her own domestic
happiness, and to set a good example to her people, belonged to her
majesty in a degree seldom evinced by royal personages, many proofs had
been given before, and many were given after, the visit to Cambridge.
A work entitled "The Journal of Thomas Baikes, Esq.," professed to
make many singular revelations to that effect. Mr. Baikes, the son of
a wealthy London merchant, had somehow an early introduction to _haut
ton_, and continued, in London and Paris, to live in the society of men
of rank and fashion, a species of Beau Brummel. The Duke of Wellington
gave to Mr. Baikes the following incident, which took place at the
marriage of the Princess Augusta: "When we proceeded to the signatures,
the King of Hanover was very anxious to sign before Prince Albert, and
when the queen approached the latter, he placed himself by her side,
watching the opportunity. She knew very well what he was about; and just
as the archbishop was giving her the pen, she suddenly dodged round the
table, placed herself next the prince, then quickly took the pen from
the archbishop, signed, and gave it to Prince Albert, who also signed
next, before it could be prevented. The queen was also very anxious to
give the precedence at court to King Leopold before the King of Hanover,
and she consulted me about it, and how it should be arranged. I told her
majesty that I supposed it should be settled as we did at the Congress
of Vienna. 'How was that,' said she, 'by first arrival?'--'No, ma'am,'
said I, 'alphabetically, and then, you know B comes before H.' This
pleased her very much, and it was done."

This was hardly fair to the Duke of Cumberland, and shows her majesty's
strong attachment to the Cobourgs; but his grace of Cumberland and
majesty of Hanover never acted as an uncle to the queen, and would have
gladly made the Orange party available to mount her throne. The Duke
of Wellington knew all this; and as he regarded it to be one of his
especial missions to watch over her majesty, he willingly lent himself
to those little artifices which tended to place the King of Hanover in
an inferior position relative to that of Prince Albert, or of the King
of the Belgians.

The only other event connected with the court, except such as will
appear in the history of parliamentary transactions, was the visit to
Scotland in August. This visit was paid in compliance with the wishes
of the prince, who had on a previous occasion greatly enjoyed the