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QUEEN VICTORIA
QUEEN VICTORIA
AS I KNEW HER
BY
SIR THEODORE MARTIN
K.C.B., K.C.V.O.
For Private Circulation
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MCMI
_All Rights reserved_
_Stifle the throbbing of this haunting pain,
And dash this tearful sorrow from the eyes!
She is not dead! Though summoned to the skies,
Still in our hearts she lives, and there will reign;
Still the dear memory will the power retain
To teach us where our foremost duty lies,
Truth, justice, honour, simple worth to prize,
And what our best have been to be again._
_She hath gone hence, to meet the great, the good,
The loved ones, yearn'd for through long toilsome years,
To share with them the blest beatitude,
Where care is not, nor strife, nor wasting fears,
Nor cureless ills, nor wrongs to be withstood;
Shall thought of this not dry our blinding tears?_
Published in the 'Nineteenth Century,' February 1901.
QUEEN VICTORIA AS I KNEW HER.
CHAPTER I.
My personal introduction to Queen Victoria was due to the circumstance
of my being chosen by Her Majesty to be the biographer of the Prince
Consort. The obvious difficulties of that task, to which I looked
forward with grave apprehension, could not have been successfully
overcome but for the personal confidence early reposed in me by the
Queen, which led not only to her placing unreservedly at my disposal the
very complete collections made by the Prince Consort of confidential
State and other papers connected with Her Majesty's reign, but also to
the frank communication of such personal details as, while they
illustrated the character of the Prince, threw the strongest light upon
that of the Queen herself.
After my book was completed, the same confidential relations continued.
This gave me such unusual opportunity of observing Her Majesty's
qualities of mind and heart, that I am tempted to place on record so
much of what I saw as may without impropriety be told. What she was as a
Sovereign will be for historians to tell; it is only of the woman as she
became revealed to me that I would speak, using, where I may, her own
words, as I find them in looking back upon the very voluminous
correspondence with which I was honoured through many years. The
endearing qualities of the Queen have been acknowledged by all who knew
her. They secured for her what might be truly called the affectionate
devotion of the men and women of her Court. I belonged to the outer
world, but by no one were these qualities more warmly felt than by
myself; for to the end, when the work which first brought me into
contact with Her Majesty had long been completed, her gracious kindness
and trust were vouchsafed to me with a constancy that knew no shade of
change.
* * * * *
"How came you to be chosen to write the Life of the Prince Consort?" is
a question I have often been asked. It is a question which, in the early
days, I often asked myself, for the selection came upon me as a great
surprise. I did not know the Prince Consort, but I had heard much of him
through my friend Mr (afterwards Sir Arthur) Helps, Clerk of Her
Majesty's Council, and had been consulted by him in his preparation of
the Collection of the Prince's Speeches and Addresses, and of the
admirable monograph with which he introduced them, in the volume
published by Murray in 1862. He must have laid more stress on my
assistance than it merited. The Queen, to whom I was an entire stranger,
presented me with an inscribed copy of the book dated 20th December
1862. It came with a letter from Lady Augusta Bruce (afterwards
Stanley), one of the Queen's ladies, in which she says she had been
commanded to forward it to me, "in remembrance of my co-operation in the
work of giving these precious memorials to our country and to the world,
and as a token of Her Majesty's true appreciation of the spirit in which
that co-operation was afforded." Lady Augusta was an old and valued
friend of my wife, and she, as well as Sir Arthur Helps, may have spoken
of me to the Queen; but I was quite unprepared for such a recognition of
suggestions which in no way merited, to my thinking, the name of
co-operation. From this time onwards I heard much both of the Queen and
Prince from my friend Helps, and my opinion was often asked in
connection with Her Majesty's _Leaves from a Journal_, which he was
engaged in carrying through the press.
It had been intended that General Charles Grey, the Queen's Private
Secretary, should write the Prince's Life, and a first volume was in
course of being prepared, which dealt with the early years and marriage
of the Prince. The General soon found that he had neither the leisure
nor the strength to carry out the work, and I was aware that the
question how this was to be done had closely occupied Her Majesty's
thoughts. I was, however, taken greatly by surprise when a letter from
Helps reached me in my holiday retreat in North Wales, in which he told
me that the Queen had approved of a suggestion he had made, that I
should be asked to undertake the task. With his letter he sent for my
perusal, through Miss Alice Helps, who was then staying with us, a
memorandum giving an outline of his ideas how the work should be carried
out.
