eir
inconvenience on her memory was that one of the first acts of her reign
was to pay off, principal and interest, the whole of her father's
remaining liabilities.

A good deal of sympathy is felt in England for the prince of Wales in
reference to his money-matters. His mother's withdrawal from
representative functions throws perforce a great deal of extra expense
upon him, which he is very ill able to bear. He is expected to subscribe
liberally to every conceivable charity, to bestow splendid presents
(here his mother has always been wanting), and in every way to vie with,
if not surpass, the nobility; and all this with L110,000 a year, whilst
the dukes of Devonshire, Cleveland, Buccleuch, Lords Westminster, Bute,
Lonsdale and a hundred more noblemen and gentlemen, have fortunes double
or treble, no lords and grooms in waiting to pay, and can subscribe or
decline to subscribe to the Distressed Muffin-makers' and Cab-men's
Widows' Associations, according to their pleasure, without a murmur on
the part of the public.

About five years ago the press generally took this view of the subject,
and a rumor ran that the government fully intended to ask for an
addition to the prince's income; but nothing was done. We have reason to
believe that the hesitation of the government arose from the
well-grounded apprehension that it would bring on an inquiry as to the
queen's income and what became of it. Opinion ran high among both Whigs
and Tories that if Her Majesty did not please to expend in
representative pomp the revenues granted to her for that specific
purpose, she should appropriate a handsome sum annually to her son. It
may be urged, "Perhaps she does so," and in reply it can only be said
that in such case the secret is singularly well kept, and that those
whose position should enable them to give a pretty shrewd guess at the
state of the case persist in averring the contrary. However, it will no
doubt be all the better for the royal family in the end. The queen is a
sagacious woman. She no doubt fully recognizes the fact that the British
public will each year become more and more impatient of being required
to vote away handsome annuities for a succession of princelings, whilst
at the same time it may look with toleration, if not affection, upon a
number of gentlemen and ladies who ask for nothing more than the cheap
privilege of writing "Royal Highness" before their names. If, then,
Queen Victoria be by her retirement a