1846.]

AT ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT.

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five o'clock it became quite smooth; at half-past five we saw land; and at seven we entered Falmouth Harbour, where we were immediately surrounded by boats. The calmnest night possible, with a beautiful moon, when we went on deck; every now and then the splashing of oars and the hum of voices were heard, but they were the only sounds, unlike the constant dashing of the sea against the vessel which we heard all the time we were at Jersey." At eight o'clock next morning (September 5th) the Royal party left Falmouth, rounded the Lizard, and skirted the bold and rugged coast that leads to Land's End. Here, much to the delight of Prince Albert, the sea was

smooth. "A little before two," writes the Queen, "we landed in the beautiful Mount's Bay, close below St. Michael's Mount, which is very fine. When the bay first opened to our view the sun was lighting up this beautiful castle, so peculiarly built on a rock which forms an island at high water." The sun shone out gloriously as the Queen passed Penzance, and the smooth sea spread itself like an azure plain under a cloudless sky. "Soon after our arrival," she says, "we anchored, and the crowd of boats was beyond everything; numbers of Cornish pilchard fishermen, in their curious large boats, kept going round and round, and then anchored, besides many boats full of people." They are," says her Majesty, "a very noisy, talkative race, and speak a kind of English hardly to be understood." "During the voyage," adds the Queen, with maternal satisfaction, "I was able to give Vicky (H.I.H. the Empress Frederick) her lessons; " indeed, all through these yachting cruises the Queen insisted, in true English fashion, on acting personally as her children's teacher. In fact, it was only when the pressure of public and social duty became too severe for such labours that her Majesty

would ever consent to delegate the tuition of her children to others; and even then, she and Prince Albert bestowed on it most vigilant personal superintendence. In the afternoon the Royal party, "including the children," rowed to the Fairy, and steamed round the bay. They visited St. Michael's Mount and the smelting works at Penzance, which monopolised the attention of Prince Albert. "We remained here," her Majesty writes, "a little while to sketch, and returned to the Victoria and Albert by half-past four, the boats crowding round us in all directions; and when Bertie' (the Prince of Wales) showed himself the people shouted, "Three cheers for the Duke of Cornwall.'"

Next day they visited the quaint little town of Marazion, or Market Jew, which lies behind the Mount, where the Jews used to traffic in old times. They inspected the castle, and Prince Albert played on the organ in the chapel, to the great delight of the Queen and "the children;" after which he made what the Queen describes as "a beautiful little sketch" of St. Michael's Mount itself. On the following day (the 7th) the municipal dignitaries of Penryn invaded the Royal yacht, and begged to be introduced to "the Duke of Cornwall." "So," writes the Queen, "I stepped out of the pavilion on deck with Bertie, and Lord Palmerston told them that that was the Duke of Cornwall; and the old Mayor of Penryn said he hoped he would grow up a blessing to his parents and to his country.'" The Fal, winding between wooded banks of dwarfed oaks, and the beautiful Ruan, with its shores clad with foliage to the water's edge, were explored; and at the city of Truro, says the Queen, the whole population turned out on the banks to give her a welcome, "and were enchanted when Bertie was held up for them to see." On the following day the Royal tourists visited Fowey, "driving,” writes the Queen, "through some of the narrowest streets I ever England," and proceeding to the ivy-clad ruins of Restormel, a castle which belonged to "Bertie" as Duke of Cornwall..

saw in

Here her Majesty was bold enough to explore the iron mines. "You go in on a level," she writes. "Albert and I got into one of the trucks and we were dragged in by the miners, Mr. Taylor" (mineral agent to the Duchy) "walking behind us. The miners wore a curious woollen dress with a cap, and they generally have a candlestick in front of the cap. This time candlesticks were stuck along the sides of the mine, and those who did not drag or push carried lights. The gentlemen wore miners' hats. There was no room to pass between the trucks and the rock, and only just room enough to hold up one's head, and not always that. It had a most curious effect, and there was something unearthly about this lit-up cavern-like place. We got out and scrambled a little way to see the veins of ore, and Albert knocked off some pieces." On the way back they visited Lostwithiel; and then they returned to Osborne, vastly delighted and refreshed by their tour.

The Queen's new house at Osborne was now ready for occupation, and she and her husband held a "house-warming" ceremony on the 16th of September.

1846.]

HOUSE-WARMING AT OSBORNE.

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"Our first night," writes Lady Lyttelton in one of her letters, "in this house is well spent. Nobody smelt paint or caught cold, and the worst is over. . . After dinner we were to drink to the Queen and the Prince's health as a house-warming. And after it the Prince said, very naturally and simply, We have a hymn' (he called it a psalm) in Germany for such occasions. It begins,' and then he repeated two lines in German which I could not quote right-meaning a prayer to bless our going out and coming in."* Miss Lucy Kerr, one of the Maids of Honour, insisted in her Scottish fashion on throwing an old shoe after the Queen as she crossed the threshold for the first time, and she further diverted the company by her desire to procure molten lead and sundry other charms of Scottish witchcraft to bring luck to the Royal pair.

During the yachting cruise round the south coast, Baron Stockmar appears to have used his opportunities of close and intimate companionship with the Queen and her consort to note the changes that time had wrought in their characters. In his "Memorabilia " he records his impressions. "The Prince," he writes, "has made great strides of late. . . . He has also gained much in self-reliance. His natural vivacity leads him at times to jump too rapidly to a conclusion; and he occasionally acts too hastily; but he has grown too clear-sighted to commit any great mistake." "And the Queen also," writes the same keen and watchful critic, "improves greatly. She makes daily advances in discernment and experience; the candour, the love of truth, the fairness, the considerateness with which she judges men and things, are truly delightful; and the ingenuous self-knowledge with which she speaks about herself is simply charming."+

In the autumn, too, some other German friends cheered the Queen with a visit. The Princess of Prussia, afterwards the Empress Augusta, came on a visit to her aunt, the Queen Dowager Adelaide, and in September her Royal Highness went to Windsor. The Baroness Bunsen, who was in her suite, has given us a charming picture of the happy family circle round the Queen into which she then found herself introduced. In a letter to her mother from Windsor Castle, the Baroness writes: "I arrived here at six, and at eight went to dinner in the Great Hall, hung round with the Waterloo pictures. The band played exquisitely, so placed as to be invisible; so that, what with the large proportions of the hall, and the well-subdued lights, and the splendours of plate and decoration, the scene was such as fairy tales present; and Lady Canning, Miss Stanley, and Miss Dawson were beautiful enough to represent an ideal Queen's ideal attendants. The Queen looked well and rayonnante, with that pleased expression of countenance which she has when pleased with what surrounds her, and which, you know, I like to see.”‡ In October the Queen and Prince Albert paid another round of visits.

*Martin's Life of the Prince Consort.

+ Stockmar's Memorabilia.

Life and Letters of Baroness Bunsen, by A. J. C. Hare, Vol. II., p. 92.