The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-10-21 00:00:00

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1876.

DIGNITIES AND DUTIES.

From time to time the ordinary crovvd is
treated to a glimpse of life behind the scenes in
the npper circles of society; and no description
of matter is more interesting to the masses of

the people. Incidents in the existence of a
great warrior or a famous statesman—what
pranks he played in boyhood, who were his
schoolfellows at Harrow or at Eton, the recrea-
tions in which he delighted when a youth—all
these and many others are at nil times eagerly

read. But if We go up higher, and can get
admitted to the inner circles of the Court
iLAelf, the intrest is naturally magnified in a
very coniderable degree. If a Royal princess
apm Ars in public, the items of her dress always
make up one of the best paragraphs in the
wbole report ; and if there is this desire to
obtain information upon what, after all, is a
subj:?ct fleeting and evanescent in its character,
tliPre is a far greater wish to know something
of the daily manners and customs of those who
are set in authority_ over us, ‘i,.hen the

splendours of State are laid aside, and domestic
life, with many of its cares and sorrows, stands

_
forth just as it might appear in any household
in the land.

On several °cessions durinr, the past few
years the Queen has taken her subjects into
her confidence respecting the hopes and fears,
the joys and the anticipations of her early
nu.rried life. The late Sir Arthur Helps edited

lier Majesty's diary, a simple and unpretending
vo:nme, one aspiring to no literary merits, but

briatfui of interesting matter of a character
which made the hearts of her people warm
towards her. Upon the walls of many a cottage
3,0m0 in this kingdom is a large engraving
wnich must have been executed years and
years ago, representing the Sovereign sur-
?minded by her husband and her youthful
fatuity. The Prince of Wales with his top and
tile Princess i-topil vrith her doll, are two of the
r, conspicuous figures in this Royal °Tony.
WHere are they all now ?- scattered to the four
winds of heaven. • The illustrious head of the

"the silent father of our kings to be"
has been in the grave for half a generation.
His remains have been enshrined in a
.sgssideeni, mausoleum at Frogmore, there they
Le in a calmness which is unbroken; and
neither the sorrows of the widow nor the regrets
of a nation can avail now. The Princess Royal,
the little girl in the picture, who was so well
pleased with her doll, has been a wife for nearly
twenty years—the centre of fashion in a foreign
capital ; and the time cannot be far distant
when, as Empress of Gsrmany, she with her
husband will occupy a throne belonging to one
of the greatest military Powers in Europe.
The Prince of Wales is home with us just now,
and we are all very glad to see him ; for we do
not forget how, on the 11th of October last year
he set out upon that journey through our Indian
possessions which lasted seven months, and was
brought to an end on the 11th of May, amid
the acclamations of the people. For it must be
remenebered that five years ago, within two
months, there was a time of great national
xi:Ay owing to the dangerous illness of the
ir Apparent to the Crown ; and we all saw
n how valuable a life that of his Royal
Hishness was. Had it been snapped asunder,
and a prolonged regency been the consequence,
the foundations of the monarchy might have
rec7ivcd a shock from which the process of
rerovery would possibly have been slow and
tiuus. The second son, the Duke of
Edinburgh, is sailing the seas in command of
one of her Majesty's ironclarls, ready for war
should it break out. The Duke of Connaught
eoiised on his military duties, and rumour
ditts him out as
.ths future commander-in-
chief of the British army. Prince Leopold is
pursuiiig rioro of a classical career than has
fss len tss the lot of either of his brothers. The
Princesses Alice, Helena, and Louise are
married ; :sad thus it cotilkii to pass that of all
the happy children gathered in the group to,
which we ref !Tad just now, all save one have
itit the Royal roof tree. Toe youngest child of
ati, who was no less than five years old when
her father died, is the only ohe remaining to the
ssitlowea Queen, the only one still at home, and
without a separaw establishment. Two chil-
dren in Germany,vone sailing the waters of the
Mediterranean, five at home with cares and
responsibilities of their own—the husband and
father fifteen years dead—behold, then, the
changes which time bath wrought in a coin-
psratively short period in the most exalted
household in the kingdom.
The volume of the Prince Consort's life now
before the public covers the halcyon days of his
private life, but perhaps his most anxious years
as a public man. It ranges from the eve of the
downfall of Louis Phillippe to the eve of the
Crfinean War. More than once we find the
Queen anxious as to his health, but he was
always able to enjoy a quiet day at Osborne, or
an active one at his Scotch estate ; while the
variety of accomplishments which the wise
character of his education had secured for him,
from the composition of classical music to the
judging of cattle, must have kept a healthy
mind healthily occupied. Yet, during these
years he must have had many anxious times.
He w4s simply making himself known to the
nation, and as yet was imperfectly understood.
It is only at the end of the book that these
misunderstandings were cleared away; and the
nation sees the Prince Consort stand out before
as a good father, an exemplary husband, a
sagacious counsellor, and a far-sighted states-
man. His sun went down while it was yet
noon; but for years to come the people will have
occasion to remember him in connection with
those attributes which were so pre-enaiuentlyhis
distinguishing characteristics.