the addresses of condolence offered by the two Houses of Parliament, the infant was in her arms; and the study of her life from that day forward was to establish a mutual understanding and accord between the people of England and the Princess who would probably stand in the closest possible relation to them hereafter.

This was a task of extreme and extraordinary difficulty, owing to the complications and uncertainties of the case. If it is difficult in a case of presumptive heirship in private life to decide how to educate a boy, whether for probable wealth or possible poverty; it is infinitely more so when the question is between the possession of a crown and the dull and aimless life of a subject prince—and yet more, princess. In the former case it may be said, "Educate your son thoroughly for the lower career, and he will do very well in the higher;" but to reign over a kingdom requires a training so special as to unfit the heir to enjoy the private life of princes. For many years the lot of the Princess was in suspense; and seldom has a mother undergone such wear and tear of anxiety and responsibility as the Duchess of Kent sustained on this account. The question of the succession was simplified from time to time: but it was not till within a few months of her accession that there was anything like security that the Princess would ever be Queen of England.

The old King died six days after the Duke of Kent; and there was an immediate revival of the rumours about George IV. getting a divorce after all. In 'Lord Eldon's Life (ii. 305), we are shown, by a letter of the Prince Regent's, how eager he was for this divorce within two months of his daughter's death. His vehement self-will about "unshackling himself" brought English Essays III.

8

matters to such a pass in 1820, that there were few people in England who did not fully expect to see Queen Caroline put away, and the King married again in the course of the year. There was, in fact, a majority of nine in favour of the Bill (which was one of divorce as well as degradation); but even the King did not venture to proceed upon this. It was only for a few months that the matter seemed settled; for the Queen died in August of the next year, and the marriage of the King was repeatedly rumoured, before popular expectation turned to the royal brothers. At the end of 1820, another daughter, who was named Elizabeth, in consideration of her prospects, was born to the Duke of Clarence, but the child died in infancy. In 1827 the Duke of York died; and in 1830, the King.

This ushered in a new period in the function of the Duchess of Kent. For the first ten years of her child's life she had lived retired, and had provided for the physical health and educational training of the Princess with all simplicity as well as completeness. All that was known was that the Princess was met, even on cold and windy days, dressed and in exercise in good pedestrian style-crossing a heath perhaps, with her young companions, in thick shoes and stout duffle cloak-and that she was reared in as much honesty and care about money matters as any citizen's child. It became known at Tunbridge Wells that the Princess had been unable to buy a box at a bazaar, because she had spent her money. At this bazaar, she had bought presents for almost all her relations, and had laid out her last shilling, when she remembered one cousin more, and saw a box, priced half-a-crown, which would suit him. The shop people of course

box till it

"Oh, well, ;" and the

placed the box with the other purchases; but the little lady's governess admonished them, by saying, "No; you see the Princess has not got the money, and therefore, of course, she cannot buy the box." This being perceived, the next offer was to lay by the could be purchased; and the answer was, if you will be so good as to do thatthing was done. On quarter day, before seven in the morning, the Princess appeared on her donkey to claim her purchase. Anecdotes like these, apparently small, have large meanings; and in such traits people saw promise of the rectitude and elevated economy which have made the mother of our large royal family respected by the people whose need and convenience she has so admirably respected.

She was eleven years old (1830) when William IV.sent his first message to Parliament, in which there was no allusion to the appointment of a regency. In case of his death without such a provision being made, she would have been sovereign, with full powers at once, as the minority of a sovereign is not recognised by our laws. There was another consideration which must have aggravated the anxiety of the watchful motherthat the next eldest uncle was the Duke of Cumberland. Little as could be said about this, the thought was in almost all minds that the Princess would not be altogether safe in her seat without the protection of a regency. The only apparent exceptions were the ministers, who said a great deal about the excellent health and probable long life of their master-an infirm old man of sixty-five. The danger was allowed to exist till the new Parliament met in November, when a Regency Bill provided that, in the event of no posthumous

issue of the King appearing, in which case the Queen was to be regent, the Duchess of Kent should be regent (unless she married a foreigner) till the Princess Victoria came of age. Still there were uncertainties. The King might have children; and mysterious dangers seemed to impend from the Duke of Cumberland, the extent of which became revealed to the astonished nation in 1835, when a committee of inquiry, obtained by Mr. Hume, brought to light a scheme for setting aside the succession, which it would be scarcely possible to believe now, but for the substantial documentary evidence which remains in our hands. The Orange leaders had got it into their heads that the Duke of Wellington meant to seize the crown, and that the right thing to be done in opposition was to make the Duke of Cumberland king. Letters were produced which proved that the notion of certain friends and tools of the future King of Hanover was that it would be necessary to declare King William insane, and the Princess disqualified for reigning, by being a minor and a woman. Under the explosion of loyalty thus caused on behalf of a goodnatured old king and a fatherless princess, Orangeism and its leader promised whatever was required, and disappeared from public notice. All was safe after 1836; but the preceding five years must have been heavily weighted with care to the guardian of the presumptive heiress of the throne.

The Princess was now becoming known, more or less, to her future people. She had not appeared at the last coronation; and the plea was that her health required her residence in the Isle of Wight at that time, when she was indeed too young for a scene where

It was

she must have filled so conspicuous a station. believed, too, that she had but recently become aware of her regal destination. But her guardian perceived that the time had arrived for procuring for her the advantages of travel, and of intercourse with superior minds. In 1831 began a series of tours-the first comprehending the oldest of our cities, Chester, several cathedrals, some noblemen's seats, and, finally, the University of Oxford. By degrees she became thus accustomed to the gaze of a multitude, and the homage of strangers, and formalities of processions, addresses, and, generally, the observances which must occupy a large portion of her life. At the same time the Duchess adopted the practice of inviting to Kensington travellers and voyagers, men of science, and other persons distinguished in the intellectual world, from whom the Princess might gather various information more freshly than from books—an experiment sometimes found rather awkward at the moment by all parties, but well intended, and probably of more or less use. The few years of the preceding reign were industriously employed.

They were not free from heavy and various cares. The expenses of such a method were so great that the debts of the Duchess became almost as onerous as those of her husband. Encroachments were made which she thought it more politic to yield to than to resist, and the petitions for subscriptions for everything, from blind asylums to racing cups, would have exhausted an income ten times more royal. The Duchess's reliance (afterwards justified) was that the Queen would pay the debts incurred in her preparation for sovereignty. After her accession, and when nobly portioned for a maiden