rejoicings had been occasioned by the marriage of
Queen Victoria to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. A bill was passed
appointing the Prince Consort regent of England in case of the Queen's
death. The royal couple were well matched. The credit of having brought
about this marriage was chiefly due to Lord Melbourne. The tactful conduct
of Prince Albert after the marriage fully justified his choice. Yet Prince
Albert was never popular in England. Parliament cut down his proposed
income from the Crown by nearly one half. The lower classes were prejudiced
against him as a foreigner, while the nobility and army turned against him
when they found that he preferred the society of men eminent for their
intellectual attainments to that of dukes and marquises. On June 10, an
insane pot-boy named Oxford attempted to assassinate the Queen and the
Prince Consort with a pistol. The would-be assassin was confined in an
asylum. On November 21, Queen Victoria gave birth to her eldest child,
Augusta, who subsequently became Empress of Germany.

[Sidenote: First Charter petition]

[Sidenote: Jack Frost's revolt]

Other English events of domestic importance were the passage of the
vaccination act, the introduction of screw propellers in the British navy,
and the State trial of the three leaders of the Chartist movement of the
previous year. A monster petition subscribed by 1,280,000 signatures on a
great cylinder was rolled into Parliament. In it were embodied new demands
for a bill of rights, or the "People's Charter," comprising universal
suffrage, including that of woman, secret ballots, payment of Parliamentary
representatives, and the like. The denial of this petition provoked a
popular uprising under the leadership of Jack Frost at Newport, which had
to be suppressed by the military. After a sensational trial, the leaders
were condemned to deportation.

[Sidenote: Death of Beau Brummel]

Echoes of the English Regency were re-awakened by the death of "Beau"
Brummel, a dandy after the manner of the French exquisites. It was a boast
of this leader of fashion that he spoiled twenty-five cravats before one
was tied to his liking. The Prince Regent in his dress imitated Brummel.
The offended beau retaliated one day, when some of his friends saluted the
Prince on Rotten Row, by asking, "Who is your fat friend?" Leigh Hunt
improved upon this in his "Examiner" by describing the Prince as "a
corpulent Adonis of fifty." For this Hunt was sent