Chapter XVIII: The Queen and the Empire

Reference was made in the last chapter to the celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee in 1887. It was kept with all kinds of appropriate festivals in every part of the British Empire. But the centre and kernel of the whole celebration was the beautiful and touching national ceremony in Westminster Abbey on June 21st. On the same spot where as a young girl the Queen had knelt and had sworn fidelity to the constitution of her kingdom, and to govern according to law, justice, and mercy, the aged Queen again appeared, followed by a troop of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, to return thanks to the Almighty for the blessings of her reign and the augmenting power, prosperity, and numbers of her people. In 1837 her people had looked to her with the enthusiasm of hope; in 1887 they looked upon her with the enthusiasm of gratitude, with the memory of fifty wonderful years behind them, griefs and joys in common, common pride in the greatness and glories of England, common shame for her shortcomings; but in spite of these a common faith that earth’s best hopes rest with England, and that her growing greatness promotes the happiness and well-being of mankind. In this national festival the Queen was felt to be the emblem of national unity, the one political power in the nation that is dissociated from party, with its petty squabbles and ignoble sacrifices. While statesmen too often stand merely for their party, and may be willing to sacrifice the true and obvious interests of the whole nation to gain a party majority, the Queen is more and more felt to stand for the nation that is above and beyond all party. That was the real meaning of the Jubilee, compared to which personal congratulations to a lady who had filled an important position with credit for fifty years held only a very secondary place.

It may be claimed for the Queen that she has realized, as no other modern Sovereign of this country has done, and as only a section of the public dimly appreciate, the true value of the Crown as a power which is above party, and therefore representative of the whole nation. Her function has been to check Ministers who have been ready to make national sacrifices to promote party ends; constantly, for instance, to keep before the heads of successive Governments the importance of maintaining the efficiency of the national defences. How many Prime Ministers and Chancellors of the Exchequer may have been tempted to procure a surplus, and thus obtain for their party the popularity of a remission of taxation, by neglecting to build ships and keep up our naval supremacy, but for the unwearying attention given by the Queen to all matters connected with internal and external defence. When the records of the later years of this reign come to be fully written, innumerable proofs will be given to the public that when statesmen have from time to time disdained to seize a party triumph which would bring with it a national disaster, they have either been inspired by the direct counsels of the Queen, or have received from her, after the event, immediate proof that she has watched their course of conduct with sympathy and appreciation. All government, including party government, only exists for the welfare of the governed; that is, the whole nation. It is quite natural that party leaders should often forget this; it is the function of the Crown never to forget it, and to exert all its influence to prevent the interests of the nation being sacrificed for the supposed benefit of a section of it.

The Queen fully realized, and has over and over again expressed, in the most definite way, the truth that in England the real ultimate power is the will of the people. They may decide wrong, but their decision is the ultimate authority. Her own private opinions on various political questions have no weight in opposition to the will of the people. A large number of her Ministers have left on record their experience of the Queen’s complete loyalty to this fundamental principle. She will never let her private feelings or opinions stand in the way of her duty as a constitutional Sovereign. This being so, an impression has gained ground in some quarters that a Constitutional Monarch is only a sort of Chinese mandarin, mechanically nodding assent to whatever is proposed by the Ministers. This is very far from being true. All the executive officers of the Crown are directly responsible to the Queen, and she keeps a watchful eye over their departments, requiring constant reports, and to have proofs of their efficiency submitted to her. Then in matters involving conflict between parties, she exercises a moderating influence, inducing the “outs” to use their position with a due sense of responsibility to national interests, and not to think that these may be sacrificed for the mere purpose of defeating the “ins.” In matters involving conflict between the Lords and Commons, the present Sovereign has again and again prevented matters coming to a deadlock, reminding the leaders of the House of Lords of the fundamental fact that the will of the people is the ultimate source of authority, and inducing the leaders of the House of Commons to act in a spirit of statesmanlike conciliation and moderation. Two examples will suffice to show how invaluable the exercise of these functions may be, and how they serve to oil the rather cumbrous machinery of the constitution. After the election of 1859, Lord Palmerston was again returned to power, but with considerably reduced majority compared to that of 1857. The Conservatives had fought the election with immense vigor. Their leader, the Earl of Derby, had given £20,000 to the war-chest for the elections. When the new Parliament met, Lord Derby’s Government was only beaten on an amendment to the Address by thirteen, so the parties were very nearly balanced. The Conservatives had expected to win, and had made immense efforts, and were proportionately disappointed. The slashing vigor of Lord Derby’s eloquence had gained for him the title of the Rupert of Debate. The expectation was that he would lead repeated sallies against the Government; but, contrary to expectation, he was unusually moderate and pacific. The reason came out when the last volume of the Greville Memoirs was published, in 1887. The Queen sent for Lord Derby, when he had left office in 1859, and entreated him not to use the power he had, from the nearly balanced state of parties, to upset Lord Palmerston’s Government. She urged the great objections there were to constant changes, and that in the critical state of foreign politics nothing ought to be done to weaken the Government. Lord Derby entirely concurred, and promised to act in conformity with her wishes. Greville says, “He has entirely done so. Nothing could be more temperate and harmless than the few remarks he made on Tuesday night.” The circumstance brings out the value of having at the head of the State an officer who is neither nominated by, nor responsible to, party. It also gives a good illustration of the Queen’s power of subordinating her own private inclinations to the national welfare; because, although her feelings were softened towards Lord Palmerston, they were hardly cordial, and she strongly dissented from the view which he represented with so much vigor on the questions then at issue between Italy and Austria.

An example of the success of the Queen’s efforts to prevent conflict between the two Houses of Parliament is given in full detail in the Life of Archbishop Tait. It will be within the recollection of many readers that the election of 1868 was fought mainly on the question of the Disestablishment of the Church in Ireland, and that an enormous majority was returned to the House of Commons favorable to its disestablishment. The House of Lords, by a large majority, were in favor of the Establishment. Here, then, was a fine field for a battle between the two Houses. The new Parliament was opened on February 16th, 1869. On that morning the Archbishop of Canterbury received an autograph letter from the Queen, expressing her anxiety on the subject of the proposed measure, and adding:--

“The Queen has seen Mr. Gladstone, who shows the most conciliatory disposition. He seems to be really moderate in his views, and anxious, so far as he can properly and consistently do so, to meet the objections of those who would maintain the Irish Church.”

