Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-01-08

7 KOyhI iuthOr.
QUEEN VIcgORn's LIFE or THE PRINCE CON


SORT.
London Letter to the New York Times.
The first volume of " The Life of the
Prince Consort' has Just appeared. On
the title-page it is stated to be by Mr.. Thee
dOre Martin but it Is known 10 have been
written at the desire and under the person
al supervision OF the Queen. AMI it consists
u a large extent of extracts from the pri
yate journal which she has kept since she
was a girl. Mr.. Martin had no personal
knowledge of the Prince, and has. in fact,
only been employed as a sort Of amanuensis
to write tie Queens dictatiJn. The lie
may, therefore, be regarded as practically
the Queens own book. Much OF i. has
already been anticipated by the Early
Years OF the Prince Consort," and the
" Leaves from a journal, which were pub
li>hed some years ago by the Queen, and
a!si by the - Biography of Baron Stock
mar, the Princes - guide, philosopher
and friend. " which has appeared more re
Gently. Those who are acquainted with
these volumes will find good deal of fami-
liar matter in the present life, AMI it Ger
tiinly cannot be said 10 throw any new
light on the character Of the prince Sail,
We get some interesting glImpse> OF the
private lie Of royal persons and Of the Gu
rIOus relations which subSlst between them
and the people, The Queen, IN fact, a.
might be expected, is II much more inter
e>ting figure in the picture than her cold,
prim and rather commonplace cOnsort.
Although the Princess Victoria. was.
alter her uncle, the Duke of Clarence, the
heir apparent to the throne. it was ior some
years doubtful whether the duke might not
have issue to succeed him. And, under
Loo
bring up the little girl in ignorance OF the
brilliant future which probably awaited
her. Il was not till she was twelve years Of
age that She first was told the exact STATE of
the case. " hen the regency bill was in
progress the princess goyerness (Bdr1ness
Lehzen) proposed 10 the Duchess OF Kent
t. let the princess know her place in the
succession, and the genealogical table was
accordingly put into the book from which
the princess learned history. The baroness
then told her that her aunt Adelaide was
still Young, and might have children. and
it 50. they would ascend the throne alter
William ~ The princes, replied And
il it was -, | should never feel dl-a9pJint-
ed. for know by the love Aunt Adelaide
bear- ne how fond she Is OF children
One OF the most amusing chapters of This
volume l. that which describes the general
aruachy which pcryaded the dome>ti: ar
raugement~ OF the servants. One section
ot thc palace wa supposed - BE- under the
lord chamberlain's charge another under
that of the lord steward vile. a. to a
third il was uncertain whose business il
was to look after it. Again. those who
were responsible for the inside oi the build
Ing had nothing to 10 with ghe outside
that was left t. the Office Of woods and Tor
e,tS. The consequence was that a. the in
side cleaning OF the window, belonged to
the lord chamberlain department, the de-
gree a. light admitted 70 the palace de-
pended On a good understanding b tween
the lord chamber ain Office and that Of
woods and forests. A. another illustration
OF this strange conflict and confusion of
jurisdiction. II l. mentioned that the lord
steward had 10 ind the lucl and lay the fire
bat It was the lord chambeg.aiu's duiy TO
20 - It's being lighted. And. similarly.
the .0rd chambcrl ala provided al the lamps.
but he lord steward lad to clean. trim aud
light hem Before a pane pi glass W
cupboard could be mcnGoi. tbs sanction ut
so many officials had - BE- obtained. that
often months elapsed before The repairs were
made Moreover, a. neither the lord chan
heriaIn nor the master %. the hJu-3 hIt
regular deputy rc-idlDE in sAe palace. more
than two-thrds of all ;hc male ami female
servants were lcit without Il master 10 che
house They could come and % a. they /
chose. or commit any exccs, or IrsegGiar.ty. +
for there was no one 10 observe. correct or .
reprimand thcm This vas grievance /.
which tic prince tegk up warmly, as he had .
q right 70 90. - MrcG a. | am inclined. I
he wrote % Peel. d" to treat the household /
machine with sOrt OF reverence. iron it, I
antiquity. still remain convinced that 1t .
