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fulfilment of that destiny which Albert's family had marked out for him; and
he hoped, during the tour in Italy, to come to some conclusion as to how far
the prince possessed them. Albert on his side was much impressed by the Baron,
whom he had previously seen but rarely; he also became acquainted, for the
first time in his life, with a young Englishman, Lieutenant Francis Seymour,
who had been engaged to accompany him, whom he found sehr liebens-wurdig, and
with whom he struck up a warm friendship. He delighted in the galleries and
scenery of Florence, though with Rome he was less impressed. "But for some
beautiful palaces," he said, "it might just as well be any town in Germany."
In an interview with Pope Gregory XVI, he took the opportunity of displaying
his erudition. When the Pope observed that the Greeks had taken their art from
the Etruscans, Albert replied that, on the contrary, in his opinion, they had
borrowed from the Egyptians: his Holiness politely acquiesced. Wherever he
went he was eager to increase his knowledge, and, at a ball in Florence, he
was observed paying no attention whatever to the ladies, and deep in
conversation with the learned Signor Capponi. "Voila un prince dont nous
pouvons etre fiers," said the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who was standing by: "la
belle danseuse l'attend, le savant l'occupe."
On his return to Germany, Stockmar's observations, imparted to King Leopold,
were still critical. Albert, he said, was intelligent, kind, and amiable; he
was full of the best intentions and the noblest resolutions, and his judgment
was in many things beyond his years. But great exertion was repugnant to him;
he seemed to be too willing to spare himself, and his good resolutions too
often came to nothing. It was particularly unfortunate that he took not the
slightest interest in politics, and never read a newspaper. In his manners,
too, there was still room for improvement. "He will always," said the Baron,
"have more success with men than with women, in whose society he shows too
little empressement, and is too indifferent and retiring." One other feature
of the case was noted by the keen eye of the old physician: the Prince's
constitution was not a strong one. Yet, on the whole, he was favourable to the
projected marriage. But by now the chief obstacle seemed to lie in another
quarter, Victoria was apparently determined to commit herself to nothing. And
so it happened that when Albert went to England he had made up his mind to
withdraw entirely from the affair. Nothing would induce him, he confessed to a
friend, to be kept vaguelywaiting; he would break it all off at once. His
reception at Windsor threw an entirely new light upon the situation. The wheel
of fortune turned with a sudden rapidity; and he found, in the arms of
Victoria, the irrevocable assurance of his overwhelming fate.
II
He was not in love with her. Affection, gratitude, the natural reactions to
the unqualified devotion of a lively young cousin who was also a queen--such
feelings possessed him, but the ardours of reciprocal passion were not his.
Though he found that he liked Victoria very much, what immediately interested
him in his curious position was less her than himself. Dazzled and delighted,
riding, dancing, singing, laughing, amid the splendours of Windsor, he was
aware of a new sensation--the stirrings of ambition in his breast. His place
would indeed be a high, an enviable one! And then, on the instant, came
another thought. The teaching of religion, the admonitions of Stockmar, his
own inmost convictions, all spoke with the same utterance. He would not be
there to please himself, but for a very different purpose--to do good. He must
be "noble, manly, and princely in all things," he would have "to live and to
sacrifice himself for the benefit of his new country;" to "use his powers and
endeavours for a great object--that of promoting the welfare of multitudes of
his fellowmen." One serious thought led on to another. The wealth and the
bustle of the English Court might be delightful for the moment, but, after
all, it was Coburg that had his heart. "While I shall be untiring," he wrote
to his grandmother, "in my efforts and labours for the country to which I
shall in future belong, and where I am called to so high a position, I shall
never cease ein treuer Deutscher, Coburger, Gothaner zu sein." And now he must
part from Coburg for ever! Sobered and sad, he sought relief in his brother
Ernest's company; the two young men would shut themselves up together, and,
sitting down at the pianoforte, would escape from the present and the future
in the sweet familiar gaiety of a Haydn duet.