She then pointed out the desirability of a conference between Mr. Gladstone and the Archbishop on the subject of the forthcoming Disestablishment Bill; she had already paved the way for this in conversation with the Prime Minister, and was confident that while he would strictly maintain the principle of disestablishment, there were many matters connected with the question which might be open to discussion and negotiation. The interview between Mr. Gladstone and the Archbishop took place almost immediately. It is hardly necessary to draw attention to the sagacity which prompted the Queen to bring about this meeting before the introduction and publication of the Bill, rather than after. It is much easier to prevent an irreconcilable hostility by friendly negotiation, than to charm it away after it has once sprung into existence. Before seeing Mr. Gladstone, the Archbishop drew up a short memorandum of four points which he considered absolutely essential; after the interview he added a note to his MS. to the effect that he had not read it to Mr. Gladstone, “As the interview took the form of an exposition of his policy by Mr. G.” In fact he rehearsed to the Archbishop, on February 19th, 1869, the famous speech which he made in the House of Commons on March 1st. The Archbishop, however, heard with great satisfaction that the four essential conditions which he had noted down prior to the interview, were practically observed by Mr. Gladstone in his proposed measure. He immediately communicated this to the Queen, and expressed his satisfaction upon it, and his desire to aid by any means in his power a course of moderation and conciliation. The Bill passed through the House of Commons practically unaltered; all amendments were rejected by immense majorities; there was, in a word, every indication that the Bill was a practical expression of the national will. Then came its fate in the Lords to be considered; and again the Archbishop, by the Queen’s commands, put himself in communication with the Prime Minister on the subject, with the view of averting a collision between the two Houses. The Archbishop gave his strenuous support to the Lords adopting the policy of passing the second reading, and amending the Bill in committee. The ordinary Conservative majority in the Lords in 1869 was about sixty; and the practical question was how many of the opposition could be induced either to abstain from voting or to support the second reading. Much, the Archbishop wrote to the Queen, would depend on Lord Granville’s time in introducing the Bill in the Lords. He ventured to suggest that Her Majesty should represent this to him. He also wrote to Mr. Disraeli, and begged him to influence his friends in the House of Lords to allow the Bill to pass a second reading, in order to amend it in committee. The Archbishop spoke in this sense in the debate in the Lords, but abstained from voting; Lord Salisbury, among other well-known Conservative leaders, voted with the Government in favor of the second reading, which was carried by a majority of thirty-three. The first danger to the Bill was thus safely passed; but the acute stage of the fight between the Lords and Commons occurred over the Lords’ amendments, which were both numerous and important. The Archbishop was again in almost hourly communication with the Queen, constantly urged by her that a spirit of moderation must be shown on _both_ sides, in order to secure a successful issue. In one of his letters to the Queen, while the war on the amendments was being waged (July 8th, 1869), the Archbishop suggested that, rather than yield on one point connected with the endowments, it would be better to defeat the Bill and risk another year of agitation. The Queen immediately replied, deprecating this course, and expressing her fear that another year of political warfare would result in worse, rather than better, terms being forced upon the Church. She herself had all along favored the plan of concurrent endowment, but the majority in the House of Commons was strongly against it, and all the amendments in this direction introduced by the Lords were disallowed. Mr. Gladstone spoke with great vehemence in the House of Commons against the whole of the Lords’ amendments. His unyielding language delighted his followers, and there was a corresponding feeling of exasperation among his opponents, especially in the Lords. But when the first heat caused by his speech had subsided, and the actual points of irreconcilable difference between the two Houses were calmly considered, it was felt that though Mr. Gladstone had spoken daggers, he had used none; the Government were, as a matter of fact, prepared to give way on the clause relating to the disposal of the surplus, to accord terms more favorable to the commuting clergy of the Disestablished Church, and to concur in the postponement of the date of disestablishment. On the other hand, they nailed their colors to the mast against concurrent endowment. This indicates the basis of the compromise ultimately arrived at, and without doubt it was largely due to the efforts made by the Queen to bring it about. The Archbishop wrote in his diary, July 25th, 1869:--

“A messenger from Windsor waiting for me with a further letter from the Queen about the Irish Church. It is a great blessing that the Queen takes such a vivid interest in the welfare of her people, and is (_e. g._) so earnest to ward off a collision between the two Houses of Parliament.”

He then gives a narrative of his personal activity in bringing about the compromise, and his negotiations with Lords Salisbury, Cairns, Grey, and Carnarvon on the one side, and Mr. Gladstone and Lord Granville on the other, and adds, “We have made the best terms we could, and, thanks to the Queen, a collision between the two Houses has been averted.”

Through the publication of the Archbishop’s life, a detailed account of the Queen’s activity in this matter has been given to the public; but in order fully to appreciate it, it should be borne in mind that the circumstances just narrated are only a specimen of what is constantly going on of the Queen’s unwearying watchfulness over national interests, so that necessary changes take place without unnecessary friction and violence. There is a passage in one of the Queen’s letters to her uncle, published in the “Life of the Prince Consort,” in which Her Majesty expresses (in 1852) her weariness of political strife, and says, “We women are not made for governing.” As this passage meets the eye we can hardly forbear the remembrance that St. Paul wrote of himself, no doubt sincerely, as the chief of sinners. No Sovereign has ever shown more diligence, tact, and courage in the fulfilment of Royal duties than the Queen, and there can be no doubt, not only of her vast knowledge, but also of her intense interest in her work, and of its high utility to the nation.

There has been no space in this little book to dwell upon the colonial expansion of England during the Queen’s reign, nor yet upon the great development of man’s powers over the forces of nature during the same period, making the England of to-day more different from the England of 1819 than the England of 1819 was from the England of Elizabeth. Neither has space allowed even a reference to the wonderful social progress that has accompanied this material development. Disraeli was perhaps the first among statesmen to grasp the fact of what England’s Colonial and Indian Empire meant, and the new place it gave this country in the world. It should not, however, be forgotten that the conception of England as a great Imperial Power is as much due to the philosopher as to the statesman. Sir John Seeley, in the field of historical research, has contributed to it as much as the practical politician. He has pointed out that “the main fact of all facts is the expansion not only of the English race, but of the English State all over the globe.” The English people, it has been said, have conquered and peopled half a world in a fit of absence of mind; and it required a Jewish statesman and a Cambridge professor to point out to them that there was anything noticeable in the achievement. Disraeli had not perceived it in 1852. In that year he, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, wrote to Lord Malmesbury, as Foreign Secretary, “These wretched colonies will all be independent in a few years, and are a millstone round our necks.” What a change between this remainder biscuit of an effete doctrine of the Manchester School, and the Imperial statesman of later years! When his life is written it will be interesting to see when and how he developed the Imperialism with which his name is now associated. His passing of the Bill in 1876 which made the Queen Empress of India has been already referred to. The Queen valued him as a statesman and as a friend more than any Prime Minister since the days of Sir Robert Peel and Lord Aberdeen. Whether he derived his Imperialism from her, or she hers from him, will not be known till the history of both lives can be fully revealed. She honored him with her regard and friendship, entirely abandoning the distrust and suspicion with which at the outset of his political career she had regarded him. In Hughenden Church she placed after his death a memorial tablet with the following inscription, written by herself:--

To the dear and honored memory of
BENJAMIN, EARL OF BEACONSFIELD,
This memorial is placed by
His grateful and affectionate Sovereign and Friend,
Victoria, R. I.
“Kings love them that speak right.”--Prov. xvi. 13.

She wrote at the time of Lord Beaconsfield’s death to Dean Stanley:--

“The loss of my dear, great friend ... has completely overwhelmed me. His devotion and kindness to me, his wise counsels, his great gentleness combined with firmness, his one thought for the honor and glory of the country, and his unswerving loyalty to the throne, make the death of my dear Lord Beaconsfield a national calamity. My grief is great and lasting.”

