The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-01
A DISAPPOINTING VOLUME.
Queen YictOria's B0Ok-0ld-F in APP
pearance and Uninteresing in Contents.

! ing Is pam ana heaVy. AS to the DOCK ltSelI IL
is extremely Disappointing There is absolutely
nothing of political interest or significance. 1t
is simply personal record of the Queens visits
to the highlands, made during the last twenty
years. 1t is entirely unreserved and dwells
chiefly upon the most unimportant
events of her Majestys daily life.
If the matters discussed We're of
more moment we should doubtless
find more reserve. 1t is printed in the form of
diary, very disconnected. The entries begin al
most invariably with some comment upon the
weather, and of rest or unrest of the previous
night. In the early portion Of the narrative
very frequent illusions are made to the Prince
consort. Writing at BalmoIal in 1868, of a visit
to Blair, she says:
| ooh! it was dreadfully sad To think of
! the contrast to the time, two years ago when
! my darling was so well and so happy with him,
| and just beginning to recover from my great sor-
| row for dearest mama's death-loolng forward
| to many more such delightful expeditions. =
| And so eager for next years expedition, which
| ought not to have been. O! how little
| know of what is before usl How uncertain is
! life"
Through all these early records there is a
slant sorrowing for Prince Albert, to whom the
Queen seldom refers by name, but always by
| some term OF endearment. Under date of Oct
Z, 1862 she records visit to Cova that resulted
IN a carriage accident, which came near to being
a severe catastrophe:
Suddenly, about two miles from Altuagin-
| thasach, the carriage began to turn up on one
side. We called out, What's the matterl There
was an awful pause, during which Alice the
prlncess) said: We are upsetting.' In another
moment-durng which I had no time to reflect
whether we should be killed or not. and thought
there were still things had not settled and want
ed to do-the carriage turned over on its side and
Nta.lf
very hard, with my face upon the ground and
Brown calling out in despair: The Lord Al
mighty have mercy on us! Who did ever see the
like OF this before! thought you were all killed.
Alice was soon helped up by means of tearing all
her clothes to disentangle her. ] reassured them
that was not hurt and urged that we should
make the best of it as it was an inevitable mis-
fortune. Meanwhile the horses were lying upon
the ground, as if dead, and it was absolutely
necessary to get them up again. Alice whose
camness and GOODNESS were admirable held one
of the lamps while Brown cut the traces, and
the horses We're speedily released and got up
that my face was a good deal bruised and swol-
len, and above all my right thumb was exces-
sively painful and much swollen; indeed, |
thought at first it broken, until we began TO
move it. Alice advised that we should sit down
in the carriage, that is with the bottom of the
carriage as back, which we did, covered with
plaids.
1t was some time before any rescuers came to
! the assistance of the royal party and ''the
| thought that should have to sit here in the
| road ever so long" says the Queen, was not
very agreeable, but it not cold, and remem-
Der very well what my beloved one once said TO
me, namely, to make the best of what could not
be altered almost directly after the accident
] SAFE TO Alice it terrible not TO he able TO
tell NY dearest Albert, to which she answered:
But he knows it ALL and am sure he is watch
ing over usn | am thankful that it was by no
imprudence Of mine, OF the slightest deviation
from what my beloved one and | had always
been in the habit of doing, and what he sane
toned and approved" After delay the com
pany finally got ponies and came safely home.
Even queens, we learn from the diary under
go personal discOmforts On one of the Queens
journeys to Glen Fddish. of which she writes in
one of the longest entries in the diary the lug
gage, by some mistake, went astray.
Though our maids had arrived not a bit of
luggage. We waited and waited until dinner
time, but nothing came. So we ladies had to go
to dinner in riding skirts, and Just as we
We're !, having no cap, had to put on a black
lace veil Of Emlies which she arranged as a
couture None Of the maids or servants had
any change of clothing. Dinner over. l went
with Louise and Jane (Churchill) to the draw
| ing-room, which was given me as sitting-room
| and Jane read. While at dinner, at $50, Ross
told us that Blake. the footman had arrived
with some Of the smaller things but none of the
most necessary-no clothes. etc, +
Louise and Jane left me at near II o'clock. |
sat up writing and waiting for this luggage. A
man was sent out on pony with a lantern in
search of it, and | remained waiting until 12I5 |
when. feeling very tired, lay down on the sofa |
and Brown who was indefatigable) went out
himself to look for it. At he came back, say
ing that nothing was to be seen or heard of
this luckless luggage and urged my going
to bed. My maids had unfortunately not
thought of bringing anything with them. and I
disliked the idea of going to bed without any of
the necessary toilet However, some arrange
ments were made which were very uncomforta-
BILE and after | got into bed, but had very lit
tie sleep at first finally fatigue got the better of
discomfort and after 3 l fell asleep"
One of the most interesting OF the Highland |
tours which the diary describes made in
1872 to Holyrood:
Beatrice and I, with Brown (who was much
interested by ALL, conducted by the keeper an |
intelligent, sensible man called Anderson |
visited the rooms of Queen Mary, beginning |
with the Hamilton apartments (which We're |
Lord Darnley's rooms), and going up the old |
staircase to Queen Marys chamber In Lord |
Darnleys rooms there were some fine old tapes
tries and interesting portraits of the royal fam
ly and of the Dukes and Duchesses of Hamilton. |
There are some other curious old pictures in this |
room. We saw the small secret staircase which |
led up in the turret to Queen Mary's bedroom |
and we went up another dark old winding stair |
case, at the top of which poor Rizzio was so hor |
ribly murdered, whose blood is still supposed to
stain the floor Weentered the Presence Cham |
Der, the ceiling of which. in panels is from the
time of Queen Mary, and contains her mothers |
and her own initials and arms as Daupline of |
France and Queen of Scotland, with Darnleys |
initials Here is the bed provided for Charles |
when he came to Holyrood to be crowned King |
of Scotland. Thence we shown into poor |
Queen Mary's bedroom, where are the faded /
old bed she used. the baby basket sent her by /
Queen Elizabeth when King James | was born |
and her work box. All hung with old tapestry |
and the two little turret rooms, the one where |
she was supping when poor Rzzio was muir
dered, the other her dressing room Bits of old |
tapestry which covered the wall at the time are |
hung up in frames in the rooms. Beatrice is i'm /
mensely interested by all she sees and delighted |
with everything"
AS the book nears its close it becomes the
more interesting. Many pages are devoted to
recollections of Dr. Norman Macleod, for whom !
the Queen had great regard. On Sunday May |
81, 1868 she writes: My poor birthday At