j. cluns, in its original construction. ana .
works 50 i'll that A. long q It's Wheels are /
not mended there can be neither order nor
regularity, comfort, security. nor outward .
dignity in the Queen palace. The fact
that. inspired by morbid curiosity, iittle
called Jones-lnig0 Jones,
the ways called him three O.. l0ur times
penetrated into the Queens private apart
ments, aad was found now under sofa,
now hIi behind screen, ami - on, suti-
Greatly proves tie neglected condition OF
the palace
1t WAS ewing to the prince persistence
and business capacity that this 2Ssurt and
VexatIOls state of thInsS was pot an cad -
by the appointment OF resident and re-
spon>ib.e official 10 direct all the arrange
nents of the palace and there can be no
i0ubt that IN other ways the prince also
r
queen There Is one unfortunate point
which had better have been lett untouched
n the lite " are told that in order to
,ncosrage irescOe painting " the prince de-
ermined to have 1t applied in the dccora-
ION OF summer house or pavilion, III the
garden of Buck ngham Palace f Land
eer, Mlclise, HewlnS, Elstlgke. Sir ".
Russ. Dyce and Stanheld received commits
ions and We'd with each other in producing
series OF eight lunettes IN Illustration OF
Milton Conus The truth is that the
rtlsis IN question were made to paint valu-
bic pictures for nominal price, and that
ono Of them felt - much insulted by the
,altry sums that were offered them by the
'rincc. that they sent back his checks. In
Iced throughout his whole lite. artists were
a terror Les; he should take a fancy to a
'icturc, as IL would have 10 be given up 10
I'M for Il mere song. And thi- Is said to
ave happened even when the pictures had
cen already sold at d good figure With
MUSICIANS. fancy, he got no better tnan
With painters but with the latter he was,
Oth on account Of his shabbiness AID ~ T
ereilliousness. and especially disappearance
+ art, always in bad door.
From the first there were symptoms o! il
'eakness and eifeminacy in the princes n
haraeter. Fancy young man about to
C married TO nice young woman. who
appens to be also Queen. benoanins his :
al fate in the way the prince does u the "
lueen lust before he quits home - Think Il
{ my postiOn-l am leaving my home.
nth all its old associations. all my bosom d.
-Iends, and going to a country IN which il
yerything is new and strange to me-meR,
ny uage. customs, modes OF life, position
rcept yourself, | have no one 10 confide !
0 - Ii is evident that he was very much N
hat Is called - missy" young man. and v
he grew older this side OF hi character Il
a. developed by the want oi male friends, ~
nd by being much shut up in the society u
hi> doting wife and her equally adOring II
sd-cnamber women. "
Perhaps the most interesting parts of the q,
YAK are those extracts from the Queens NJ
~ GA! which throw light upon the fresh ii
- and simplicity o. her own character. 5
&c "Ss evidently delighted with Louis =,
lIiiPpe aud his family and writes with
rli>i lraakaess. with no stint Of SInera-
1es OF the 'g0od. kind King" the dear.
cellent Queen, - dear, angelic Louise -.
dear, admirable family. all 20 kind and AZ
lightiu!." When Louis Philippe came or
Windsor she was equally charmed, and IN
certainty seems u have made himself
ry agreeable. 50. also. did the Emperor
chJlas 10 his own way. OF the latter
e Queen say- " He l. certainly very Al
liking man. still very handsome his pl
0file l. beautiful, and his manner, most T.,
Quilted and graceful, extremely civil quite Ii
SO, a. he l. full Of attentions
d pOLfesses. But the expression of his
Is Is severe. and unlike anything | ever 4!
y before lie gives Albert and myself the Ju
preston OF a man who Is not happy, and AN
whom the burden of his immense power va
d position weighs heavily and painfully. GI W.,
seldom smiles, aud when he does the ex- tn,
esslon is not happy one a.
There are various little touches that show he
,een enjoyment of natural beauty, as for ea y
tancc the following a. What il so beau reu
III. she writes OF the Thuringian forest. Tn,
that between the noble and solemn forest ha,
silver and spruce frs. you come to the thu