They returned to Germany; and while Albert, for a few farewell months,
enjoyed, for the last time, the happiness of home, Victoria, for the last
time, resumed her old life in London and Windsor. She corresponded daily with
her future husband in a mingled flow of German and English; but the accustomed
routine reasserted itself; the business and the pleasures of the day would
brook no interruption; Lord M. was once more constantly beside her; and the
Tories were as intolerable as ever. Indeed, they were more so. For now, in
these final moments, the old feud burst out with redoubled fury. The impetuous
sovereign found, to her chagrin, that there might be disadvantages in being
the declared enemy of one of the great parties in the State. On two occasions,
the Tories directly thwarted her in a matter on which she had set her heart.
She wished her husband's rank to be axed by statute, and their opposition
prevented it. She wished her husband to receive a settlement from the nation
of L50,000 a year; and, again owing to the Tories, he was only allowed
L30,000. It was too bad. When the question was discussed in Parliament, it had
been pointed out that the bulk of the population was suffering from great
poverty, and that L30,000 was the whole revenue of Coburg; but her uncle
Leopold had been given L50,000, and it would be monstrous to give Albert less.
Sir Robert Peel--it might have been expected--had had the effrontery to speak
and vote for the smaller sum. She was very angry; and determined to revenge
herself by omitting to invite a single Tory to her wedding. She would make an
exception in favour of old Lord Liverpool, but even the Duke of Wellington she
refused to ask. When it was represented to her that it would amount to a
national scandal if the Duke were absent from her wedding, she was angrier
than ever. "What! That old rebel! I won't have him:" she was reported to have
said. Eventually she was induced to send him an invitation; but she made no
attempt to conceal the bitterness of her feelings, and the Duke himself was
only too well aware of all that had passed.
Nor was it only against the Tories that her irritation rose. As the time for
her wedding approached, her temper grew steadily sharper and more arbitrary.
Queen Adelaide annoyed her. King Leopold, too, was "ungracious" in his
correspondence; "Dear Uncle," she told Albert, "is given to believe that he
must rule the roost everywhere. "However," she added with asperity, "that is
not a necessity." Even Albert himself was not impeccable. Engulfed in Coburgs,
he failed to appreciate the complexity of English affairs. There were
difficulties about his household. He had a notion that he ought not to be
he hoped, during the tour in Italy, to come to some conclusion as to how far
the prince possessed them. Albert on his side was much impressed by the Baron,
whom he had previously seen but rarely; he also became acquainted, for the
first time in his life, with a young Englishman, Lieutenant Francis Seymour,
who had been engaged to accompany him, whom he found sehr liebens-wurdig, and
with whom he struck up a warm friendship. He delighted in the galleries and
scenery of Florence, though with Rome he was less impressed. "But for some
beautiful palaces," he said, "it might just as well be any town in Germany."
In an interview with Pope Gregory XVI, he took the opportunity of displaying
his erudition. When the Pope observed that the Greeks had taken their art from
the Etruscans, Albert replied that, on the contrary, in his opinion, they had
borrowed from the Egyptians: his Holiness politely acquiesced. Wherever he
went he was eager to increase his knowledge, and, at a ball in Florence, he
was observed paying no attention whatever to the ladies, and deep in
conversation with the learned Signor Capponi. "Voila un prince dont nous
pouvons etre fiers," said the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who was standing by: "la
belle danseuse l'attend, le savant l'occupe."
On his return to Germany, Stockmar's observations, imparted to King Leopold,
were still critical. Albert, he said, was intelligent, kind, and amiable; he
was full of the best intentions and the noblest resolutions, and his judgment
was in many things beyond his years. But great exertion was repugnant to him;
he seemed to be too willing to spare himself, and his good resolutions too
often came to nothing. It was particularly unfortunate that he took not the
slightest interest in politics, and never read a newspaper. In his manners,
too, there was still room for improvement. "He will always," said the Baron,
"have more success with men than with women, in whose society he shows too
little empressement, and is too indifferent and retiring." One other feature
of the case was noted by the keen eye of the old physician: the Prince's
constitution was not a strong one. Yet, on the whole, he was favourable to the
projected marriage. But by now the chief obstacle seemed to lie in another
quarter, Victoria was apparently determined to commit herself to nothing. And
so it happened that when Albert went to England he had made up his mind to
withdraw entirely from the affair. Nothing would induce him, he confessed to a
friend, to be kept vaguelywaiting; he would break it all off at once. His
reception at Windsor threw an entirely new light upon the situation. The wheel
of fortune turned with a sudden rapidity; and he found, in the arms of
Victoria, the irrevocable assurance of his overwhelming fate.
