as it were, on the Prince's intimacy without such previous acquaintance as
might have justified confidence. It was only the sterling qualities of both
Prince and secretary which obviated the natural consequences of such an
ill-judged proceeding, and ended by producing the genuine liking and honest
friendship which ought to have preceded the connection. The grudging,
suspicions, selfish spirit thus manifested on all hands, was liable to
wound the Queen in the tenderest point, and the disappointment came upon
her with a shock, since she had been rashly assured by Lord Melbourne that
there would be no difficulty either as regarded income or precedence. The
indications were not encouraging to the stranger thus met on the threshold.
But his mission was to disarm adverse criticism, to shame want of
confidence and pettiness of jealousy, to confer benefits totally
irrespective of the spirit in which they might be taken. And even by the
irritated party-men as well as by the body of the people, the Prince was to
be well received for the Queen's sake, with his merits taken for granted,
so far as that went, since the heart of the country was all right, though
its Whig and Tory temper might be at fault.

On the 10th of January, 1840, a death instead of a marriage took place in
the royal family, but it was that of an aged member long expatriated.
Princess Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse Homburg, died at Frankfort. It was
twenty-two years since she had married and quitted England, shortly before
the old Queen's death, a year before the birth of Queen Victoria. The
Landgravine had returned once, a widow of sixty-four, and then had gone
back to her adopted country. She had survived her husband eleven years, and
her sister, resident like herself in Germany, the Princess Royal, Queen of
Wurtemberg, twelve years. The Landgravine as Princess Elizabeth showed
artistic talent. She was famous in her middle age for her great
_embonpoint_; as she was also tall she waxed enormous. Baroness
Bunsen, when Miss Waddington, saw Princess Elizabeth, while she was still