CHAPTER IV. Married Life.

Te Aroha News, 21 June 1887, Page 6

CHAPTER IV. Married Life.

HOW many -women have experienced the expulsion of romance from their lives almost befoie the rythmic cadences of their wedding joy bells have ceased to echo 3 How soon has the magic circlet of gold on the middle finger become as it were a fetter of iron ? How speedily the carking cares ot lite dispel the rosy dreams of maidenhood ! In the case of the Queen the romance did not die , the wedding ring continued for twenty years the symbol of the union of two loving hearts, Two souls with but a single thought, Two hearts that beat as one. And c'en though stripped of queenly rank, Her Majesty would command the respect of her fellow-countrymen as a model wife and mother. Who can deny that the spotless, happy married life of the "first lady of the land" has been a potent factor in the purification of our national life. As a woman she has rendered greater services to the nation than as a sovereign. To quote the sentiments of a contemporary author, it is rare that a wedding, even a Royal one, is ol such import as to mark the opening of a new era. We should have to go back to the alliance of Henry I. with the niece ot Edgar TEtheling, to find any wedding in English history of import equal to that of Victoria and Albert. As the marriage of Martin Luther and Catherine Bora signalled revolution in religious ideas, so in a minor degree this wedding heralded the beginning ot a great moral change in England. At the beginning of the jubilee period we are now celebrating nothing could be more dissolute than the way in which wedded life was spoken of ; to-day its sanctity is almost an article of religion. , While the greater virtues were cultivated by the young royal pair, the lesser ones were not neglected. The husband's tastes ran in the direction of early rising and a country life, and it is charming to iead of the wifely submission of Her Majesty while her good thoughtful husband was cultivating the young mind and moulding it for a career of nobleness. In all her writings that have been made public, there can be seen evidences of the strong yet submissive affection she bore for her husband, and her confessions of impel fection are almost amusing in their innocence. Writing a year after marriage, the Queen makes the following confession : "I told Albert that formeily I was too happy to go to London and wretched to leave it, and how since the blessed hour of my marriage and still more since the summer, I dislike and am unhappy to leave the country, and would be content and happy never to go to town. . . . The solid pleasures of a peaceful quiet yet meny life in the countiy with my inestimable husband and friend, my all in all, are far more durable than the amusements of London— though we don't despise or dislike them sometimes." Wilting of the parting of Prince Albert with his brother she says, " Oh, how I feel for my deaiest precious husband at this moment ! Father, bi others, friends, country ( ) all has he left and i\\ for me. God grant that I may be the happy person, 'lie most happy person, to make this dearest, blessed being happy and contented." The daily routine of these earlier years is a charming picture of happy contented home life. The royal pair breakfasted at 9 a.m. and took a walk in the grounds at Windsor, brushing the morning dews from the gias*. Then State business had to be transacted,

