which they could be placed. As she had no girl companions, many an hour
was solaced in this manner. She dressed these dolls from some costumes she
saw in the theatre or in private life. A list of her dolls was kept in a
copy-book, the name of each, and by whom it was dressed, and the character
it represented, being given. The dolls seem to have been packed away about
1833. Of the 132 dolls preserved, thirty-two were dressed by the princess.
They range from three to nine inches in height. The sewing and adornment
of the rich coloured silks and satins show great deftness of finger.

Her wise mother withheld her from the pomp and circumstance of the court.
She was not even allowed to be present at the coronation of her uncle, the
Duke of Clarence, when he ascended the throne as William IV. He could not
understand such reticence, was annoyed by it, and expressed his annoyance
angrily. But his consort, good Queen Adelaide, was always kind and
considerate: even when she lost all her own little ones, she could be
generous enough to say to the Duchess of Kent, 'My children are dead, but
yours lives, and she is mine too.'

All doubts as to the princess's relation to the succession were gradually
removed. George IV. had died childless. Both the children of William IV.
were dead. The Princess Victoria therefore was the heiress of England. A
paper had been placed in the volume of history she had been reading, after
perusing which she remarked, 'I never saw this before.'

'It was not thought necessary you should, princess,' the governess
replied.

'I see,' she said timidly, 'that I am nearer the throne than I thought.'

'So it is, madam,' said the governess.