e--as being "extremely shy and timid, with very good
principles and, particularly, an exact observer of truth." The
description is, however, so much in harmony with his bringing up that it
may well be accepted as accurate. These years, however, passed rapidly
away in a commingling of instruction, ceremonial and innocent
recreation. The Baroness Bunsen in her _Memoirs_ gives a pleasant
picture which illustrates the character of the amusements current in the
Royal family at their different homes at Windsor, Osborne, or Balmoral.
This particular incident was a Masque devised by the children, when
Prince "Bertie" was twelve years old, in honour of the anniversary of
their parents' marriage. The Prince who represented Winter and was clad
in a coat covered with imitation icicles, recited some verses from
Thomson's Seasons. Princess Alice was Spring; the Princess Royal,
Summer; Prince Alfred, Autumn; while Princess Helena, representing St.
Helena, the traditional mother of Constantine and native of Britain,
called down Heaven's benediction upon the Royal couple.

About this time the Prince of Wales made his first appearance in the
House of Lords, sitting beside the Queen as she received Addresses from
Parliament concerning the impending war with Russia. He seems to have
taken a keen interest in that conflict and, in March 1855, went with his
parents to visit the wounded at Chatham Military Hospital. In August he
accompanied the Queen and Prince Consort upon the first visit paid by an
English Sovereign to Paris since the days of Henry II. and shared in the
splendid reception given by the Emperor Napoleon and the French people.
Even here, however, his tutor was with him and idleness or pleasure was
not allowed to occupy the field entirely. With the Princess Royal, he
was present at a splendid ball given in Versailles--the first since the
days of Louis XVI--and they sat down at supper with the Emperor and
Empress. The young Prince enjoyed the visit so much and liked his
Imperial hosts so well--a liking which he never forgot in later years of
sorrow and suffering--that he begged the Empress to get leave for his
sister and himself to stay a little longer. The Queen and his father, he
explained, had six more children at home and they could, he thought, do
without them for a while.

Of course, this was not possible. The Prince Consort, however, was
greatly pleased with the way in which the children had behaved and wrote
to Baron Sto