four members, whose functions it is to report on matters of nobility,
especially heraldic and genealogic, and on applications from Town Councils
which wish to use some crest or other. This 'High Council of Nobility'
acts under the supervision of the Minister of Justice, and its powers are
regulated by royal decrees, or writs in council. The titles used are
'Jonkheer' (Baronet) and 'Jonkvrouw,' Baron and Baroness, 'Graaf' (Earl)
and 'Gravin.' Marquess and Duke are not used as titles by Dutch noblemen.
If any man is ennobled, ail his children, sons as well as daughters, share
the privilege, so there is no 'courtesy title;' officially they are
indicated by the father's rank from the moment of their birth, but as long
as they are young it is the custom to address the boys as 'Jonker,' the
girls as 'Freule.'

For the rest, life at The Hague is very much like life everywhere else. In
summer there is a general exodus to foreign countries; in winter, dinners,
bazaars, balls, theatre, opera, a few officiai Court functions, which may
become more numerous in the near future if the young Queen and Prince
Henry are so disposed, are the order of the day. For the present, 'Het
Loo,' that glorious country-seat in the centre of picturesque, hilly,
wooded Gelderland, continues to be the favourite residence of the Court,
and only during the colder season is the palace in the 'Noordeinde,' at
The Hague, inhabited by the Queen.

Her Majesty, apparently full of youthful mirth and energy, enjoys her life
in a wholesome and genuine manner. State business is, of course, dutifully
transacted; but as the entire constitutional responsibility rests with the
Cabinet Ministers and the High Councils of State, she has no need to feel
undue anxiety about her decisions. She is well educated, a strong patriot,
and has on the whole a serions turn of mind, which came out in pathetic
beauty as she took the oath in the 'Nieuwe Kerk' of Amsterdam at her