documents perused and signed, after which the Queen and Prince Albert, ioi innately endowed with a kindred taste for art, etched together. After two 0 clock luncheon the Queen would give audience to her Prime Minister, and in the lengthening shadows 01 the afternoon the Prince would drive her out in a pony phaeton, the Duchess of Kent sometimes accompanying them. Between times the Prince would read aloud from hib favourite authors Eight 0 clock dinners were the rule, the party breaking up at ele\cn Mendelssohn in a letter to his mother bears testimony to the thorough English simplicity ot the life ol the Royal pair li is tree from sycophantic adulation, and is so clearly a truthful lite-like portrait, that we cannot, despite its length retrain trom reproducing it here The great composer say* — " I musi tell you all the details ot my last visa to Buckingham Palace It is. as E says, the one reall> pleasant and thoroughly comiortable English house, wheie one teelb .; \on aise 01 course 1 do know a lew others , bui still on the whole 1 agree wiih him. joking iipari, Prince Albert had asked me to go lo him on baturday at two o clock so that I mighi try his organ betore 1 left England 1 found him alone, and as we weie talking the Queen came in also alone in a simple morning dress She said she was obliged to leave lor Claremoni in an hour, and ihen suddenly interrupting hersell exclaimed, ' But goodness, what a contusion!' lor ihe wind had littered the whole room, and even the pedals ot the oigan (which, by the way. made a very pretty learure in the room) with leaves ot music Irom a large portiolio which lay open. As she spoke she knelt down and began picking up the music Prince Albert helped, and J too was not idle. Then Puncc Albert proceeded to explain the stops to me, and she said that she would meanwhile make things straight 1 begged that the Prince would first play over something so that, as I-said, 1 might boast about *t in Germany , and he played a Chorale by heart wiih the pedals so charmingly, and clearly, and correctly, that it would have done credit to any professional , and the Queen. having Jinislud her work, came and sal by him and listened, and looked pleased Then it was my turn, and 1 began my chorus trom Si. Paul, 'How loxely are the messengers. Betore 1 got to the end ot the fust verse they both joined in the chorus, and all the time Prince Albert managed the stops tor me so cleveil)— hist a flute, at the forte the great organ, at the D major part the whole, then he made a lovely diminuendo with the stops, and so on to the end ol the piece, and all by heart— that 1 was really quite enchanted. " Then the young Prince of Gotha came in, and there was more chatting ; and the Queen asked it I had written any new songs, and said she was very lond of singing my published ones. * You should sing one to him^' said Prince Albert ; and after a little begging, she saicl she would try the Fruhlings-hed in B flat, ' if it was still here,' she added, 'for all my music is packed up for Ciaremont.' Prince Albert went to look for it, but came back, saying it was already {jacked. . . . . At last ihe Queen went herself, and while she was gone, Prince Albert said to me, ' bhe begs you will accept this present as a remembrance ,' and gave me a little case with a beauutul ring, on which is engraved ' V R., 1842." "Then the Queen came back, and said, 'Lady is gone, and has taken all my things with her. It really is most annoying ' 1 then begged that I might not be made to suffer for the accident, and hoped she would sing another song. After some consultation with her husband, he said, ' She will sing you something of Gluck's.' Meantime the Princess of Gotha had come in, and we five proceeded through various corridors and rooms to the Queen's sitting room. The Duchess of Kent came in, too, and while they were talking, I rummaged about among the music, and soon discovered my first set of songs. So, of course, 1 begged her rather to sing one of these than the Gluck, to which she kindly consented ; and which did she choose? ' Schoner und schoner schimmkt sich !' sang it quite charmingly, in strict time and tune, and with very good execution. Only in the line, " Der Prora Lasten und Muh,'' where it goes down to D, and then comes up again chromatically, she sung D sharp each lime, and as I gave her the note both times, the last time she sang D, and then it ought to ha\e been D sharp. But, with the exception of this little mistake, it was really charming; and the last G 1 ha\e never heard better or purer fiom an amateur. Then 1 was obliged to confess that Farm)* had wiittcn the song (which I tound very hard, but pude must have a fall), and to beg her to sing one of my ov n also. If I would give plenty of help she would gladly try, she said ; and then she sang the Pilgerspruch, •' Lass dich nur," really quite faultlessly, and with charming feeling and expiession. 1 thought to myself one must not pay too many compliments on such an occasion, so I merely thanked her a good many times ; upon which she said, ' Oh ! if only 1 had not been so frightened ; generally I have such long breath.' Then I praised her humility, and with the best conscience in the world ; for just that part with the long G at the end she had done so well , taking the three following and connecting notes in the same breath, as one seldom hears it done ; and therefore it amused me doubly that she heiself should have begun about it. "After this Prince Albert sang the Aerndtle-hed, * Mendelssohn's sister.

