the abolition of the slave-trade, speaking in a low tone, and with 'the
prettiest foreign accent.' While she was driving up Constitution Hill, an
attempt was made upon the Queen's life by a weak-minded youth, but luckily
neither of the pistol shots took effect. There have been at least seven
other happily futile attempts on the life of the Queen.

The Princess Royal was born on the 21st November 1840; and the royal
mother, fondly tended by her husband, made a speedy and happy recovery.
Prince Albert's care for the Queen in these circumstances was like that of
a mother.

The Prince of Wales was born on November 9, 1841, and after that the
little family circle rapidly increased, and with it the parents' sense of
responsibility. 'A man's education begins the first day of his life,' said
the prince's tried friend, the wise Baron Stockmar, and the Queen felt it
'a hard case' that the pressure of public business prevented her from
being always with her little ones when they said their prayers. She has
given us her views on religious training:

'I am quite clear that children should be taught to have great reverence
for God and for religion, but that they should have the feeling of
devotion and love which our Heavenly Father encourages His earthly
children to have for Him, and not one of fear and trembling; and that the
thoughts of death and an after-life should not be presented in an alarming
and forbidding view; and that they should be made to know, _as yet_, no
difference of creeds.'

Court gossips considered the Queen 'to be very fond of her children, but
severe in her manner, and a strict disciplinarian in her family.' A nurse
in the royal household informed Baron Bunsen that 'the children were kept