have still better news,' on which he read — ' From General Simpson — Savastojpol is in the liands of the allies.' God bo praised for it. Our delight was great; but wo could hardly believe the good news, and from having so long, so anxiously expected it, one could not realise the actual fact. Albert said they should go at once and light the bonfire which had been prepared when the false report of the fall of the town arrived last year, and had remained ever since, waiting to be lit. On November sth, the day of the battle of Inkerman, the wind upset it, and now again, most strangely, it seemed only to wait for our return to be lit. The new house seems to be lucky, indeed ; for from the first moment of our arrival we have had good news. In a few minutes, Albert, and ail the gentlemen, in every species of attire, sallied forth, followed by all the servants, and gradually by all the population of the village — keepers, gillies, workmen — up to the top of the cairn. We waited and saw them light it, accompanied by general cheering. The bonfire blazed forth brilliantly, and we could see the numerous figures surrounding it, some dancing, all shouting ; ltoss playing his pipes, and Grant and Macdonald firing off guns continually, while poor old Francis l)'Alberancon lighted a number of squibs below, the greater part of which would not go off. About three-quarters of an hour after, Albert came down, and said the scene had been wild and exciting bej'ond everything. The people had been drinking healths in whisky, and were in great ecstacy. The whole house seemed to be in a wonderful state of excitement. The boys were with difficulty awakened, and when, at last, this was the case, they begged leave to go up to the top of the cairn. We remained till a quarter to twelve, and just as I was undressing, all the people came down under the windows, the pipes playing, the people singing, firing off guns, and cheering, first for mo, then for Albert, and then for the Emperor of the French and the downfall of Sevastopol."

THE BETKOTHAL OF THE PHINCESS ROYAL

" September 29, 1855.— 0ur dear Victoria was this day engaged to Prince Frederick William of Prussia, who had been on a visit to us since the 14th. He had already spoken to us, on the 20th, of his wishes ; but we were uncertain, on account of her extreme youth, whether he should speak to her himself, or wait till he came back again. However, we felt it was' better he should do so ; and, during our ride up to Craig-na-ban, this afternoon, he picked a piece of white heather — the emblem of ' good luck ' — which he gave to her, and this enabled him to make an allusion to his hopes and wishes, as they rode down Glen Girnoch, which led to this happy conclusion."

THE NEWS OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S

DEATH

" Alt-na-Guithasacli, Thursday, Sept. 16, 1852. — We were startled tliis morning, at seven o'clock, by a letter from Colonel Plnpps, enclosing a telegraphic despatch with the report, from the sixth edition of the Sun, of the Duke of Wellington's death the day before yesterday, which report, however, wo did not at all believe. Would to God that we had been right, and that this day had not been cruelly saddened in the afternoon. We got off our ponies, and I had just sat down to sketch, when. Mackenzie returned, saying my watch was safe at home (it had been missed in the woods), and bringing letters ; amongst them was one from Lord Derby, which I tore open, and, alas ! it contained the confirmation of the fatal news that England's, or, rather, Britain's pride, her glory, her hero, the greatest man she ever had produced, was no more ! Sad day ! Great and irreparable national loss ! Lord Derby enclosed a few lines from Lord Charles Wellesley, saying (hat his dear, great father had died ou Tuesday, at 3 o'clock, after a few hours' illness, and no suffei'ing. God's will, be done ! The day must have

corhe ; the Duke was eighty-three. It is well for him that he has been, taken when still in possession of his great mmd — and without a long illness. But what a loss ! One cannot think of this country without • The Duke'— our immortal hero. In him centred almost every earthly honor a subject could possess. His position was the highest a subject ever had — above party, looked up to by all, revered by the whole naiion, the friend of tho Sovereign. And hoiv simply he carried these honors! With what singleness of purpose, what straightforwardness, what courage were all the motives of his actions guided ! The Crown never possessed — and I fear never will — so devoted, loyal, and faithful a subject, so staunch a supporter. To us (who, alas ! have lost so many of our valued and experienced friends) his loss is irreparable, for his readiness to aid and advise, if it could be of use to us, and to overcome any and every difficulty, was unequalled. To Albert he showed the greatest kindness and the utmost confidence. His experience and his knowledge of the past were so great, too ; he was a link which connected us with bygone times, with the last century. .Not an eye will be dry in tho whole country. We hastened down on foot to the head of Loch Miuch, and then rode home, in a heavy showei 1 , to Alt-na-Guithasach. Our whole enjoyment was spoilt ; a gloom overhung all of us."