II
He was not in love with her. Affection, gratitude, the natural reactions to
the unqualified devotion of a lively young cousin who was also a queen--such
feelings possessed him, but the ardours of reciprocal passion were not his.
Though he found that he liked Victoria very much, what immediately interested
him in his curious position was less her than himself. Dazzled and delighted,
riding, dancing, singing, laughing, amid the splendours of Windsor, he was
aware of a new sensation--the stirrings of ambition in his breast. His place
would indeed be a high, an enviable one! And then, on the instant, came
another thought. The teaching of religion, the admonitions of Stockmar, his
own inmost convictions, all spoke with the same utterance. He would not be
there to please himself, but for a very different purpose--to do good. He must
be "noble, manly, and princely in all things," he would have "to live and to
sacrifice himself for the benefit of his new country;" to "use his powers and
endeavours for a great object--that of promoting the welfare of multitudes of
his fellowmen." One serious thought led on to another. The wealth and the
bustle of the English Court might be delightful for the moment, but, after
all, it was Coburg that had his heart. "While I shall be untiring," he wrote
to his grandmother, "in my efforts and labours for the country to which I
shall in future belong, and where I am called to so high a position, I shall
never cease ein treuer Deutscher, Coburger, Gothaner zu sein." And now he must
part from Coburg for ever! Sobered and sad, he sought relief in his brother
Ernest's company; the two young men would shut themselves up together, and,
sitting down at the pianoforte, would escape from the present and the future
in the sweet familiar gaiety of a Haydn duet.
They returned to Germany; and while Albert, for a few farewell months,
enjoyed, for the last time, the happiness of home, Victoria, for the last
time, resumed her old life in London and Windsor. She corresponded daily with
her future husband in a mingled flow of German and English; but the accustomed
routine reasserted itself; the business and the pleasures of the day would
brook no interruption; Lord M. was once more constantly beside her; and the
Tories were as intolerable as ever. Indeed, they were more so. For now, in
these final moments, the old feud burst out with redoubled fury. The impetuous
sovereign found, to her chagrin, that there might be disadvantages in being
the declared enemy of one of the great parties in the State. On two occasions,
the Tories directly thwarted her in a matter on which she had set her heart.
She wished her husband's rank to be axed by statute, and their opposition
prevented it. She wished her husband to receive a settlement from the nation
of L50,000 a year; and, again owing to the Tories, he was only allowed
L30,000. It was too bad. When the question was discussed in Parliament, it had
been pointed out that the bulk of the population was suffering from great
poverty, and that L30,000 was the whole revenue of Coburg; but her uncle
Leopold had been given L50,000, and it would be monstrous to give Albert less.
Sir Robert Peel--it might have been expected--had had the effrontery to speak
and vote for the smaller sum. She was very angry; and determined to revenge
herself by omitting to invite a single Tory to her wedding. She would make an
exception in favour of old Lord Liverpool, but even the Duke of Wellington she
refused to ask. When it was represented to her that it would amount to a
national scandal if the Duke were absent from her wedding, she was angrier
than ever. "What! That old rebel! I won't have him:" she was reported to have
said. Eventually she was induced to send him an invitation; but she made no
attempt to conceal the bitterness of her feelings, and the Duke himself was
only too well aware of all that had passed.
Nor was it only against the Tories that her irritation rose. As the time for
her wedding approached, her temper grew steadily sharper and more arbitrary.
Queen Adelaide annoyed her. King Leopold, too, was "ungracious" in his
correspondence; "Dear Uncle," she told Albert, "is given to believe that he
must rule the roost everywhere. "However," she added with asperity, "that is
not a necessity." Even Albert himself was not impeccable. Engulfed in Coburgs,
he failed to appreciate the complexity of English affairs. There were
difficulties about his household. He had a notion that he ought not to be
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