l story-book rather than a
fellow man of flesh and blood, turned away with a shrug, a smile, and
a flippant ejaculation. But in this the public was the loser as well as
Victoria. For in truth Albert was a far more interesting personage than
the public dreamed. By a curious irony an impeccable waxwork had been
fixed by the Queen's love in the popular imagination, while the creature
whom it represented--the real creature, so full of energy and stress
and torment, so mysterious and so unhappy, and so fallible and so very
human--had altogether disappeared.

IV

Words and books may be ambiguous memorials; but who can misinterpret the
visible solidity of bronze and stone? At Frogmore, near Windsor, where
her mother was buried, Victoria constructed, at the cost of L200,000, a
vast and elaborate mausoleum for herself and her husband. But that was
a private and domestic monument, and the Queen desired that wherever
her subjects might be gathered together they should be reminded of the
Prince. Her desire was gratified; all over the country--at Aberdeen, at
Perth, and at Wolverhampton--statues of the Prince were erected; and
the Queen, making an exception to her rule of retirement, unveiled them
herself. Nor did the capital lag behind. A month after the Prince's
death a meeting was called together at the Mansion House to discuss
schemes for honouring his memory. Opinions, however, were divided upon
the subject. Was a statue or an institution to be preferred? Meanwhile a
subscription was opened; an influential committee was appointed, and the
Queen was consulted as to her wishes in the matter. Her Majesty replied
that she would prefer a granite obelisk, with sculptures at the base, to
an institution. But the committee hesitated: an obelisk, to be worthy
of the name, must clearly be a monolith; and where was the quarry in
England capable of furnishing a granite block of the required size? It
was true that there was granite in Russian Finland; but the committee
were advised that it was not adapted to resist exposure to the open air.
On the whole, therefore, they suggested that a Memorial Hall should be
erected, together with a statue of the Prince. Her Majesty assented; but
then another difficulty arose. It was found that not more than L60,000
had been subscribed--a sum insufficient to defray the double expense.
The Hall, therefore, was abandoned; a statue alone was to be erected;
and certain eminent architects were asked to prepare