celebre_--that of Lady Mordaunt. Her
husband, an English baronet, sued for divorce before the Court of
Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, alleging the usual grounds, and naming
as co-respondents, Viscount Cole and Sir Frederick Johnstone. The case
was heard on February 16th, 1870, and following days, and the defence on
the part of Lady Mordaunt was insanity. The Prince of Wales, though not
specified in the indictment, was so widely gossiped about as being
connected with the case that he asked to be heard and swore positively
that there had been no improper relations between himself and the
defendant. Two of the Judges on Appeal--Lord Penzance and Mr. Justice
Keating--agreed with the jury's verdict that Lady Mordaunt was insane,
while Chief Baron Kelly differed. The woman in the case was for years
afterwards confined in a lunatic asylum, and it has long since been
quite well understood that the only basis for scandal was the fact that
a Royal visit which had been paid upon one occasion was made under the
invariable rule of etiquette, which prescribes that no other caller
shall be received while the visit lasts. Before and after the trouble
Lady Mordaunt's sisters, and especially the Dowager Countess of Dudley,
were amongst the Princess of Wales' warm friends, while the daughter of
the plaintiff in the case was, in later years, received at Sandringham,
and was given many beautiful presents by the members of the Royal family
upon her marriage to the Marquess of Bath. Such conditions would have
been absolutely impossible to imagine with the Princess of Wales had she
entertained the slightest belief in the stories floating about regarding
that famous trial. During the succeeding thirty years, however, there
was never even an apparent excuse for the repetition of such stories,
and the happy home life of the Prince and Princess was patent to all who
were willing to believe the evidence of their eyes and ears.

What may be said of the characteristics and habits of this many-sided
heir to Royal position? Probably his first and most pronounced quality
was one of difficult definition--tactfulness. Through its means he led
society without rivalry and with unique success; promoted reforms
without violence of agitation or the creation of antagonisms; carried
out countless varied and delicate duties, with noiseless celerity, in an
age of intense and active curiosity. In forty years of ceaseless
political change and frequently acute polit