uneasy, vexed wearers of crowns, unlike those in which old King George and
Queen Charlotte had been received with fervent acclamation wherever they
went, whatever wars were being waged or taxes imposed. The manners of the
Commons were not improving with the extension of their rights. But the King
and Queen would do their duty, which was far from disagreeable to them, in
paying proper respect to their niece and successor. Accordingly their
Majesties gave a ball on the Princess's thirteenth birthday, 24th May,
1832, at which the heroine of the day figured; and four days later, on the
28th of May, she was present for the second time at a Drawing-room.

All the same, it is an open secret that William, living, for the most part,
in that noblest palace of Windsor, considered the Princess led too retired
a life, so far as not appearing often enough at his Court was concerned,
and that he complained of her absence and resented it as a slight to
himself. It is an equally well-established fact that, in spite of the
King's kindness of heart and Queen Adelaide's goodness, King William's
Court was not in all respects a desirable place for a Princess to grow up
in, in addition to the objection that any Court in itself formed an
unsuitable schoolroom for a young girl.

It is doubtful, since even the most magnanimous men have jealous instincts,
whether the King's displeasure on one point would be appeased by what was
otherwise a very natural and judicious step taken by the Duchess of Kent
this year. She made an autumn tour with her daughter through several
counties of England and Wales, in the course of which the royal mother and
daughter paid a succession of visits to seats of different noblemen, taking
Oxford on the way. If there was a place in England which deserved the
notice of its future Queen, it was one of the two great universities--the
cradles of learning, and, in the case of "the most loyal city of Oxford,"
the bulwark of the throne. The party proceeded early in October through