The Queen’s words, “his one thought for the honor and glory of the country,” are illustrative of what Her Majesty most values in her counsellors; they also indicate her conception of Royalty as a means of representing the nation, and the fusion of party differences. With the wider and wider extension of the suffrage, the House of Commons stands in danger, by its very representative character, of representing only the people who vote for it, and these are only a handful in the great world of the British Empire. The Queen has 378,000,000 subjects; of these only about six millions vote for the Members of the House of Commons. There is danger of the six millions acting with something less than justice to the unrepresented 372,000,000. The Queen constantly watches against this danger, and her well-trained eye quickly detects those among the statesmen of both parties who are able to grasp the larger conception of the duties of government, who are not prepared to destroy the Empire to buy a party majority, or who steadily decline to buy, for example, thirty seats in Lancashire, by the sacrifice of Indian fiscal interests. To such men she gives her support and encouragement, and she has consequently been, throughout her long reign, a steady influence with both parties on the side of prefering national to party ends.

That she has achieved much in this direction is undoubted, and it is also undoubted that she has achieved it mainly by the absolute sincerity of her own character, and by its spontaneous power of distinguishing between the false and the true, the noble and the ignoble. With all the temptations of her position, the possession of almost unlimited power from girlhood, she has chosen to live simply and to live laboriously; with everything before her that wealth could offer in the way of pleasure, she has never found her amusements in pursuits that bring to others sorrow and misery. She has ever been the true woman, and because a true woman therefore a great Queen.

In the earlier chapters of this little book an attempt was made to indicate the formative influences on the Queen’s character, and a chief place was given, in this connection, to Baron Stockmar and to the Prince Consort. The bed-rock of the character of all three is the value they put on Love and Duty. Stockmar, towards the close of his life, wrote:--

“Were I now to be asked by any young man just entering into life, ‘What is the chief good for which it behooves a man to strive?’ my only answer would be, ‘Love and Friendship!’ Were he to ask me, ‘What is a man’s most priceless possession?’ I must answer, ‘The consciousness of having loved and sought the truth, of having yearned for the truth for its own sake!’ All else is either vanity or a sick man’s dream.”

With a similar unconscious self-revelation, the Prince Consort wrote to his eldest daughter, almost immediately after her marriage, counselling her not to think of herself, but to think of duty and service. “If,” he said, “you have succeeded in winning people’s hearts by friendliness, simplicity, and courtesy, the secret lay in this, that you were not thinking of yourself. Hold fast this mystic power; it is a spark from heaven.” The Queen’s nature was full of responsive sympathy with these “spirits finely touched to fine issues.” In her correspondence she too gives her conception of the secret of happiness. Characteristically enough, she finds her illustration in the person of her husband, and says how people are struck, not only by his great power and energy, but also by his great self-denial, and constant wish to work for others. And “this,” adds the Queen, “is the happiest life. Pining for what one cannot have, and trying to run after what is pleasantest, invariably end in disappointment.”

This is the spirit which has enabled Her Majesty to fill her great position so worthily, and to have been, therefore, of untold service to the country she has loved so well.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF EVENTS.

1819. Birth of Princess Victoria at Kensington Palace, May 24th.

1820. Death of Duke of Kent.--Death of George III.--Accession of George IV.--Trial of Queen Caroline begun in House of Lords in October; abandoned in November.

1822. Suicide of Lord Londonderry (Castlereagh).--Canning becomes Foreign Secretary.

1826. General Election.--Lord Liverpool Prime Minister.

1827. Death of Lord Liverpool.--Canning becomes Prime Minister, and dies in August of same year.--Lord Goderich succeeds him.

1828. Duke of Wellington Prime Minister.

1829. Catholic Emancipation.

1830. Death of George IV.--Accession of William IV.--Regency Bill passed.--Revolution in Paris.--Charles X. deposed.--Louis Philippe, King of the French.--General Election.--Whig majority.--Earl Grey Prime Minister.

1831. Prince Leopold (widower of Princess Charlotte) becomes King of the Belgians.--First Reform Bill defeated--Dissolution.--Large majority in favor of Reform, and Bill immediately reintroduced.

1832. Reform Bill carried.

1833. Abolition of Slavery in British Dominions; £20,000,000 voted to compensate West Indian slave-owners.

1834. New Poor Law passed.

1835. The Orange Plot.--Lord Melbourne Prime Minister.

1836. First meeting between Princess Victoria and Prince Albert of Coburg.

1837. Death of William IV.--Accession of Queen Victoria, June 20th.--Insurrection in Canada.

1838. Coronation.

1839. Sir Robert Peel’s unsuccessful attempt to form a Ministry.--Bedchamber question.--Queen’s betrothal to Prince Albert.

1840. Queen’s marriage.--Oxford’s attempt on her life.--Birth of Princess Royal.

1841. General Election.--Tory majority.--Sir R. Peel Prime Minister.--Birth of Prince of Wales.

1842. Afghan War.--Queen’s first visit to Scotland.--Second and third attempts on her life.

1843. Birth of Princess Alice.--Queen’s visit to Louis Philippe at Château d’Eu.

1844. Visit of the Czar Nicholas to the Queen at Windsor.--Birth of Prince Alfred.--Louis Philippe’s visit to Windsor.

1845. The Queen’s first visit to Germany.--Peel resigns, but is recalled.--Purchase of Osborne.

1846. Birth of Princess Helena.--Spanish marriages.--Irish Famine.--Repeal of the Corn Laws.--Fall of Peel’s Government.--Lord John Russell becomes Prime Minister, and Lord Palmerston Foreign Secretary.--Lord George Bentinck the leader of Protectionist party.

1847. Irish famine.--General Election.--Whig majority.

1848. Revolution in Paris.--Fall of Louis Philippe, who takes refuge in England.--Chartist movement in England.--Irish Rebellion.--Birth of Princess Louise.--Purchase of Balmoral.

1849. The Queen’s first visit to Ireland.--Enthusiastic reception.--

1850. Birth of Prince Arthur.--Death of Sir Robert Peel.

1851. Opening of Great Exhibition.--_Coup d’État_ in Paris--Dismissal of Lord Palmerston.

1852. Fall of John Russell’s Ministry.--Earl of Derby forms Government, which lasts ten months.--General Election.--Earl of Aberdeen, Prime Minister.--Death of Duke of Wellington.--Recognition of Louis Napoleon as Emperor of the French.

1853. Birth of Prince Leopold.--Second visit to Ireland.--Outbreak of unpopularity against Prince Albert.--Marriage of Louis Napoleon.

1854. Alliance with Louis Napoleon.--Crimean War.

1855. Fall of Lord Aberdeen’s Government.--Lord Palmerston Prime Minister.--Death of the Czar.--Visits exchanged between English and French Courts.--Fall of Sebastopol.--Betrothal of Princess Royal to Prince Frederick William of Prussia.--Visit of Victor Emmanuel to Windsor.

1856. Death of Queen’s half-brother.--Birth of Prince Imperial.

1857. Birth of Princess Beatrice.--Title of Prince Consort conferred on Prince Albert.--Indian Mutiny.--General Election.--Palmerston triumphant.

