The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-04-18
THE QUEEN AND THE GILL1E
Death Of the Lifelong Body Ser.
want Of the Queen OF Great
Britain and Ireland-A
Breath Of Scandal.
FROM the New York Hour.

was called the T0naahdUk; it wa ed
tied by q son of Gilbert A'Beckett,
the contributor to Punch; it was il
Illustrated by q caricaturist who has
since found more congenial work in
designing posters for the American
stage. After a few weeks of OBSCURE
ty it suddenly flashed on the town
with q bold sketch-the sketch of an
empty throne, surmounted with q
crown, covered with a wrapper, bear
ing the inscription "Where's Brit
tania ?" Scandalized, the citizens of
London talked of prosecuting the ed
itor, when the next week came
round and with it a still holder carl
cature-that Of a tall Scotchman
standing in an arrogant posture be-
side the empty throne. This was en-
titled IA Brown Study" This was
too much for the Londoners, and the
paper came to an untimely end.
John Brown, who died OF We'd
nesdsy, had long been the target of
malice and SANDER. What the Tom
ahauk ventured to say with pen and
pencil, the club gossips had been
cackling for years. Among the up
per classes there was q sort OF jeal-
Ousy that a peasant. uneducated. UNI
Inannerly, should stand between
them and the Queen, should enjoy u
confidence from which they were ex-
cluded. Among the lower classes
there was = feeling that the mans
position vas a cause of scandal, that
the revilers of the monarchy might
make a base use of it. But John
Brown stood firm at his post, and the
Queen never wavered in her devotion
to him. He was her husbands fav-
orite; he was commended to her IN
the Prince Gonsort's will; he had
been their companion in happy by
gone days, and the Queen was there
fore determined to let tongues wag,
and stated that so long as she was
able to drive abroad, Brown should
ride before or behind her.
Another cause of his unpopularity
was that he was canny beyond the.
wont of Highlanders. His functions
made him rich. The Queen built
him a house at Balmoral, in the
neighborhoOd of the Castle. He
berths for his four brothers
and for an army of relatives in the
royal service. He lived on the fat of
the land. Being ill, and attended by
Sir William Jenner, he refused the
good offices of that celebrated physi-
clan, and sent for DR.. Marshall, the
of the household, who was off
on a holiday, and had to travel post
haste across Europe to cure MI.
Brown of a cold. But, on the other
he earned the right to special
privileges. He saved the Queens
life when the horses overturned her
carriage on the road from Baimoral
to Glassalt. He never let her pass
from his sight, and everybody re-
the stories of his fording
the Highland streams with the Queen
in his arms and of his preparing the
way for her visits to Highland cot
He was her Newfoundland
dog, very faithful, always ready to
bark, and to bite, too, on occasion.
man should ever have been II ade the
of gossip was in a large degree
due to the behavior of Brown. He
was an uncompromising Scot, with
the stuff of a Rob Roy in him. From
the heights of his love for the Queen
he looked down on the entire world.
was SO jealous of her favor that
none might approach her without
his scrutiny and permission. He
hadethe fOibles and frailties of those
faithful retainers with which we are
familiar in comedies and 30 unfamil-
lar elsewhere; he made himself part
of the family, and considered that,
next to the Queen, he was the most
person at Windsor. There
is a story, probably mythical, that the
Queen bade Prince Christian invite
him to a shooting party at which a
very distinguished company was to
be present. Invited he was, but the
distinguished company did not meet
him. Prince Christian and he shot
the coverts together.
But there can he little doubt of the
popular sentiment against
him. Queens, in fiction and in fact,
had never come out unscathed from
an intimacy with their servants.
The loves of Ruy Bias and the Queen
of Spain, of the Grand Duchesse and
her Fritz, nay, of the Royal Isabella
and SerpanO, formed good enough
for these who objected to
the presence of the stalwart Scot in
the household of Queen Victoria. 1t
is pitiful that the breath of scandal
should thus have tainted a friend
ship which vas peculiarly sentiment
tai and idylic; but there will be a
general feeling Of relief in England
that death has brought the friend
chin RI or onH