pinkiness of her glowing complexion.... Her Majesty's countenance was
strangely eloquent of tenderness, refinement, and unobtrusive force....
Among the high-born beauties of her day, the young Queen Victoria was
remarkable for the number of her ways of smiling.' Other observers say
that the smallness of her stature was quite forgotten in the gracefulness
of her demeanour. Fanny Kemble thought the Queen's voice exquisite, when
dissolving parliament in July 1837: her enunciation was as perfect as the
intonation was melodious. Charles Sumner was also delighted, and thought
he never heard anything better delivered.

She was proclaimed queen, June 21, 1837: the coronation took place in
Westminster Abbey on June 28, 1838, and has been vividly described by many
pens. At least 300,000 visitors came to London on this occasion. We are
told of the glow of purple, of the acclamations of the crowd, and the
chorus of Westminster scholars, of the flash of diamonds as the assembled
peeresses assumed their coronets when the crown was placed on the head of
the young queen. But we best like the touch of womanly solicitude and
helpfulness with which Her Majesty made a hasty movement forward as an
aged peer, Lord Rolle, tripped over his robes, and stumbled on the steps
of the throne. As she left the Abbey, 'the tender paleness that had
overspread her fair face on her entrance had yielded to a glow of rosy
celestial red.'

Miss Harriet Martineau thus describes the scene before the entrance of the
Queen: 'The stone architecture contrasted finely with the gay colours of
the multitude. From my high seat I commanded the whole north transept, the
area with the throne, and many portions of galleries, and the balconies,
which were called the vaultings. Except the mere sprinkling of oddities,
everybody was in full dress. The scarlet of the military officers mixed in
well, and the groups of clergy were dignified; but to an unaccustomed eye