1858. Marriage of Princess Royal.--State visit of Queen to Cherbourg.--Visit to Germany to Princess Royal.--Orsini’s attempt to assassinate French Emperor.--Fall of Lord Palmerston’s Government on Conspiracy Bill.--Earl of Derby’s Second Administration, lasting sixteen months.

1859. Birth of Queen’s first grandchild, now Emperor William II. of Germany.--Volunteer Movement.--General Election.--Lord Palmerston again Prime Minister.--War between France and Austria on Italian Question.

1860. Betrothal of Princess Alice to Prince Louis of Hesse.--Triumphal Entry of Garibaldi into Naples.--Abdication of King of Naples.

1861. Death of Duchess of Kent.--Visit of the Queen to Coburg.--Third visit of Queen to Ireland.--Victor Emmanuel proclaimed King of United Italy.--Death of the Prince Consort.--American Civil War.--The _Trent_ Incident.

1862. Marriage of Princess Alice.--Crown of Greece offered to Prince Alfred.

1863. Marriage of Prince of Wales to Princess Alexandra of Denmark.--Grandchild born (Princess Alice’s child) at Windsor.--Unveiling of Prince Consort’s statue in Aberdeen.

1864. Birth of a son to the Prince and Princess of Wales, heir to the throne in the second generation.--Schleswig-Holstein.--War between Denmark and Germany.

1865. Death of King Leopold of Belgium.--Death of Lord Palmerston.--General Election.--Lord John Russell Prime Minister.

1866. Queen opens Parliament in person for first time since her widowhood.--Marriage of Princess Helena to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein.--Fall of Lord Russell’s Government.--Earl of Derby succeeds him.--War between North and South Germany.

1867. Publication of “Early Years of the Prince Consort.”--Opening of Albert Hall.--The Passing of Mr. Disraeli’s Reform Bill, giving Household Suffrage in towns.

1868. Mr. Disraeli Prime Minister.--General Election.--Liberal Majority.--Mr. Gladstone becomes Prime Minister.--Attempted Assassination of Duke of Edinburgh.

1869. Disestablishment of Irish Church.

1870. Franco-German War.--Fall of Louis Napoleon.--English Education Act.

1871. German Unity accomplished.--King William of Prussia declared German Emperor at Versailles.--Illness and recovery of the Prince of Wales.--Marriage of Princess Louise to Marquis of Lorne.

1872. Thanksgiving Service for recovery of the Prince of Wales.--Death of the Queen’s half-sister, Princess Feodore of Hohenlohe.

1873. Fatal accident to Princess Alice’s little boy.

1874. Marriage of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, to the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia.--General Election.--First Conservative Majority since 1841.--Lord Beaconsfield (Disraeli) Prime Minister.

1876. Royal Titles Bill passed.--Bulgarian atrocities.--Servia and Montenegro declare war against Turkey.

1877. Russia declares war against Turkey.

1878. Death of Princess Alice.--Marriage of the Queen’s eldest granddaughter, Princess Charlotte of Prussia.--Treaty of Berlin.--Death of Lord Russell.

1879. Marriage of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, to Princess Louise of Prussia.--Birth of the Queen’s first great-grandchild.--Death of the Prince Imperial in South Africa.

1880.--General Election.--Large Liberal majority.--Mr. Gladstone Prime Minister.

1881. War in Egypt.--Tel-el-Kebir.

1882. Marriage of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, to Princess Helen of Waldeck.--The Queen fired at by a Lunatic.

1884. Death of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.--Birth of his posthumous son.--Passing of Mr. Gladstone’s Reform Bill giving Household Suffrage in Counties.

1885. Marriage of Princess Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg.--Death of General Gordon at Khartoum.--Fall of Mr. Gladstone’s Ministry.--Marquis of Salisbury Prime Minister.--General Election.--Parties very nearly balanced.--Mr. Gladstone declares himself in favor of Home Rule.

1886. Lord Salisbury’s Government defeated.--Mr. Gladstone forms Government and introduces First Home Rule Bill, defeated in the House of Commons, June.--General Election, July.--Large Unionist Majority.--Lord Salisbury Prime Minister.

1887. The Jubilee.

1888. Death of German Emperor, William I., March.--Accession of the Queen’s son-in-law, the Emperor Frederick.--His death, June 15th.

1892. Death of the Queen’s heir in the second generation, the Duke of Clarence.--Death of her son-in-law, Prince Louis of Hesse.--General Election.--Liberal majority.--Mr. Gladstone Prime Minister.

1893. Betrothal and marriage of Duke of York to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck.--Second Home Rule Bill defeated in the House of Lords.

1894. Birth of Prince Edward of York.--Death of the Czar, Alexander II.--Accession of the young Czar, Nicholas II.--His marriage to the Queen’s granddaughter, Princess Alix of Hesse.--Mr. Gladstone retires, and is succeeded in the Premiership by the Earl of Rosebery.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

Early Years of the Prince Consort.
Life of the Prince Consort.
Memoir of Princess Alice.
Leaves from a Journal of our Life in the Highlands.
More Leaves.
Earl of Malmesbury’s Autobiography.
The Greville Memoirs.
History of Our Own Times. By Mr. J. McCarthy, M. P.
Life and Letters of Dean Stanley.
Life of Archbishop Tait.
Lady Bloomfield’s Reminiscences.
Diary of a Lady of Quality.
Miss Martineau’s Thirty Years’ Peace.
Two Noble Lives.
Life of the Earl of Shaftesbury.
Life of Bishop Wilberforce.
Life of Viscount Palmerston. By Hon. Evelyn Ashley.
Life of Baron Stockmar.

INDEX.

Aberdeen, Earl of, 85, 145, 175, 182.

Aberdeen, unveiling of Prince Consort’s statue at, 221.

Addresses of the French colonels, 1858, 198.

Adelaide, Princess, of Hohenlohe, asked in marriage by Napoleon III.,
168.

Adelaide, Queen, 12, 13, 27, 28.

Albany, Duke of. _See_ Leopold.

Albert, Prince, birth of, 14;
childhood of, 25, 65;
education of, 65;
first visit to England of, 62;
character of, 64, 81, 86, 89, 255;
projected marriage, 25, 65;
tour in Italy, 65;
second visit to England, betrothal to the Queen, 66, 70;
rumored to be a Roman Catholic, 71;
allowance cut down in House of Commons, 74;
precedence disallowed in House of Lords, 75, 76;
marriage of, 79;
favorable impression produced by, 80, 90, 91;
difficulties of position of, 80;
growing political influence of, 85;
Queen’s devotion to, 67, 69, 85;
political opinions of, 86, 178;
religious views of, 87;
accomplishments and tastes of, 91, 92;
McLeod, Dr., on, 89;
Stockmar’s influence on, 112, 118;
title of Prince Consort conferred on, 115;
devotion of, to his children and home, 120, 143;
on the strength of Constitutionalism, 153;
consults Lord Shaftesbury, 154;
and Lord Palmerston, 156, 171, 209;
outbreak of unpopularity against, 157, 182, 183;
and the Great Exhibition, 173;
on betrothal of his eldest daughter, 188;
at Cherbourg, 196-7;
despatch of, on _Trent_ affair, 208;
death of, 201-12;
unveiling of statue of, 221.