"It will be a very great thing to do," the memorandum said, "covering
many of the most secret transactions of the reign. General Grey's book
is merely the life of the Prince as a child, and up to his marriage. It
now becomes part of the history of England, and also of foreign States.
A special duty will be to judge what documents shall be published,
taking it for granted that such a work cannot long be kept secret....
The more I see of the Prince's doings and sayings, the more I am struck
with their largeness and extent." The memorandum goes on to offer
assistance (which, as it turned out, I never used) in looking up and
selecting materials and in furnishing political information, ending with
the assurance, that "after seeing me, Her Majesty would be most
confidential, and would trust everything to me. H. M. would much like Mr
Martin to undertake the work, and he would find no difficulty in getting
her to assent to any of his wishes in regard to it."
Reflection satisfied me that, as the event proved, Mr Helps had not
fully appreciated either the greatness of the scale on which a
biography, that would in fact be a history, must be constructed, or the
amount of time and labour which it would demand. Much honoured as I felt
by the proposal, I shrank from the task; and in the full sense of my
own unfitness for it, and in the hope that it would not be further
pressed upon me, I replied to Mr Helps as follows:--
_"27th August 1866._
"MY DEAR HELPS,--Alice has read to me your memorandum as to the
proposed Life of the Prince Consort, and I have given the subject
very anxious consideration. The work I conceive to be one which,
while full of the greatest interest, is surrounded with the gravest
responsibility. You do not very clearly indicate what precise shape
the Life is intended to take. It is natural and proper that a Life
of the Prince should be prepared, and given to the world, probably
at no distant date, in which the real greatness of his character,
public and private, and the breadth of his views should be
developed, and developed by letting himself speak through the
memoranda and other documents under his own hand, which, I presume,
exist in abundance, wherever these can with propriety be used. But
it is, of course, obvious that the matters to be dealt with involve
so much that is delicate in their bearing both upon individual and
public affairs, that to decide what should and what should not be
given will involve most anxious consideration at every step; while
it is scarcely less certain that much must either be altogether
withheld, or set apart for a volume of _pieces justificatives_, to
be compiled for possible publication at some more remote period.
"The selection and classification of these materials will occupy
much time and thought before a line of the Biography can be written.
At least such is my present opinion, for I do not think that the
life of any man of mark, much more a man so pre-eminent as the
Prince, can be written until the whole scope and purpose of his
life, as seen in his actions and habits of thought down to its
close, have been, as far as may be, ascertained--until, in
Shakespeare's words, the 'idea of his mind and life' has crept into
the biographer's 'study of imagination.' Then, and then only, can he
hope to paint his portrait with the freedom and warmth of pencil
which can alone be derived from a full mastery of his materials and
thorough sympathy with his theme. Add to this, that much will have
to be read and considered of what has already been said and done in
public matters during the Prince's life.
"Holding these views of the task, I naturally pause very gravely
before making up my mind whether or not to accept a duty so
honourable, but, at the same time, so onerous. You know how fully my
time is engaged in my profession. This will in itself make anything
like frequent absence from London impossible, and indeed I would
undertake nothing which took me frequently from home, where, as you
know, all my happiness is centred. While, therefore, I might upon
occasion be able to attend Her Majesty for instructions or the
discussion of such points as required explanation, I could only do
so upon occasion, and I could, for the meantime at least, only
pledge myself to give such time to the work as my profession and my
health (which, you know, is far from strong) would admit. Now, it
may not be compatible with the views of Her Majesty to accept my
service under such conditions. But, in any case, it is indispensable
that she should be fully aware of them. If, with the full knowledge
of them, Her Majesty should still be pleased to consider that I can
be useful in carrying out Her Majesty's views, I should then feel
less difficulty in undertaking the task, always understanding that I
am to be assisted, as you propose, in the selection and arrangement
of documents, &c."
Mr Helps received my letter at Balmoral, where, as Clerk of the Council,
he was in attendance upon the Queen. "Nothing," he wrote, "can be better
than your letter, which I received yesterday evening, and have just sent
in to the Queen. She has named a time for seeing me to-day, and, if I
have time afterwards, I will tell you what she says." His letter
concludes with an account, that is not unamusing, of one of the
household balls by which the routine of the life at Balmoral was
occasionally broken:--
"The ball went off admirably last night; even Her Majesty remained many
hours watching it. In how many points one's education has been
neglected! I could not dance any of these Scotch dances. However, I
enjoyed the fun as a spectator. All ranks danced together, and one of
the best hits I saw made was when the Prince's coachman, a dapper little
fellow, cut out H.R.H. very neatly in what they call a 'perpetual jig.'