CEATG GOWAN. — VICKY AMONG THE WASPS

" After luncheon Albert decided to walk through the wood for the last time, to have a last chance, and allowed Vicky and me to go with him. At half-past three we started, got out at Grant's, and walked up part of Carrop, intending to go on the lower path, when a stag was heard to roar, and we all turned into the wood. We crept along, and got into the middle path. Albert soon left us to go lower, and we sat down to wait for him ; presently we heard a shot — then complete silence — and after another pause of some little tune, three more shots. We sent some one out to look, who shortly after returned, saying the stag had been twice hit, and they were after him. . . . Albert had already killed the stag; and on the road he lay, a little way beyond Invergelder. He was a magnificent animal, and I sat down and scratched a little sketch of him on a bit of paper that Macdonald had in his pocket, which I put on a stone, while Albert and Vicky, with the others, built a little cairn to mark the spot. We heard, after I had finished my little scrawl, that another stag had beeii seen near the road. Albert jumped out and fired. The animal fell , b ut rose again, and went on a little way, and Albert folio vred. I sat down to sketch, and poor Vicky unfortunately seated herself on a wasp's nest and was much stung. Donald Stewart rescued her, for I could not, being too much alarmed. Albert joined us in twenty minutes, unconscious of having killed the stag. What a beautiful day ! But sad that it should be the last day. Home by half-past six. We found our beautiful stag had arrived, and admired him much."

AN EXPEDITION TO GLEN ITSHIE. — INCI-

DENTS

" Hotel Granton, Tuesday, September 4, 1860. — A few seconds brought us over to the road, where there were two shabby vehicles, one a kind of barouche, into which Albert and I got, Lady Churchill and General Grey into the other — a break ; each with a pair of small and rather miserable horses, driven by a man from the box. Grant was on our carriage, and Brown on the other. We had gone so far forty miles, at least twenty on horseback. Wo had decided to call ourselves ' Lord and Lady Churchill and party,' Lady Churchill passed as Miss Spencer, and General Grey as Dr. Grey ! Brown once forgot this, and called me ' Your Majesty,' as I was getting into the carriage ; and Grant once on the box called Albert ' Your Highness' ; which set us off laughing, but no one observed ib. We had a long three hours' drive ; it was six o'clock when, wo got into the carriage. We were soon out of the wood, and came upon the Badenoch road — passing close by Kinrara, but, unfortunately, not through it, which we ought to have done. Ifc was very beautiful— fine wooded hills, the high Cairngorm range, and Ben Muich Dhui, unfortunately much obscured by the mist on the top, and the broad Spey flowing iv the valley, with cultivated fields and fine trees below. Most striking, however, on. our whole journey was the utter, and to me very refreshing, solitude. Hardly a habitation ! and hardly meetiug a soul ! It gradually grew dark. We had stopped at a half-way house for the horses to take some water, and the few people about stared vacantly at us. The mountains gradually disappeared, — the evening was mild, with a few drops of rain. On and on we went, till at length we saw lights, and drove through a long and straggling ' toun,' and turned down a small court to the door of the inn. Here we got out quickly, Lady Churchill and General Grey not waiting for us. We went up a small staircase, and were shown to o\ir tedroom at the top of it — very small, but clean — with a large four post bed which nearly filled the whole room. Opposite was the drawing and dining room in one — very tidy and well sized. Then came the room where Albert dressed, which was very small. The two maids (Jane Shackle was with me) had driven over by another road in a waggonnette, Stewart driving them. Made ourselves ' clean and tidy,' and then sat down to our dinner. Grant and Brown were to have waited onus, but were ' bashful,' and did not. A ringletted woman did everything ; and when dinner was over, removed the cloth and placed the bottle of wine (our own which we had brought) on the table with the glasses, which was the old English fashion. After dinner, I tried to write part of this account (hut the talking round me confused me), while Albert played at '-patience.' Then went away, to begin undressing, and it was about half-past eleven when we got to bed."

MURDER WILL OUT.

" Wednesday, September 5. — A misty rainy morning. Had not slept very soundly. We got up rather early, and sat up working and reading in the drawingroom till the breakfast was read}', for which we had to wait some little time. Good tea and bread and butter, and some excellent porridge. Jane Shackle (who was very useful and attentive) said that they had all supped together — namely, the two maids, and Grant, Brown, Stewart, and Walker (who was still there), and were very merry in the ' commercial room.' The people were very amusing about us. The woman came in while they were at their dinner, and said to Grant, ' Dr. Grey wants yon,' which nearly upset the gravity of all the others ; then the^ told .Tane, ' Your lady gives no trouble ; ' and Grant in the morning called up to Jane, ' Docs his lordship want me?' One could look on the street, which is a very long wide one with detached houses, from our window. It was perfectly quiet, no one stirring, except here and there a man driving a cart, or a boj- going along on his errand. General Grey bought himself a watch in a shop for £2 ! At length, at ten minutes to ten o'clock, we started in the same carriages and the same way as ! yesterday, and drove up to Castle Grant, i Lord Seahill's place, — a, fine (not Highland looking) park, with a very plainlooking house, like a factory, about two

miles from the town. It was drizzling nearly the whole time. We did not get out, but drove back, having to pass through Grantown again, where evidently the ' murder was out,' for nil the people were in the street, and the landlady waved her pocket-handkerchief, and the ringletted maid (who had curl-papers in the morning) waved a flag from the window."

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18680411.2.18

Bibliographic details

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 933, 11 April 1868, Page 3

Word Count
2,617

THE QUEEN'S JOURNAL. Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 933, 11 April 1868, Page 3

THE QUEEN'S JOURNAL. Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 933, 11 April 1868, Page 3