the more
remarkable as for forty years she reigned alone without the
invaluable advice and assistance of her husband.

Her qualities were not those which have made other great rulers
famous, but they were typical of the age in which she lived.

All her life she was industrious, and never spared herself any time
or trouble, however arduous and disagreeable her duties might be.
She possessed the keenest sense of duty, and in dealing with men and
circumstances she never failed to do or say the right thing. Her daily
intercourse with the leading English statesmen of the time gave her
an unrivalled knowledge of home and foreign politics. In short, her
natural ability and good sense, strengthened by experience, made her
what she was, a perfect model of a constitutional monarch.

During her reign the Crown once again took its proper place: no longer
was there a gulf between the Ruler and the People, and Patriotism,
the love of Queen and Country, became a real and living thing. Pope's
adage, "A patriot is a fool in every age," could no longer be quoted
with any truth.

Queen Victoria was, above all, a great lover of peace, and did all
in her power for its promotion. Her personal influence was often the
means of smoothing over difficulties both at home and abroad when
her Ministers had aggravated instead of lessening them. She formed
her own opinions and held to them, though she was always willing to
listen to reason.

The Memorandum which she drew up in the year 1850 shows how firm a
stand she could take when her country's peace seemed to be
threatened.

Lord Palmerston, though an able Minister in many respects, was a
wilful, hot-headed man, who was over-fond of acting on the spur of
the moment without consulting his Sovereign. His dispatches, written
as they so often were in a moment of feverish enthusiasm, frequently
gave offence to foreign monarchs and statesmen, and were more than
once nearly the cause of war. It was remarked of him that "the desk
was his place of peril, his pen ran away with him. His speech never
made an enemy, his writing has left many festering sores. The charm
of manner and urbanity which so served him in Parliament and in
society was sometimes wanting on paper, and good counsels were dashed
with asperity."

Lord Palmerston, the Queen complained, did not obey instructions,
and she declared that before important dispatches were sent abroad
the Sovereign should be consulted. Further, alteration