Alexandra, Princess of Wales, 206, 217, 228, 239.

Alfred, Prince, Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of Coburg, 124, 131, 137,
232, 233.

Alice, Princess, Grand Duchess of Hesse, 119, 123, 130, 201, 212, 215,
216, 220, 230, 231, 233, 234, 235.

Alix, Princess of Hesse Darmstadt, 136.

Anti-Corn Law agitation, 58, 99, 101.

Arthur, Prince, Duke of Connaught, 127.

Ashley, Lord. _See_ Shaftesbury.

Assassination, attempted, of Prince Alfred in Australia, 232.

Attempts on the Queen’s life, 89, 90, 119, 139, 140, 141.

Balmoral, 135, 136, 137, 138.

Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg, 127, 128.

Bedchamber question, 60, 72.

Belgians, King of the. _See_ Leopold.

Bloomfield, Lady, 91 _n._, 142;
on betrothal of Prince Frederick William and Princess Royal, 187;
on Princess Alice, 233.

Bright, the Rt. Hon. John, 29, 101, 177, 207, 222.

Brocket, Greville at, 95 _n._

Brougham, Lord, 57, 62.

Brown, Mr. John, 223.

Bunsen, Baron, letter from Stockmar to, 116.

Bunsen, Baroness, 33.

Cambridge, marriage of Duke of, 12.

Cambridge, Princess Mary of, 169, 234.

Cambridge, Prince of Wales at, 210.

Canada, insurrection in, 56.

Canning, Lady, 97, 127, 135.

Canning, Lord, in India, 192, 194.

Carlyle, Mr. Thomas, on the Queen, 33, 224-6.

Caroline, Queen, 19, 23.

Cart, death of, the Prince’s valet, 35.

Castlereagh, Viscount, 107.

Catholic Emancipation, 41.

Charlotte, Princess, 12, 16, 17, 107-110.

Charlotte, Princess of Prussia, 127.

Charlotte, Queen, 107.

Chartism, 58-74 _n._, 126.

Cholera, 170.

Christmas-trees, 120.

Civil War in the United States, _Trent_ affair, 208.

Claremont, 109, 166.

Clarence, Duke of. _See_ William IV.

Clarence, Duke of, Prince Albert Victor of Wales, 239.

Clarendon, Earl of, 170, 171, 177.

Cobden, Richard, 101, 147, 148, 177, 207.

Coburg, Duchess of, 13, 25.

Coburg, death of Duke of, 143.

Coburg, Duke Alfred of. _See_ Alfred.

Connaught, Duke of. _See_ Arthur.

Corn Laws, repeal of, 99-101.

Coronation of George IV., 19.

Coronation of William IV., 16.

Coronation of Queen Victoria, 39.

Coronation service, 39.

_Coup d’état_, 106, 162, 163.

Crimean War, 157, 169, 170, 171, 175-187.

Cumberland, Ernest, Duke of, 11, 18, 41, 45, 47, 76, 107, 122, 123.

Darmstadt, diphtheria at, 237.

Davys, Rev. George. _See_ Peterborough, Bishop of.

Derby, Earl of, 90, 169, 199, 247.

Disraeli, the Rt. Hon. B., Earl of Beaconsfield, 163, 170, 195, 250,
252.

Dufferin, Marchioness of, and medical women in India, 236.

Durham, Earl of, 56.

“Early Years of Prince Consort,” 63.

East India Company extinguished, 193.

Edinburgh, Duke of. _See_ Alfred.

Empress Eugénie, 184, 197, 237.

Empress Frederick, 117, 120, 131, 133, 185, 186, 187, 189, 190, 221.

Eôs, the Prince’s greyhound, 82.

Exhibition of 1851, 173.

Financial Reforms of Sir Robert Peel, 103.

Fortifications of south coast, 207.

France, death of Prince Imperial of, 237.

Franco-German War, 232.

Frederick William I., King of Prussia, 122, 178.

Frederick William II., King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, 187,
228, 239.

Garibaldi, 206.

General Election, 1837, 51.

“ “ 1841, 95.

“ “ 1857, 198.

“ “ 1859, 247.

George III., 12.

George IV., 11, 16, 18.

German Unity, 86, 105, 107, 117, 178, 239.

Gladstone, the Right Hon. W. E., 103, 182, 207, 248, 249.

Gordon, death of General, 238.

Graham, Sir James, Home Secretary, 96.

Granville, Earl, 164, 169, 218.

Greville’s account of Queen’s accession, 47;
description of Queen’s announcement of her betrothal, 69;
on Royal Family at Balmoral, 138.

Grey, Earl, 101.

Guizot and the Spanish marriages, 145.

Hanover, Ernest, King of. _See_ Cumberland.

Hartley Colliery explosion, 218.

Hastings, Lady Flora, 59, 72.

Haynau, General, 159-161.

Helen, Princess of Waldeck, Duchess of Albany, 238.

Helena, Princess (Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein), 125, 230.

Herbert, the Hon. Sidney, 180.

Hesse, Prince Louis of, 202, 217, 225, 228.

Hesse, Princess Louis of. _See_ Alice, Princess.

Hohenlohe, Princess Adelaide of, 168.

Hohenlohe, Princess Feodore of, 138, 139, 218.

Holland, Lady, 71.

Holloway College opened by the Queen, 236.

Hume, Mr. Joseph, 41, 74.

Imperial, death of Prince, 237.

India, Empress of, 194.

India, medical women for, 236.

India, Queen’s proclamation after Mutiny, 192.

Indian Mutiny, 187, 193.

Ireland, Queen’s visits to, 124, 125, 205.

Irish Church Disestablishment Bill, 248-51.

Irish famine, 100, 149.

Italy, Victor Emmanuel, King of, 206.

Jameson, Mrs., on the Queen, 38.

Jordan, Mrs., 17.

Juarez, 237.

Jubilee, the Queen’s, 236, 239, 244.

Kennington Common, Chartist assembly on, in 1848, 151.

Kent, Duchess of, 16, 17, 20, 21, 29, 35, 37, 79, 123, 200, 201.

Kent, Duke of, 12, 15, 16, 107.

Kossuth in England, 161.

“Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands,” 34, 188.

Lehzen, Baroness, 30, 37, 61, 111.

Leiningen, Prince Charles of, 138.

Leopold, Prince, afterwards King of the Belgians, 16, 20, 23, 24, 25,
30, 54, 63, 106, 108, 109, 110, 166, 202, 212, 213, 236.

Leopold, Prince, Duke of Albany, 24, 128, 206, 212, 236.

“Life of the Prince Consort,” 76.

Lorne, Marquis of, 124, 220.

Louis Philippe, 144, 146, 147, 165, 166.

Louise, Princess, Marchioness of Lorne, 125, 153, 220.

Lyndhurst, Lord, 57.

Lyttleton, the Dowager Lady, 124.

Malmesbury, Earl of, 91, 165, 169, 193, 229, 253.

Marie, Archduchess of Russia, Duchess of Coburg, 136, 232.

