e way on such occasions."

But the day came when it was impossible to keep out of the way any
longer. Mr. Gladstone was defeated, and resigned. Victoria, at a
final interview, received him with her usual amenity, but, besides the
formalities demanded by the occasion, the only remark which she made
to him of a personal nature was to the effect that she supposed Mr.
Gladstone would now require some rest. He remembered with regret how,
at a similar audience in 1874, she had expressed her trust in him as a
supporter of the throne; but he noted the change without surprise. "Her
mind and opinions," he wrote in his diary afterwards, "have since that
day been seriously warped."

Such was Mr. Gladstone's view,; but the majority of the nation by no
means agreed with him; and, in the General Election of 1886, they
showed decisively that Victoria's politics were identical with theirs
by casting forth the contrivers of Home Rule--that abomination of
desolation--into outer darkness, and placing Lord Salisbury in
power. Victoria's satisfaction was profound. A flood of new unwonted
hopefulness swept over her, stimulating her vital spirits with a
surprising force. Her habit of life was suddenly altered; abandoning
the long seclusion which Disraeli's persuasions had only momentarily
interrupted, she threw herself vigorously into a multitude of public
activities. She appeared at drawing-rooms, at concerts, at reviews; she
laid foundation-stones; she went to Liverpool to open an international
exhibition, driving through the streets in her open carriage in heavy
rain amid vast applauding crowds. Delighted by the welcome which met
her everywhere, she warmed to her work. She visited Edinburgh, where the
ovation of Liverpool was repeated and surpassed. In London, she opened
in high state the Colonial and Indian Exhibition at South Kensington.
On this occasion the ceremonial was particularly magnificent; a blare
of trumpets announced the approach of Her Majesty; the "Natiohal Anthem"
followed; and the Queen, seated on a gorgeous throne of hammered gold,
replied with her own lips to the address that was presented to her. Then
she rose, and, advancing upon the platform with regal port, acknowledged
the acclamations of the great assembly by a succession of curtseys, of
elaborate and commanding grace.

Next year was the fiftieth of her reign, and in June the splendid
anniversary was celebrated in solemn pomp. Victoria, surrounded by the
highest