al stations, it
included 20 battleships, 24 cruisers and 47 torpedo crafts, with an
outer fringe of foreign vessels contributed in complimentary fashion to
honour the occasion. From Spithead to the Isle of Wight the horizon was
black with great grim vessels of war decked out with flags, and as the
King's yacht approached the first line of ships, a hundred Royal salutes
made a tremendous burst of sound such as probably the greatest
battle-fields of history had never heard. As the King, in Admiral's
uniform, stood upon the deck of his vessel and passed slowly down the
lines, a signal given at a certain moment evoked one of the most
impressive incidents which even he had ever encountered--a simultaneous
roar of cheers from the powerful throats of 50,000 enthusiastic sailors.
The sound rolled from shore to shore, and ship to ship, was echoed from
100,000 spectators on land and sea, and repeated again from the
battleships. The King was deeply moved by this crowning tribute of
loyalty, and at once signaled his gratification to the fleet and an
invitation to its flag officers to come aboard his yacht and receive a
personal expression of his feelings. In the evening electric and
coloured lights of every kind and in countless number combined with
flashing searchlights to illuminate the great fleet and to cast a
glamour of fairy land over the splendid scene.

Meanwhile, in the morning, His Majesty had received on board his yacht
the celebrated Boer Generals, Botha, De Wet and De la Rey. Afterwards,
in company with Lord Kitchener and Earl Roberts they had returned to
London greatly pleased with the cordiality of their reception and
especially gratified at the kind manner of Queen Alexandra. Following
the official Naval Review, the King on the next day visited the fleet in
a stormy sea and watched it go through certain manoeuvres of a
practical kind before being dispersed to its different local stations.
On his return to London he found the Shah of Persia a guest of the
nation and awaiting formal reception at the hands of its Monarch. And
thus King Edward took up again his unceasing round of duty and
ceremonial and high responsibility. In the past year or two he had gone
through every variety of emotional experience and official work and
brilliant ceremony--his mother's death and the consequent mourning of a
nation and empire; his own assumption of new and heavy duties; the
special labours of an expectant period; the time of seriou