Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Queen Victoria, by E. Gordon
Browne This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
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Title: Queen Victoria
Author: E. Gordon Browne
Release Date: October 30, 2005 [EBook #16965]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN
VICTORIA ***

Produced by Ron Swanson

[Frontispiece: QUEEN VICTORIA]

QUEEN VICTORIA
BY E. GORDON BROWNE, M.A.

_WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS_

LONDON GEORGE G. HARRAP & COMPANY 2 & 3
PORTSMOUTH STREET KINGSWAY W.C. MCMXV

_Turnbull & Spears, Printers, Edinburgh, Great Britain_

Contents
CHAPTER I.
A LOOK BACK II. CHILDHOOD DAYS III. EARLY YEARS IV.
HUSBAND AND WIFE V. FAMILY LIFE VI. STRIFE VII. THE
CHILDREN OF ENGLAND VIII. MINISTERING WOMEN IX.
BALMORAL X. THE GREAT EXHIBITION XI. ALBERT THE
GOOD XII. FRIENDS AND ADVISERS XIII. QUEEN AND
EMPIRE XIV. STRESS AND STRAIN XV. VICTORIA THE GREAT

Illustrations QUEEN VICTORIA THE QUEEN'S FIRST COUNCIL
AT KENSINGTON PALACE KENSINGTON PALACE THE DUKE
AND DUCHESS OF KENT THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE
QUEEN'S ACCESSION PRINCE ALBERT BUCKINGHAM
PALACE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE QUEEN VICTORIA IN THE
HIGHLANDS THE ALBERT MEMORIAL SIR ROBERT PEEL,
LORD MELBOURNE, AND BENJAMIN DISRAELI THE SECRET
OF ENGLAND'S GREATNESS THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT
MUSEUM
CHAPTER I
: A Look Back

In the old legend of Rip Van Winkle with which the American writer
Washington Irving has made us so familiar, the ne'er-do-weel Rip
wanders off into the Kaatskill Mountains with his dog and gun in order
to escape from his wife's scolding tongue. Here he meets the spectre
crew of Captain Hudson, and, after partaking of their hospitality, falls
into a deep sleep which lasts for twenty years. The latter part of the
story describes the changes which he finds on his return to his native
village: nearly all the old, familiar faces are gone; manners, dress, and
speech are all changed. He feels like a stranger in a strange land.
Now, it is a good thing sometimes to take a look back, to try to count
over the changes for good or for evil which have taken place in this
country of ours; to try to understand clearly why the reign of a great
Queen should have left its mark upon our history in such a way that
men speak of the Victorian Age as one of the greatest ages that have
ever been.
If an Elizabethan had been asked whether he considered the Queen of
England a great woman or not, he would undoubtedly have answered
"Yes," and given very good reasons for his answer. It was not for
nothing that the English almost worshipped their Queen in "those
spacious times of great Elizabeth." Edmund Spenser, one of the world's
great poets, hymned her as "fayre Elisa" and "the flowre of Virgins":
Helpe me to blaze Her worthy praise; Which, in her sexe doth all
excell!
Throughout her long reign, courtiers, statesmen, soldiers, and people all
united in serving her gladly and to the best of their powers.
Yet she could at times prove herself to be hard, cruel, and vindictive;
she was mean, even miserly, when money was wanted for men or ships;
she was excessively vain, loved dress and finery, and was often proud
almost beyond bearing.
Notwithstanding all her faults, she was the best beloved of all English
monarchs because of her never-failing courage and strength of mind,
and she made the Crown respected, feared, and loved as no other ruler

had done before her, and none other, save Queen Victoria, has reigned
as she did in her people's hearts.
She lived for her country, and her country's love and admiration were
her reward. During her reign the seas were swept clear of foreign foes,
and her country took its place in the front rank of Great Powers. Hers
was the Golden Age of Literature, of Adventure and Learning, an age
of great men and women, a New England.
If an Elizabethan Rip Van Winkle had fallen asleep and awakened
again at the opening of Victoria's reign, more than 200 years later, what
would he have found? England still a mighty Power, it is true, scarcely
yet recovered from the long war against Napoleon, with Nelson and
Wellington enthroned as the national heroes. But the times were bad in
many ways, for it was "a time of ugliness: ugly religion, ugly law, ugly
relations between rich and poor, ugly clothes, ugly furniture."
The England of that day, it must be remembered, was the England
described so faithfully in Charles Dickens' early works. It was far from
being