A ROYAL DEATH-BED SCENE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1044, 19 June 1880, Page 2

A ROYAL DEATH-BED SCENE.

Mr. Martin's biography of the Prince Consort, which has occupied more than six years in preparation, has recently been completed by the issue of the fifth volume. The entire work extends to 2,650 pages, and givea a most interesting account of the Royal family, although the biographer indulges in an excess of panegyric concerning the Prince. The picture presented throughout is that of an excessively varied as well as busy life, Mr. Martin says that down to the last the Prince's counsel and help were sought in every direction. " In the Royal household, in his family circle, among his numerous kinsfolk at home and abroad, his judgment and guidance were being constantly appealed to. Every enterprise of national importance claimed his attention ; and in all things that concerned the wefare of the State, at home or abroad, his accurate and varied knowledge, and great political sagacity, made him looked to as an authority by all our leading statesmen." Summer or winter the Prince rose as a rule at seven, dressed and went to his sitting-room, where in winter a fire was burning, and a lamp ready lit. He read and answered letters, never allowing his correspondence to fall into arrears, or prepared for Her Majesty's consideration drafts of answers to her Ministers on any matters of importance. Not feeling sure of the idiomatic accuracy {of his English, he would constantly bring his English letters to the Queen to read through, saying (in German). " Read carefully, and tell me if there be any faults in these." A degree of method appears even to have entered into the Prince's recreation, that gave ;his brain little rest ; and the constant strain at length brought about the inevitable result. The following is the Queen's narrative of thejdeath of -the Prince :— " Theday," her Majesty writes, " was very fine and very bright I asked whether I mfght go out for a breath of air. The doctors answered "Yes, just close by, for a quarter of an hour." At about 12 1 went out upon the terrace with Alice. The military band was playing at a distance, I burst into tears and came home again. I hurried over at once. Dr. Watson was in the room. I asked him whether Albert was not better, as he seemed stronger, though he took very little notice of it, and he answered. ( We are very much frightened, but dont give up hope.' They would not let Albert sit up to take nourishment, as he wasted his strength by doing so 'The pulse keeps up,' they said. 'It is not worse. ' Every hour every minute was a gain ; and Sir James Clark was very hopefulhe had seen much worse cases. But the breathing was the alarming thing, it was so rapid. There was what they call a dusky hue about his face and hands, which I knew was not good. T made some observations abont it to Dr. Jenner, and was alarmed by seeing he seemed to notice it. Albert folded his arms and began arranging his hair just | as he used to do when well and he was dressing. These were said to be bad signs. Strange !as though he were preparing for another and greater journey. So things went on, not really worse, but not better. It was thought necessary to change bis bed. And he waa even able to get out of bed and sit up. He tried to get into bed alone, but could not, and Lohlein and one of the pages of the back stairs helped to place him on the other bed. The digestion was perfect ; but when I observed to Dr. Jenner that this was surely a good sign, he said ' Alas ! with such breathing it is of no avail ! " The doctors said that plenty of air passed through the lungs, and ' so long *s this was so there was still hope. ' " Mr. Theodore Martin adds : — "The Queen for a little went to an adjoining room, but hearing the Prince's breathing become worse she returned to the sick chamber. She found the Prince bathed in perspirration, which the doctors said might be an effort of nature to throw off the fever. Bending over him she whispered "Es ist kleines Frauchen " (' Tis your own little wife !) and he bowed his head and kissed her. At this time he seemed half-dozing quite calm, and only wishing to be left quiet and undisturbed 'as he U3ed to be when tired and not well.' Again, as the evening advanced, her Majesty retired to give way to her grief in the adjoining room. She had not long been gone when a rapid change set in, and the Princess Alice was requested by Sir James Clark to go and ask her Majesty to return. The import of the summons was too plain. When the Queen entered she took the Prince's left hand, ( which was already cold, though the breathing was quite gentle, ' and knelt down by his side. On the other side of the bed was the Princess Alice, while at its foot knelt the Prince of Wales ahd the Princess Helena. Not far from the foot of the bed were the Prince Ernest Leiningenjj the physicians, and the Prince's valet Lohlein. General the Hon. Robert Bruce knelt opposite the Queen, and the Dean of Windsor, Sir Charles Phipps, and General Grey were alßo in the room. In the Bolemn hush of that mournful chamber there was such grief as had rarely hallowed any deathbed. A great light which had blessed the world, and which the mourners had but yesterday hoped might long bless it, was waning fast away. A husband, a father, a friend, a master, endeared by every quality, by which man in such relations can win the love of his fellow man, was passing 'into the silent land, and his loving glance, his wise counsel, his firm manly thought should be known among them no more. The Castle clock chimed the first quarter after 10. Calm and peaceful grew the beloved form ; the features settled in to the beauty of a perfectly calm repose ; two or three long but gentle breaths were drawn ; and that great soul had fled, a nobler scope for its inspirations in the world within the veil, for which it had often yearned where there is rest for the weary, and where ' the spirits of the just are made perfect.' "

As some lady visitors were going through a penitentiary under the escort of the superintendent, they came to a room in which three women were sewing. "Dear me," one of the visitors whispered, " what vicious looking creatures ! Pray what are they here fori" "Because they have no other home ; this is a sitting-room, and they are my wife and two daughters," blandly answered the superintendent.