The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-09 00:00:00

Royal Preferences.

Among its " General Note," the Day indulges
its readers with the following leaf from the
Court Circular, picked up on the sly :
have recently been reading one of the most
charming little volumes that have come into our
hands. It is no less than the royal " Preference
Book ;" the pages of which are filled up by their
Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales,
and the Princess Mary of .Cambridge. This in-
teresting record, which is au original and authentic
composition, is an account of the likings and dis-
liking of those who, next to our gracious Queen
herself, command, beyond all others, the affectionate
homage and respect of all loyal Englishmen and
Englishwomen. Aud, as taste is an index to
character, a book of this kind gives us a greater

insight into the disposition of the writers than as
private individuals we could possibly obtain in any
other way. Our readers are perhaps aware of the
general arrangement of the work. In answer to the
first question, " Who is your favourite queen?" the
Prince and Princess Diary treat the question his-
torically, and unite in admiring Mary Queen of
Scots. The Princess of Wales, on the other hand,
selects a more modern instance, and dutifully gives
the preference to her own royal mother. Upon the
kuliject of kings there has been a great differ-
ence of opinion. The Prince has written,
" Leopold, King of the Belgians." The Princess
is in favour of the warlike Coeur de Lion ;
while the Princess Mary, with womanly pity for
the unfortunate, gives the palm to Charles I
Nelson, Marlborough, and Wellington are the
favourite heroes ; Shakspere the favourite poet of
the Princess, and Byron that of the Prince and
Princess Mary. Raphael, Rubens, and Sir Joshua
Reynolds are selected from the list of artists. As
an author, the Prince prefers Macaulay to all others;
the ladies are unanimous in favour of Chas. Dickens.
The virtues of honesty and charity receive hearty
sympathy, as might well be supposed, at the hands of
those to whom they have long been familiar. The
Prince's favourite colour is the bizarre mixture
known as " I Zingari ;" the two Princesses mani-
fest a national partiality to " True Blue."
When we come to the subject of " the
inner man," we find the Prince—with unques-
tionable taste—recording his admiration of Trufl'es
aux Perigord, an opinion with which we respectfully
and most heartily agree. The Princess, however,
scorns "foreign kickshaws," and confesses "a weak-
ness" fur Yorkshire pudding. The Princess Mary is
equally in favour of French tart. Among flowers,
the Prince and Princess Mary are again of the
same mind. They select the rose, and the Princess
of Wales gives her vote to the modest little
forget-me-not. The Princess Mary prefers her own
name to all others ;- the Princess of Wales her
husband's second name, Edward ; the Prince him-
self selects Louise. His Royal Highness has an-
swered the next question, " What is your favourite
occupation ?" in a most moral and praiseworthy
spirit, " Improving my mind." The ladies
are not so severe in their taste. " Playing on the
piano" is the answer of the Princess ; and " Read-
ing aloud" that of the Princess Mary. Hunting,
riding, and driving ponies form the chiefi amuse-
ments,
of the royal trio in their " hours of idleness."
Then we come to the mottoes. These are very ap-
propriately and gracefully selected from. the armo-
rial bearings of the selectors : " Ich then" by the
Prince, " llonisoit qui mal ypense," by the Princess,
and "Dieu et mou Droit" by the Princess Mary. The
Prince hates " cowardice and avarice," the Princess
" slander," and the Princess Mary—bless her
kind heart—has no particular dislikes. We
hope and trust the Prince will not go yet awhile to
his " favourite locality" the Sandwich Isles !" And
long may the Princess remain in the land of her
choice—" Great Britain." And nowhere, we think,
is the Princess Mary more admired and beloved
than "at home." Ambition has its charms, but
the moderate ambition of the Prince and Princess
can lead them to no harm : "To attain fame with-
out seeking it ;" " Non-interference in other people's
business." The Princess Mary sensibly adds, " Not
for being fast ;" and so, with the signatures of the
Royal writers, these interesting memoranda are
brought to a close.

LETTERS POP. CHINA AND JAPAN.—The Post-
master-G,lueral has just issued the following notice:—
"Letters addressed to any part of China or Japan, upon
which the postage has not been fully prepaid, or which
have been posted wholly unpaid, will, iu future, instead of
being stopped and returned to the writers, be treated in all
respects as letters for Hong Kong, i. e., they will be sent
forward charged with the deficiency and ono rate of
postage in addition as a fine.