"There was a little 'tiger' who greatly distinguished himself, and
contrived, which is a matter of skill, to get the Princess [of Wales]
for a partner for a short time. Then, perhaps, the little imp was
himself cut out by a duke. The people behaved, as they generally do in
such cases, admirably--free, graceful, and comparatively at their
ease--and yet never forward."
As I heard no more on the subject of the Life for several days, I had
begun to hope that the subject would drop, so far as I was concerned,
when, on the 11th of September, Mr Helps sent me a letter to himself
from the Queen, in which Her Majesty wrote: "She thinks it most
important that the services of Mr Martin should be engaged in this
all-important work, which she feels should be as _faithful_ a
representation of the greatest and best of men, her dearly loved and
honoured husband, as it possibly can be. The copying and _sifting_ of
papers, and the responsibility for what should be put in or omitted,
would rest with the Queen, General Grey, and Mr Helps, and this, she
hopes, will remove Mr Martin's objection to the task. It will give the
Queen much satisfaction to make Mr Martin's acquaintance."
On reading this letter, I waited on Mr Helps, when he gave me full
details of what had passed in his interview with Her Majesty after she
had read my letter. Among other things, I remember, he informed me that
she laid great stress upon the fact that through life I had never taken
a side in party politics; that I was thoroughly versed in the German
language, in which a large proportion of the documents which I should
have to consider was written; that I had gone through a full legal
training, and had in my profession come in contact with many men engaged
in undertakings of great importance. After so gracious an expression of
Her Majesty's confidence, I felt that only one course was open to me,
and accordingly I wrote to Mr Helps: "Her Majesty having been graciously
pleased to accept such aid as I can give towards the great object which
Her Majesty has so deeply at heart, I feel that I can no longer hesitate
to place my best services at her disposal. You will understand best how
to make this known to Her Majesty, whose commands I shall hold myself in
readiness to fulfil."
The Queen soon afterwards returned from Balmoral to Windsor Castle, and
it was arranged that I was to be introduced there by Mr Helps on the
14th of November 1866. The night before was memorable for the
marvellous transit of shooting-stars (the Leonids) across the heavens,
the recurrence of which in subsequent years has been looked for eagerly
but in vain. I remember well wondering to myself, as after midnight I
gazed upon that magnificent spectacle, how I, utter stranger as I was to
the ways and etiquette of courts, should pass through the ordeal that
awaited me. I had been rather disconcerted that evening by hearing that
Mr Helps, whose presence would have somewhat lightened the embarrassment
of a first interview with the Queen, was so unwell that he could not
accompany me to Windsor. Thither, therefore, I had to go alone, and at
the appointed hour was ushered into a room the walls of which were
enriched by part of Her Majesty's great collection of miniatures. Here I
found the Princess Helena awaiting me. I had met her more than once
before, and her presence served to place me more at ease than I should
otherwise have been before Her Majesty appeared. Still, my heart beat
quicker when, very soon, I found myself in the presence of the Queen. In
her face I read at a glance marked traces of the great sorrow she had
undergone. Serene and full of quiet dignity as it was, I seemed to
perceive in the Queen's bearing something of that nervousness, almost
amounting to shyness, which, as I came to know afterwards, Her Majesty
always seemed to feel in first meeting a stranger--a shyness so little
to be expected in a Sovereign who had gone through so many exciting
scenes, and had known nearly all the most distinguished men in Europe.
To show no signs of embarrassment, but to be simple and self-possessed,
I saw at once was my true policy. The consequence was that Her Majesty
herself quickly became at ease, and by her frank, gracious manner made
me feel as it were at home in the long conversation that ensued, and in
which, for the first time, I felt the charm that never failed of her
exquisite smile and of her silver-toned voice.
The details of that conversation I cannot, after so long an interval of
years, recall. An opportunity was given to me of explaining my views as
to the lines upon which the Life of the Prince should be written, and
the information with which I desired more immediately to be furnished.
