everything was paid for punctually.

After the visits of King Louis Philippe and the Emperor Nicholas of
Russia, Sir Robert Peel acknowledged that "Her Majesty was able to
meet every charge and to give a reception to the Sovereigns which
struck every one by its magnificence without adding one tittle to
the burdens of the country. I am not required by Her Majesty to press
for the extra expenditure of one single shilling on account of these
unforeseen causes of increased expenditure. I think that to state
this is only due to the personal credit of Her Majesty, who insists
upon it that there shall be every magnificence required by her
station, but without incurring one single debt."

When one remembers that the Queen had to superintend the household
arrangements of Buckingham Palace, Balmoral Castle, Osborne, and
Windsor, and that the latter alone gave employment, in one way and
another, to two thousand people, it can be realized that this was
a tremendous undertaking in itself. Method and neatness, first
instituted by the Prince Consort, were always insisted upon in place
of the disorder and waste which had reigned supreme before the Queen
became head of the household.

[Illustration: THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, SOUTH KENSINGTON]

Before her life was saddened by the untimely loss of her husband the
Queen was the leader of English society, and her influence was, as
may be imagined, thoroughly wholesome and good. She was all her life
a deeply religious woman, and though her observance of Sunday was
strict, she never allowed it to become a day of penance. Her religion
was 'humane'--indeed, her intense sympathy with all sorrow and
suffering was one of her supreme virtues, and her early upbringing
made her dislike all elaborate forms of ceremony during the service.
When in the Highlands she always attended the simple little
Presbyterian church, where the congregation was, for the most part,
made up of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood.

It is this simplicity and 'homeliness' of the Queen which were so
often misunderstood by those who could not realize how much she was
at one with her people. The Queen was never more happy than when she
was visiting some poor sufferer and comforting those in sorrow. Her
memory for the little events which made up the lives and happiness
of those far below her in social rank was amazing. She was a great
and a truly democratic Queen. She gave the greater portion of her
Jubilee present