New-York tribune., 1884-03-02
THE QUEENS BOOK.
WITH CASUAL NOTES on SOME OF ITS Re
CULIARiTIES

CULIAR TIES.
,rpov rIlr RyGt1AE CORRESPONDENT oF nm rRiBrSEl
LONDOS. February II.
Messrs. Smith. Eldcr& Co printed 10000 copies
a q first cd ton of hat l. popularity called he
Queen, Book" OF More Leaves. OF these lo"oo
copies they succeeded in dispo>ng of less than 5000
10 the booll,cling trade II advance OF the day ol
publication and with this result they are under
stood 10 be disappointed If they looked at the sub
iect with q uor,. So Der mind they might rather con
Oratnlate themselves The price is half guinea, or
81 5O sold at most retail shops for eight >lnllings,
or rather less than -4; cheap enough n prices co.
for a book Of this sZe with bakers dozen ol Nus
tratons ranging from steel portrait OF the Queen
in A bonnet. and another of John Brown in profile.
10 a wood engraving Of Sharp, the Queens collie.
The great Nude they say takes not less than
l. 800 copies which Is evidence enough OF popu
larity Of a certain sort.
The ucw-papcrs have done their best to treat this
book respectfully. They have chosen ont and re-
printed all OF nearly all the readab" passages IN II,
and some which are readable only by help OF very
frrvent LOYALTY indeed They agree that the feeling
which led Her Majesty 70 publish these extracts
from her diary is genuine and kindly feeling But
they lo not; a. Il rule feel called upon 70 assure the
British public that this Volume has high literary
valuc. or that II would be found oI enthralhng in
tcrest had any other than "a royal hand penned
these pages. One or two Of The more plalRSpoken
papers criticise it with Difference far ~ words
60 but with severity in substance. They point out
that what has been omitted is much more interest
my than what las been printed. and they do the
Queen a real service 10y reminding their readers
that unless allowance is made for these omissions,
they Will form an unworthy and misleading i'm
preston OF one OF the most experienced ana saga
clous soverelgns OF our time.
ANY one. says one bold writer. vs. no judged the
Queen solely from thi, book, wou,d set her down rs
nothing bctter than good motherlY lady, de
votedlv attached 70 relatives and rrtalners, With %"
ideas be-oud the range of ordinary commonplace"
bourgeois domc,ticty. That is true enough, and
The rea,on is ob, iou-. There is hardly reference
i'm the book which covers tE" n"mcntou> period
from ~ to l--2 70 any pubii. event except a. 1t
affect, the Queen or one of her family. or Brown.
There is little or no reference 10 the
rs .lwav cata-trophc~ and other accidents re-
su!tIug in DEATH which. it is well known.
rouse the Queens sympa1h"s and open her purse 10
the sufferers. The slaughter of Whole regiments Of
Fngli,hncn f.. Zul-'aui would seem. if she We're to
be Judged by this Diary, to move Their Queen less
deeply than the fdte,I quote from the same source,
So of the young French adyenturcr who wa,
spared IN a quarrel IN which be had no concern
In tEe Egyptian campaign. It j, the mo,heg's con
cpru IN her hoy Arthur, and ber pride IN the purely
y
which are most fully spread out to view. In the life
about her, in the condition of the poor. there is
nothing to touch the woma1s heart its beating
are here recorded. She comes in contact with much
misery and poverty. and mentions them. If at all.
in connection with cottages which spoil The land
srape Yet she does in fact take kindly of
the poor near her own door
To tins reticencc mainly wise about public mat
terS there is one startling exception. On sunday.
October ,. 1870 when France under the feet of
Germany. the Queen writes:
Dr. Macleod gave us such splendid sermon on
tine war. and without mentioning FrdHc' he SAID
enough 10 make every one understand what was
meant when he pointed out how God would punish
Nickedne.E. and vanity. and senSualltN: and the
chapters hc read from lsalah XVII, ana from lie
KEEL Amos and one OF the Psalms were really Pulie
wonderful for the way in which they seemed 10 lie
scribe France, IL was ali admirable and heart
stirring.
The italics are the Queens. l. it possible that
nobody had the courage TO tell Her Majesty What
Just offence TINS passage would give TO friendly
nation7 Nor viii The offence he lcsscned by her re-
mark that the prayers were beautiful IN which
DR.. Macleod spoke of the sick, the dying, the
wounded the battlefield and my sOHs-ia-idr and
dauahtrs Imagine the feelings with which these
sentences must be read by Mr.. Gladstone the pivot
OF whose foreign policy. far II has one, Is the
maintenance Of a good understanding with France.
" Dear Dr. Macleod however, was one of the
Queens prime fayorites, and whatever he said
wOuld naturally be accepted by her as gospel all
the more when Providence was the side Of any
sons-n-aw and daughters"
The obvious conclusion Of all this criticism would
be that the book had better never have seen the
light. That was, ! believe, and is the opinion Of
some of Her Majesty advisers, who were listened
| t. aud were ovcrTnled. Some Of them, certainly,
did their best 20 dissuade the Queen from giving TO
| the world Diary extending twenty years the
hero Of which il John Brown Ii does M lessen the
effect of such choice If you bear in mind that the
Ulysses of her earlier Odyssey was Prince Albert
himself Brown is on almost every page Browns
opinion is continually quoted Browns emotions on
great occasions are described. Browns affection
and devotion are praised no doubt deservedly, but
still with such iteration of acknowledgment as
wearies the most sympathetIc reader. Browns legs
are objects OF frequent anxiety 10 hs royal mistress
She records how she was much distressed at break
fast 10 fnd that poor Browns legs ha'l been dread
fully cut by the edge Of his wet kilt Oh Monday
Next day Browns leg il better. Brown IS much IN
terested in the fne old chapel Of Hollywood. AT
ROsn Chapel the Queen reads out Of a volume oi
poems by the Fttrick Shepherd, full of beautiful
4. loT Tarc