lEs ist em Schnitter ;' and then he said I must play him something before I went, and gave me as theme 3 the Chorale which he had played on the organ, and the song he had just sung. If everything had gone on as usual I ought to have improvised most dreadfully badly , tor it is almost always like that with me when 1 want 10 do it well, and then 1 should have gone away vexed with the whole morning But just as if I was to keep nothing but the pleasantest, most charming recollection ol it, I never improvised bettei 1 was in the best mood lor it, and played d, long tirrx and enjoyed it mysell , so that besides the two themet, 1 brought in the songs the Queen had sung naturally enough , and ihey lollowed me with so much intelligence and attention, that 1 ielt more at ease than 1 evei did in improvising to an audience. The Queen said several times she hoped 1 would soon come to England again and pay them a visit And then I took iea\e , and down below 1 saw the beautilul carnages waiting with their scarlet outriders , and in a quarter of an hour the rlag was loweied, and the Court Circular announced. • Her Majesty lett the Palace at twenty minutes past three '" The Queen in her maternal is as estimable as in her wifely capacity The mannei in which she has per lormed the greal natural duty imposed on her sex i worthy of imitation in every rank ol society, an especially amongst the upper classes who to. Irequently regard their obligation to their offspring tar too lightl) "The childien " <ire constantly mentioned m the Queen s peisonal records, and in thousands ot ways does she show that they were always in her mind. The Princess Royal came Lirsi, and ' toi .i moment only, the Queen says, ' was the Prince disappointed at its being u daughter, and not a son. During the time the Queen was laid up, she hersell writes, the pi nice scaic-nd de\onon were quite beyond expression Herelusedio go to the play or anywhere else generally dining alone with the Duchess ot Keni till the Queen was able to join them, and was always at hand to do anything- in his power tot liei comlon He was content to sit by hci in i\ darkened 100 m to read to her ni write lor her No one Oui himsell e\ei lifted her horn her bed to her sola, and lie always helped lo wheel her on her bed or sota. into the next room l ; oi this purpose he would come instantly when seni tor from any part ot the house. As )eais went on and he became overwhelmed with work (tor his attention was the same in all the Queen s subsequent confinements) this w-as ottcn done at much personal inconvenience to himseli , but tie ever came with a sweet smile on his lace. In short his care ol her was like that ot a mother, nor could there be a kinder or more judicious nurse. The Prince ot Wales came next, and then one by one came other little occupants ol the Royal nursery, until nine fine boys and girls clustered round the parent stem One amusing story which it not trovatt is certainly ben hovato, has been preserved, and may be inserted here When the Queen visited Ireland in 184^ in company with her husband and lour ol the elder children, the people were delighted with the little princesses and princes. As the Royai procession passed through Dublin, an old woman, bubbling over with enthusiastic loyalty, called out — " Och Queen, dear, name one oi thim darlints Prince Patrick and all lieland will die lor ye." When another prince was born in May following, he received the name of Ireland's patron saint amongst others, so that the old lady's hint was not lost on the Queen. It is somewhat remarkable that during the Queen' 9 life no lewer than seven attempts have been made on her life by madmen, whose love of notoriety alone seems to have prompted the wretched acts. The first of the attempts was made a few months after the Queen's marriage by a man named Edward Oxford. The royal couple were going to pay a visit to the Duchess of Kent when the affair occurred. "We had hardly proceeded a hundred yards from the Palace when I noticed," Prince Albert writes, " on the footpath on my side a little mean-looking man, holding something towards us , and before 1 could distinguish what it was, a shot was fired which almost stunned us both, it was so loud, and fired barely six paces from us. Victoria had just turned to the left to look at a horse, and could not understand why her ears were ringing, as, from its being so very near, she could hardly distinguish that it proceeded from a shot having been fired. The horses started, and the carriage stopped. I seized Victoria's hands, and asked if the fright had not shaken her, but she laughed at the thing. 1 then looked again at the man, who was still standing in the same place, his aims crossed and a pistol in each hand. His attitude was so theatrical and affected, it quite amused me. Suddenly he again pointed his pistol and fned a second time. This time Victoria also saw the shot, and stooped quickly, drawn down by me. The ball must have passed just above her head." Despite her delicate condition on this occasion, and on all the subsequent occasions when attempts had been made on her life, Her Majesty displayed great presence of mind and courage. Writing of one of these attempts she said, " 1 was not at all frightened, and leel very proud of my dear uncle Mensdorff calling me very courageous which I shall always remember with particular pride coming from so distinguished an officer as he is." We understand that the wretched Oxford is still an inmate of the Asylum to which he was consigned shortly after the attempted regicide.

Two important incidents in the early portion of the Queen's married life was the receipt of visits from the Czar Nicholas of Russia and King Louis Philippe of France. The Czar favourably impressed the Queen, though unfortunately the future proved that his protestations were not to be relied on. The visit of King Louis Phillippe was returned by the Queen and Prince Albert, and when that remarkable man was expelled from the throne of France he took up his residence in England, and received the most kindly treatment at the hands of the English Royal Family — generosity which he did not deserve for his duplicity in connection with the " Spanish maniage." In this personal sketch of the Queen's life we have carefully avoided dealing with any matter of history that is not necessary to keep up the continuity of the narrative, so we pass on to refer to the Great Exhibition of 1851, which owed its inception, and in a great measure its ultimate success, to the Prince Consort and Her Majesty. The prince had to contend with great opposition at the initiation of the scheme, and he showed his determination and hisadministuitive ability in overcoming the obstacles that bestrewed his path. The Exhibition was a success. All nations Hocked to see the beautiful display in the Crystal Palace, " to vie in the peaceful rivalries of industry and ait." The Queen, who had encouraged her husband in the undertaking, visited the building two days before the opening, and thus records her feelings on the occasion, " We remained two hours and a-half, and I came back quite beaten, and my head bewildered from the myriads of beautiful and wonderful things which now quite dazzled one's eyes. Such efforts have been made, and our people have shown such taste in their manufactures. All owing to this great exhibition, and to Albert — all to him !"" She gloried in the triumph because it was her husband's. " The proudest and happiest day of my life," she calls the opening of the exhibition, as being full of "the glory of his dear name, united with the glory of my dear country."