gardens. At the time of her mother's dinner the Princess had her supper,
still at the side of the Duchess; then, after playing with her nurse
(Mrs. Brock, whom she called 'dear, dear Boppy'), she would join the
party at dessert, and at 9 she would retire to her bed, which was placed
at the side of her mother's."

We see regular study, regular exercise, simple food, plenty of outdoor
air, plenty of play, plenty of sleep. It seems that when this admirable
mother laid her child away from her own breast, it was only to lay it on
that of Nature, and very close has Victoria, with all her state and
grandeur, kept to the heart of the great all-mother ever since.

The Duchess of Kent was left not only with very limited means for a lady
of her station, but also burdened by her husband's debts, which, being a
woman with a fine sense of honor, she felt herself obliged to discharge,
or at least to reduce as far and fast as possible. Had it not been for
help from her generous brother, Leopold, she could hardly have afforded
for her daughter the full and fitting education she received. So, had not
her taste and her sense of duty towards her child inclined her to a life
of quiet and retirement, the lack of fortune would have constrained her
to live simply and modestly. As it was, privacy was the rule in the life
of the accomplished Duchess, still young and beautiful, and in that of
her little shadow; very seldom did they appear at Court, or in any gay
Court circle; so, at the time of her accession to the throne, Victoria
might almost have been a fairy-princess, emerging from some enchanted
dell in Windsor forest, or a water-nymph evoked from the Serpentine in
Kensington Gardens by some modern Merlin, for all the world at large--the
world beyond her kingdom at least--knew of her young years, of her
character and disposition. Now few witnesses are left anywhere of her
fair happy childhood, or even of her girlhood, which was like a silvery