the duties of kingship; he pointed out the iniquitous foolishness
of the newspaper press. On the latter subject, indeed, he wrote with
some asperity. "If all the editors," he said, "of the papers in the
countries where the liberty of the press exists were to be assembled, we
should have a crew to which you would NOT confide a dog that you would
value, still less your honour and reputation." On the functions of a
monarch, his views were unexceptionable. "The business of the highest
in a State," he wrote, "is certainly, in my opinion, to act with great
impartiality and a spirit of justice for the good of all." At the
same time the Princess's tastes were opening out. Though she was still
passionately devoted to riding and dancing, she now began to have a
genuine love of music as well, and to drink in the roulades and arias
of the Italian opera with high enthusiasm. She even enjoyed reading
poetry--at any rate, the poetry of Sir Walter Scott.

When King Leopold learnt that King William's death was approaching, he
wrote several long letters of excellent advice to his niece. "In every
letter I shall write to you," he said, "I mean to repeat to you, as a
FUNDAMENTAL RULE, TO BE FIRM, AND COURAGEOUS, AND HONEST, AS YOU HAVE
BEEN TILL NOW." For the rest, in the crisis that was approaching, she
was not to be alarmed, but to trust in her "good natural sense and the
TRUTH" of her character; she was to do nothing in a hurry; to hurt
no one's amour-propre, and to continue her confidence in the Whig
administration! Not content with letters, however, King Leopold
determined that the Princess should not lack personal guidance, and sent
over to her aid the trusted friend whom, twenty years before, he had
taken to his heart by the death-bed at Claremont. Thus, once again, as
if in accordance with some preordained destiny, the figure of Stockmar
is discernible--inevitably present at a momentous hour.

On June 18, the King was visibly sinking. The Archbishop of Canterbury
was by his side, with all the comforts of the church. Nor did the holy
words fall upon a rebellious spirit; for many years his Majesty had
been a devout believer. "When I was a young man," he once explained at
a public banquet, "as well as I can remember, I believed in nothing but
pleasure and folly--nothing at all. But when I went to sea, got into
a gale, and saw the wonders of the mighty deep, then I believed; and I
have been a sincere Christian ever since." It was the a