their appreciation of Tennyson.

The Queen, after a long interview with Charles Dickens, presented him with
a copy of her _Leaves_, and wrote on it that it was a gift 'from one of
the humblest of writers to one of the greatest.'

In December 1850, Dr Livingstone wrote to his parents: 'The Royal
Geographical Society have awarded twenty-five guineas for the discovery of
the lake ('Ngami). It is from the Queen.' Before this he had written: 'I
wonder you do not go to see the Queen. I was as disloyal as others when in
England, for though I might have seen her in London I never went. Do you
ever pray for her?' In 1858 Livingstone was honoured by the Queen with a
private interview. An account says, 'She sent for Livingstone, who
attended Her Majesty at the palace, without ceremony, in his black coat
and blue trousers, and his cap surrounded with a stripe of gold lace....
The Queen conversed with him affably for half-an-hour on the subject of
his travels. Dr Livingstone told Her Majesty that he would now be able to
say to the natives that he had seen his chief, his not having done so
before having been a constant subject of surprise to the children of the
African wilderness. He mentioned to Her Majesty also that the people were
in the habit of inquiring whether his chief was wealthy; and that when he
assured them she was very wealthy, they would ask how many cows she had
got, a question at which the Queen laughed heartily.'

But the Queen had plenty of live-stock too. From an account in the
_Idler_ of the Queen's pet animals, we learn that they consist almost
entirely of dogs, horses, and donkeys. The following is a list of some of
the royal pets: Flora and Alma, two horses fourteen hands high, presented
to the Queen by Victor Emmanuel. Jenny, a white donkey, twenty-five years
of age, which has been with the Queen since it was a foal. Tewfik, a white