Martineau, Miss Harriet, on Queen’s early training, 31;
on Queen’s accession, 49.

McLeod, Dr., 89, 220.

Medical women in India, 236.

Melbourne, Viscount, 52, 60, 78, 94, 95 _n._, 99 _n._, 111, 121.

Mendelssohn on the Queen’s singing, 36.

Mexico, Emperor Maximilian and Empress Charlotte, 237.

Mill, Mr. J. S., 56.

Mitchel, Mr. John, 150.

“More Leaves from a Journal of our Life in the Highlands,” 34, 223.

Napoleon III., 162, 166, 167, 168, 184, 185, 195-8.

Neale’s, Mr., legacy to the Queen, 139.

Neapolitan insurrection and Lord Palmerston, 159.

Newcastle, Duke of, 183.

New Poor Law of 1834, 58.

Nicholas I., Emperor of Russia, 108, 134, 176, 181.

Nicholas II., Emperor of Russia, 136.

Nightingale, Miss Florence, 180.

Nursery establishment, the Queen’s, 117, 119-131.

Oaks Colliery explosion, letter from widows to Queen, 240.

O’Connell, Daniel, 44, 149.

Orange plot in 1835, 41.

Orleans family, the, 126, 166.

Orsini plot, the, 198.

Osborne, purchase of, 135;
gardens of, 92, 136;
Swiss cottage at, 135, 136.

Oxford’s attempt on the Queen’s life, 90, 119.

Palmerston Administration, defeat of, in 1858, 198, 199.

Palmerston, Viscount, 91, 101, 118, 146 _n._, 156-172, 177, 184,
207-209.

Paris, Queen’s visit to, 185.

Peel, Sir Robert, 45, 58, 61, 74, 83, 85, 95-103, 134, 142.

Peterborough, Bishop of, Queen’s preceptor, 29.

Portugal, death of King of, 210.

Precedence of Prince Albert disallowed in House of Lords, 77.

Press attacks on Prince Albert, 183;
on Princess Royal’s betrothal, 188.

Prince Consort. _See_ Albert.

Prince of Wales. _See_ Wales.

Princess Royal. _See_ Empress Frederick.

Prussia, Frederick William I., King of. _See_ Frederick William I.

Prussia, Prince of. _See_ William I., King of, and Emperor of Germany.

Prussia, Frederick William, King of, and Emperor of Germany. _See_
Frederick William II.

Queen. _See_ Victoria.

Queen’s Titles Act, 195.

Queen’s Jubilee, 236, 239, 244.

Reform Bill, Lord Palmerston’s objections to, 171.

Regency Bill, 1830, 37.

Regency Bill, 1840, 89.

Royal Household, reform of, 132-4.

Russell, Lord John, 42, 61, 62, 101, 158, 161, 163, 171, 229.

Russell Administration defeated, 1852, 169.

Russell, Lady William, 171.

Russell, Dr. W. H., 180.

Schleswig-Holstein War, 228.

Schleswig-Holstein, Prince Christian of, 230.

Schleswig-Holstein, Princess Christian of. _See_ Helena.

Scotland, disturbances in, in 1848, 151.

Scotland, Queen’s love of, 137, 219, 223.

Scott, Sir Walter, reference to Princess Victoria, 37.

Scottish Church, Queen’s reverence for, 220.

Sebastopol, 183, 186.

Seeley, Sir John, 252.

Shaftesbury, Earl of, 59, 83, 99, 154, 155.

Spanish marriages, the, 145-8, 166.

Stanley, Dean, 35, 174, 233.

Stanley, Lady Augusta, 136, 203.

Stockmar, Baron, 54, 55, 62, 65, 66, 73, 77, 85, 104-118, 145, 148,
191, 202, 255.

Sussex, Duke of, 19, 47, 89, 90.

Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury, 248.

Teck, Duchess of. _See_ Cambridge.

Teck, Princess Victoria Mary of, 234, 240.

Tory Party, outbreak of disloyalty in, 73.

_United Irishman, The_, 150.

United States, Civil War, _Trent_ affair, 208.

Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, 206.

Victoria, Queen, birth of, 13;
christening of, 14;
education of, 20, 28, 34;
great affection of, for her uncle Leopold, 25;
appearance of, 32, 33;
Carlyle on, 33, 224-6;
Baroness Bunsen on, 33;
care of, for her household and servants, 34;
as a musician, 36;
Whig sympathies of, 44, 71;
accession of, 46;
consideration of, for Queen Adelaide, 49, 50;
on the bedchamber question, 62;
wishes to defer her marriage, 62, 63;
betrothal to Prince Albert, 66;
announces her engagement to the Council, 69;
unpopularity with the Tories, 72, 77;
marriage of, 79;
efforts of, to preserve the purity of her Court, 83;
religious views of, 88, 130, 131, 219;
and Lord Melbourne, 52, 53, 94;
and Sir James Graham, 96;
and Sir Robert Peel, 61, 72, 94-103;
Stockmar’s influence on, 111-118;
attempts on life of, 90, 119, 139, 140, 141;
birth of children, 119-128;
magnanimity of, 123;
good health of, 129, 137;
as a mother, 129, 130, 131;
legacy to, 139;
a good sailor, 142, 143;
first visit to France, 144;
and Viscount Palmerston, 156-172;
on the Haynau incident, 161;
at the opening of the Great Exhibition, 173, 175;
and Emperor Nicholas, 176;
disapproves of Day of Humiliation for Crimean War, 178;
visits Paris, 185;
and Cherbourg, 196, 197;
on her daughter’s marriage, 189;
Indian Proclamation, 193, 194;
reviews the Volunteers, 199, 200;
death of mother, 201;
death of husband, 201-211;
unveiling the Prince’s statue at Aberdeen, 221;
children’s marriages, 227;
prevents war with Germany, 229;
interest in providing medical women for India, 236;
letter of, to Miss Gordon, 238;
letter of, to the nation, on death of Duke of Clarence, 242;
activity of, in preventing disputes between the Houses of
Parliament, 246-252;
on the secret of happiness, 255.

Villiers, the Hon. Charles, 101.

Volunteer movement, the, 198.

Wales, Prince of, 117, 121, 185, 187, 205, 217, 228, 239.

Wales, Princess of, 206, 215, 228, 239.

Wellington, Duke of, 18, 41, 42, 45, 57, 60, 71, 107, 125, 151, 161,
175.

Whigs, the Queen’s sympathies with, 44, 72.

Wilberforce, Bishop of Winchester, 29, 88, 188, 228.

William I., King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, 178, 239.

William II., King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, 205, 228, 239.

William IV., 12, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 46, 51, 111.

Windsor, housekeeping at, 134.

Wynn, Miss, account by, of Queen’s accession, 47.

York, Duchess of, 243.

York, Duke of, Queen’s uncle, 17.

York, Duke of, Prince George of Wales, 243.

York, Prince Edward of, 243.

_Messrs. Roberts Brothers’ Publications._

THE RIGHT HONORABLE

WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE

A Study from Life

By HENRY W. LUCY.

12MO. CLOTH. PORTRAIT. PRICE, $1.25.

