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Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year EighteenHundred and Eighty-five, by GEORGE VIRTUE, in the office of the Ministerof Agriculture.
I have been asked to write a few words of preface to this work.
If the life-long friendship of my mother with her Majesty, which gainedfor me the honour of often seeing the Queen, or a deep feeling of loyaltyand affection for our sovereign, which is shared by all her subjects, beaccepted as a qualification, I gratefully respond to the call, but I feelthat no written words of mine can add value to the following pages.
Looking over some papers lately, I found the following note on a sketchwhich I had accidentally met with in Windsor Castle—a coloured chalkdrawing, a mere study of one of the Queen's hands, by Sir David Wilkie,probably made for his picture now in the corridor of the Castle,representing the first council of Victoria. Of this sketch I wrote asfollows:—
"I was looking in one of the private rooms at Windsor Castle at a chalksketch, by Sir David Wilkie, of a fair, soft, long-fingered, dimpledhand, with a graceful wrist attached to a rounded arm. 'Only a woman'shand,' might Swift, had he seen that sketch, have written below. Only asketch of a woman's hand; but what memories that sketch recalls! How manyyears ago Wilkie drew it I know not: that great artist died in the monthof June, 1841, so that more than forty years have passed, at least, sincehe made that drawing. The hand that limned this work has long ago suffered'a sea change.' And the hand which he portrayed? That is still among theliving—still occupied with dispensing aid and comfort to the sufferingand the afflicted, for the original is that of a Queen, beloved as widelyas her realms extend—the best of sovereigns, the kindest-hearted ofwomen."
To write the life of Queen Victoria is a task which many authors mightwell have felt incompetent to undertake. To succeed in writing it is anhonour of which any author may well be proud. This honour I humbly thinkhas been realised in the work of which these poor lines may form thepreface.
CHAP.
I. Sixty-Three Years Since.
II. Childhood.
III. Youth.
IV. The Accession.
V. The Proroguing Of Parliament, The Visit To Guildhall; And The
Coronation.
VI. The Maiden Queen.
VII. The Betrothal.
VIII. The Marriage.
IX. A Royal Pair.
X. Royal Occupations.—An Attempt On The Queen's Life.
XI. The First Christening.—The Season Of 1841.
XII. Birth Of The Prince Of Wales.—The Afghan Disasters.—Visit Of The
King Of Prussia.—The Queen's Plantagenet Ball.
XIII. Fresh Attempts Against The Queen's Life.—Mendelssohn.—Death Of
The Duc D'Orleans.
XIV. The Queen's First Visit To Scotland.
XV. A Marriage, A Death, And A Birth In The Royal Family.—A Palace
Home.
XVI. The Condemnation Of The English Duel.—Another Marriage.—The
Queen's Visit To Chateau D'Eu.
XVII. The Queen's Trip To Ostend.—Visits