owing robes, foreign officers and diplomatists in gorgeous and varied
uniforms, British generals and admirals, and the picturesque Windsor
uniforms of the Privy Councillors, lent a brilliant appearance to a
function at which most of the eminent men of the Kingdom were to be
seen.

Ten days afterwards His Majesty visited Lord and Lady Burton at
Rangemore, and while there inspected the famous Bass and Company
brewery and started a special brew to be called "the King's Ale"--only
to be used on special occasions. Early in the year it had been decided
by the King to pay what might be termed a Coronation visit to Ireland,
accompanied by his wife. Unfortunately, unpleasant conditions of local
agitation developed, and then came the outburst of Nationalist sympathy
for the Boers, in the House of Commons, when Lord Methuen's defeat was
announced. The result was that his Ministers advised the King not to
undertake the trip at the time proposed, and its postponement was
announced on March 12th, greatly to the regret of many in Ireland and
out of it. Commencing on March 7th the King and Queen Alexandra paid a
brief visit to the West of England and were loyally welcomed at
Dartmouth, Plymouth, Stonehouse and Davenport, where certain official
functions were performed.

On March 14th, King Edward and Queen Alexandra held their first Court,
and it was expected that the occasion would be the most stately and
splendid in the modern social history of the nation. It fully equalled
these anticipations, and the scene in the ball-room of Buckingham Palace
eclipsed even the traditions of the French Imperial Court in the days of
Napoleon III. It was well managed, it was attended by the greatest and
best representatives of English public and social life, it was unusually
brilliant in jewelry, in dresses and in uniforms, it was stately in its
setting and more animated and brighter in character than any similar
function of the late Sovereign's reign--since its early years at least.
The same success attended succeeding and similar occasions, and it might
be distinctly appropriate to quote here views expressed by the _Daily
News_ of February 15th, 1901, when it spoke of the new reign as opening
with splendid promise for the highest interests of the country and with
component elements in its Court for a period of extraordinary social
brilliancy. "King Edward," observed this Radical organ, "is one of the
most popular of Sovereigns, and his beautiful Q