The obvious difficulty of writing within the limits of this volume a sketch of the career of Mr. Gladstone is the superabundance of material. The task is akin to that of a builder having had placed at his disposal materials for a palace, with instructions to erect a cottage residence, leaving out nothing essential to the larger plan. I have been content, keeping this condition in mind, rapidly to sketch, in chronological order, the main course of a phenomenally busy life, enriching the narrative wherever possible with autobiographical scraps to be found in the library of Mr. Gladstone’s public speeches, supplementing it by personal notes made over a period of twenty years, during which I have had unusual opportunities of studying the subject.--_Author’s Preface._

Mr. Lucy begins with the boyhood and early home life of his subject, and in a series of twenty-six graphic chapters, some of the titles of which are “Member for Newark,” “Chancellor of the Exchequer,” “Premier,” “Pamphleteer,” “The Bradlaugh Blight,” “Egypt,” “The Kilmainham Treaty,” “The Stop-Gap Government,” “Home Rule,” “In the House and Out,” Mr. Lucy has drawn, we believe, the most accurate portrait of one of the greatest men of the century yet drawn, and has told most graphically, tersely, and at the same time comprehensively, the story of a great career not yet finished. We have nowhere seen a better description of Mr. Gladstone’s methods, of his strength and weakness as a debater, than Mr. Lucy gives us.--_Boston Advertiser._

Mr. Lucy entitles his new book on _Gladstone_ “A Study from Life.” It is more than this, for the book covers rapidly his whole life, from birth to the present time, describing with tolerable clearness the great events of which he has been a part. For an outline biography the reader will find this narrative satisfactory and readable. But the greatest interest attaches to those incidents in Gladstone’s life of which the writer has been an eye-witness. He describes with great vivacity the parliamentary function known as “drawing old Gladstone out.”--_Advance._

Roberts Brothers, Boston, have just published an interesting book by Henry W. Lucy, entitled “Right Honorable W. E. Gladstone: A Study from Life.” Though not necessarily so intended, this history of Gladstone is virtually the history of his country during the period of his ascendency at least, and the book is valuable from that standpoint, because it is evidently fairly conceived and executed. The sketch of Mr. Gladstone is that of an admirer, but that will not tell against it with the world at large, which is alone an admirer of the “Grand Old Man.” Beginning with his boyhood, it pictures him with friendly but faithful hand to the end of his career as head of the English Government, in language which gives an additional charm to the book, tracing his course from the day he became Member of Parliament till he was the acknowledged champion of Home Rule, and showing how, as his mind developed with experience, it cast off original errors growing larger day by day.--_Brooklyn Citizen._

_Sold by all Booksellers. Mailed, postpaid, on receipt of price, by the Publishers_,

ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON.

PRINCE BISMARCK

By CHARLES LOWE, M.A.,

_Author of Alexander III. of Russia, &c._

12MO. CLOTH. PORTRAIT. PRICE, $1.25.

This work of Mr. Lowe’s responds fully to the need that has been felt, particularly in this country, for a brief but comprehensive life of Bismarck. It comes to us from an author of acknowledged reputation, who has studied the career of the Iron Chancellor with great care, and undoubtedly possesses knowledge of his subject equal to that of any other person. It is the second biography he has written of the Chancellor. His other work appeared about ten years ago in two large volumes, in which the story of Bismarck’s life and public success was told exhaustively, full use being made of all material available at that time.

The work under notice is in no sense an abridgment of the earlier biography, but is entirely new. In writing it, though, the author has had the advantage growing out of his previous undertaking, of knowing his man thoroughly, and this advantage has enabled him to write in a free and bold style, which is the great charm in a biographical work. The new work is better than the old in another important respect also,--it is up to date. In the ten years that have elapsed since the earlier biography was written, a good deal has been learned about Bismarck and his associates, and the work they were engaged in, that runs contrary to the theories and estimates of ten years ago. Mr. Lowe has made use of this new material.

Still another advantage has been the knowledge that Bismarck’s political career has ended. The view that is now presented to us is that of a finished whole,--Bismarck may be spared for years to enjoy the love of his countrymen and the high esteem of the world, but he never again will serve the Empire of Germany in a public capacity.

Mr. Lowe’s story closes with an account of the reconciliation between Emperor William and Bismarck, which was completed a little over a year ago, when the Emperor sent that famous steel cuirass to Friedrichsruh. “May the solid steel,” wrote his Majesty, “which is to cover your breast be regarded as the symbol of German gratitude which enfolds you with its steadfast loyalty, and to which I, too, desire to give my eloquent expression.” “I shall don this new breastplate,” replied the statesman Prince, “as the symbol of your Majesty’s gracious favor, and leave it to my children as a lasting memento of the same.”

Mr. Lowe is a warm admirer of Bismarck, and his admiration shows itself in almost every page of his book. We fail to notice, however, that his prejudice has warped his judgment of persons and events. He has written a biography that is as fair as anybody could write at this time, and the fact that he has a warm place in his heart for the Iron Chancellor certainly is not to his discredit as a man and a historian.--_New York Times._

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ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON, MASS.

THE GREAT GOD PAN AND THE INMOST LIGHT.

BY ARTHUR MACHEN.

_KEYNOTES SERIES._

16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.

A couple of tales by Arthur Machen, presumably an Englishman, published æsthetically in this country by Roberts Brothers. They are horror stories, the horror being of the vague psychologic kind and dependent, in each case, upon a man of science who tries to effect a change in individual personality by an operation upon the brain cells. The implied lesson is that it is dangerous and unwise to seek to probe the mystery separating mind and matter. These sketches are extremely strong and we guarantee the “shivers” to anyone who reads them.--_Hartford Courant._

For two stories of the most marvelous and improbable character, yet told with wonderful realism and naturalness, the palm for this time will have to be awarded to Arthur Machen, for “The Great God Pan and the Inmost Light,” two stories just published in one book. They are fitting companions to the famous stories by Edgar Allan Poe both in matter and style. “The Great God Pan” is founded upon an experiment made upon a girl by which she was enabled for a moment to see the god Pan, but with most disastrous results, the most wonderful of which is revealed at the end of the story, and which solution the reader will eagerly seek to reach. From the first mystery or tragedy follow in rapid succession. “The Inmost Light” is equally as remarkable for its imaginative power and perfect air of probability. Anything in the legitimate line of psychology utterly pales before these stories of such plausibility.--_Boston Home Journal._

Precisely who the great god Pan of Mr. Machen’s first tale is, we did not quite discover when we read it, or, discovering, we have forgotten; but our impression is that under the idea of that primitive great deity he impersonated, or meant to impersonate, the evil influences that attach to woman, the fatality of feminine beauty, which, like the countenance of the great god Pan, is deadly to all who behold it. His heroine is a beautiful woman, who ruins the souls and bodies of those over whom she casts her spells, being as good as a Suicide Club, if we may say so, to those who love her; and to whom she is Death. Something like this, if not this exactly, is, we take it, the interpretation of Mr. Machen’s uncanny parable, which is too obscure to justify itself as an imaginative creation and too morbid to be the production of a healthy mind. The kind of writing which it illustrates is a bad one, and this is one of the worst of the kind. It is not terrible, but horrible.--_R. H. S. in Mail and Express._

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DISCORDS.

