Palace, he stretches out his tiny hands to the scarlet sentinels. An
obsequious retinue follows him over the lawns of the White Lodge,
cooing and laughing, blowing kisses and praising him. Yet do not
imagine his life has been all gaiety! The afflictions that befall
royal personages always touch very poignantly the heart of the people,
and it is not too much to say that all England watched by the cradle-
side of Prince Edward in that dolorous hour, when first the little
battlements rose about the rose-red roof of his mouth. I am glad to
think that not one querulous word did His Royal Highness, in his great
agony, utter. They only say that his loud, incessant cries bore
testimony to the perfect lungs for which the House of Hanover is most
justly famed. Irreiterate be the horror of that epoch!

As yet, when we know not even what his first words will be, it is too
early to predict what verdict posterity will pass upon him. Already he
has won the hearts of the people; but, in the years which, it is to be
hoped, still await him, he may accomplish more. Attendons! He stands
alone among European princes--but, as yet, only with the aid of a
chair.

London, 1895.


1880

Say, shall these things be forgotten
In the Row that men call Rotten,
Beauty Clare?--Hamilton Ai"de'.

`History,' it has been said, `does not repeat itself. The historians