A Volume of Stories.

By GEORGE EGERTON, author of “Keynotes.”

AMERICAN COPYRIGHT EDITION.

_16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00._

George Egerton’s new volume entitled “Discords,” a collection of short stories, is more talked about, just now, than any other fiction of the day. The collection is really stories for story-writers. They are precisely the quality which literary folk will wrangle over. Harold Frederic cables from London to the “New York Times” that the book is making a profound impression there. It is published on both sides, the Roberts House bringing it out in Boston. George Egerton, like George Eliot and George Sand, is a woman’s _nom de plume_. The extraordinary frankness with which life in general is discussed in these stories not unnaturally arrests attention.--_Lilian Whiting._

The English woman, known as yet only by the name of George Egerton, who made something of a stir in the world by a volume of strong stories called “Keynotes,” has brought out a new book under the rather uncomfortable title of “Discords.” These stories show us pessimism run wild; the gloomy things that can happen to a human being are so dwelt upon as to leave the impression that in the author’s own world there is no light. The relations of the sexes are treated of in bitter irony, which develops into actual horror as the pages pass. But in all this there is a rugged grandeur of style, a keen analysis of motive, and a deepness of pathos that stamp George Egerton as one of the greatest women writers of the day. “Discords” has been called a volume of stories; it is a misnomer, for the book contains merely varying episodes in lives of men and women, with no plot, no beginning nor ending.--_Boston Traveller._

This is a new volume of psychological stories from the pen and brains of George Egerton, the author of “Keynotes.” Evidently the titles of the author’s books are selected according to musical principles. The first story in the book is “A Psychological Moment at Three Periods.” It is all strength rather than sentiment. The story of the child, of the girl, and of the woman is told, and told by one to whom the mysteries of the life of each are familiarly known. In their very truth, as the writer has so subtly analyzed her triple characters, they sadden one to think that such things must be; yet as they are real, they are bound to be disclosed by somebody and in due time. The author betrays remarkable penetrative skill and perception, and dissects the human heart with a power from whose demonstration the sensitive nature may instinctively shrink even while fascinated with the narration and hypnotized by the treatment exhibited.--_Courier._

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PRINCE ZALESKI.

BY M. P. SHIEL.

_Keynotes Series. American Copyright Edition._

_16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00._

The three stories by M. P. Shiel, which have just been published in the Keynotes series, make one of the most remarkable books of the time. Prince Zaleski, who figures in each, is a striking character, most artistically and dramatically presented. “The Race of Orven,” the first story, is one of great power, and it were hardly possible to tell it more skilfully. “The Stone of the Edmundsbury Monks” is in something the same vein, mysterious and gruesome. It is in “S. S.,” however, that the author most fully discloses his marvellous power as a story-teller. We have read nothing like it since the tales of E. A. Poe; but it is not an imitation of Poe. We much doubt if the latter ever wrote a story so strong and thrillingly dramatic.--_Boston Advertiser._

The first of the three tales composing this little volume is entitled “The Race of Orven,” which supplies the character from whom is taken the title of the book. The other two are, “The Stone of the Edmundsbury Monks” and “The S. S.” There are three maxims on the titlepage, probably one for each of the tales,--one from Isaiah, one from Cervantes, and one from Sophocles,--but they are a triple key to the spirit of book altogether. The Prince, however, rules the contents entirely, pervading them with mysticism of every imaginable character. The “S. S.” tale is decidedly after the manner of Poe, full of mysterious problems in murders and suicides, to be treated with ingenious solutions. There is a morbid tendency running through the entire trinity, the author seeming to invent characters and complications only to exhibit his ingenuity in unravelling them, and in stringing on these ingenious theories the spiritual conceptions in which he is wont to indulge his thought. But the thought is both magnetic and bold, and rarely illusive. Hermitages, recluses, silences and funereal glooms, and the entire family of grotesque thoughts and things, are not merely wrought into the writer’s canvas, but are his very staple, the warp and woof composing it. It is an across-the-seas collection of conceits, skilfully strung on one glittering thread by a matured thinker. The attempt is made to carve out the mystery of things from the heart of the outward existence. The men and women on whom the scalpel is made to work are real flesh-and-blood entities, of such strong points of character as to be actually necessary in developing the author’s thought as much as his purpose. The book belongs to the increasing class that has come in with the introversive habit of modern thought and speculation--call it spiritual or something else.--_Boston Courier._

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THE WOMAN WHO DID.

BY GRANT ALLEN.

_Keynotes Series. American Copyright Edition._

16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.

A very remarkable story, which in a coarser hand than its refined and gifted author could never have been effectively told; for such a hand could not have sustained the purity of motive, nor have portrayed the noble, irreproachable character of Herminia Barton.--_Boston Home Journal._

“The Woman Who Did” is a remarkable and powerful story. It increases our respect for Mr. Allen’s ability, nor do we feel inclined to join in throwing stones at him as a perverter of our morals and our social institutions. However widely we may differ from Mr. Allen’s views on many important questions, we are bound to recognize his sincerity, and to respect him accordingly. It is powerful and painful, but it is not convincing. Herminia Barton is a woman whose nobleness both of mind and of life we willingly concede; but as she is presented to us by Mr. Allen, there is unmistakably a flaw in her intellect. This in itself does not detract from the reality of the picture.--_The Speaker._

In the work itself, every page, and in fact every line, contains outbursts of intellectual passion that places this author among the giants of the nineteenth century.--_American Newsman._

Interesting, and at times intense and powerful.--_Buffalo Commercial._

No one can doubt the sincerity of the author.--_Woman’s Journal._

The story is a strong one, very strong, and teaches a lesson that no one has a right to step aside from the moral path laid out by religion, the law, and society.--_Boston Times._

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ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON, MASS.

Transcriber’s Notes

The cover image was created by the transcriber from the title page and is placed in the public domain.

Inconsistent hyphenization has been fixed. Where possible, the more common usage within the text was used. Where not possible, the more common usage at the time of publication was used.

In a few cases, missing or inconsistent puncutuation has been corrected, mostly in the index and advertisements.

Page 25: “‘uttered with a loud voice and” changed to “uttered with a loud voice and”

Page 29: ““Life of Her Majesty Queen Victoria.” changed to ““Life of Her Majesty Queen Victoria.””

Page 46: “the Marquis of Conyingham” changed to “the Marquis of Conyngham”

Page 52: “though Lord Lansdown” changed to “though Lord Lansdowne”

Page 76: “a remarkable oubtreak of real disloyalty” changed to “a remarkable outbreak of real disloyalty”

Page 95: “high opinion of the ablities” changed to “high opinion of the abilities”

Page 116: “who she Queen’s husband should be” changed to “who the Queen’s husband should be”

Page 140: “for the bouquet of her granddaugher” changed to “for the bouquet of her granddaughter”

Page 145: “by an Irish brickylayer” changed to “by an Irish bricklayer”

Page 179: “loyalty is a passsion” changed to “loyalty is a passion”

Page 227: “wild and rather inacessible” changed to “wild and rather inaccessible”