The Queen promised to send me such extracts from her own and the
Prince's diaries, and copies of such documents in her possession, as she
considered might be useful. Before she withdrew, Her Majesty turned the
conversation to general topics, and, to my surprise, I found that she
somehow knew much of my home ties, and of my tastes and pursuits in
literature and the arts, in regard to which she encouraged me to give
the frank expression of my opinions. I left her presence deeply
impressed by the simplicity of bearing under which the dignity of the
Queen was unostentatiously present but subtly felt, and by a singular
charm of manner, which grew and grew upon me the more I came under its
influence in the years of frequent intercourse that followed.
The absence of Mr Helps upon this occasion was, in a sense, fortunate,
as it gave me the opportunity of learning, in the Queen's own words, the
impression Her Majesty had formed of me in this first interview. On the
same day she wrote to Mr Helps. He was a great purist in regard to
style, which will explain the first paragraph of her letter:--
"WINDSOR CASTLE, _Nov. 14, 1866_.
"The Queen is _so_ grieved (perhaps Mr Helps will scold her for that
_so_!) to hear of Mr Helps feeling so ill to-day, but she thinks he
will be relieved to hear that the first interview with Mr Martin
passed off extremely well, and that the Queen is very much pleased
with him, and _feels sure_ that she can be at her ease with him. He
is clever, kind, and sympathetic, and it will be a great interest to
her to work _with him_ and Mr Helps."
Words so kind naturally dispelled some of the misgivings with which I
was haunted in looking forward to what would be expected from the
biographer of the Prince Consort,--expected both by her, who knew what
she herself and her kingdom had lost in him, and by the public, who only
too late had surmised the extent of that loss. No time was lost in
getting together materials for the story of the early part of the
Prince's life. These were supplied to me by the Queen from her journals,
from family correspondence, and, in short, from everything which could
throw light upon the youth and character of the Prince. Much information
was also furnished in interviews with Her Majesty at Windsor Castle, to
which I was frequently summoned. I gathered much, also, from some of the
gentlemen of the household who had known the Prince, and with whom I
became acquainted during my visits to the Castle, where they were at
pains to show me that I was not an unwelcome guest. Most of all I
learned from General Charles Grey, the Queen's Private Secretary, a man
of strong character and conspicuous ability, whose personal friendship
and confidence in me I must ever remember with the warmest gratitude.
On one of my early visits to the Castle he put to me a question which I
was glad to have an opportunity of answering, and to which, in the
interests of the Queen, he was entitled to a reply. "To what," he said,
"do you look forward in return for executing the onerous task you are
undertaking?" "My compensation," I replied, "will be ample, if I can
make people understand the Prince, how great he was, how devoted to the
welfare of our country, how great the debt which the country owed him.
It must," I added, "be understood that my work is to be without fee or
reward of any kind. My private means are ample for all my wants, and I
can therefore afford full time for doing the work thoroughly. All I
stipulate is that I am to have a free hand both as to the time and
manner in which it is to be done. I foresee that it will be the work of
years, and that it can only be well done if I am allowed entire
independence in forming and expressing my estimate of the Prince, and
of his influence in matters of public or political importance."
General Grey expressed his satisfaction with what I said, and, no doubt,
lost no time in informing the Queen of its import. However this might
be, from that moment I was treated with unreserved confidence, and the
conditions for which I had stipulated were fully and frankly kept
throughout all my labours. In General Grey I found a cordial friend. He
paid me the compliment of asking my assistance in finally seeing through
the press the work, _The Early Years of the Prince Consort_, on which he
was then engaged, and which was soon afterwards published. It had been
originally intended that my work should begin where his left off. But as
I went on with my studies I found that, to make my biography coherent
and complete, I must go over the ground General Grey had already gone
over, and treat its incidents in my own way, and with a view to my plan
for the further narrative of the Prince's life.
As I look back on my correspondence with the Queen, it gratifies me to
see how early Her Majesty's letters had passed from formal reserve into
a strain of confidential friendliness. Thus in a letter of December 18,
1867, she writes, "The Queen thanks Mr Martin for his two kind letters,"
and invites him to Osborne for two or three days, where he will meet M.
Silvain van de Weyer, "a great and intimate friend of the dear Prince, a
man of great cultivation of mind and of the kindest heart, and who will
give Mr Martin many useful hints about the Prince's character." This
meeting led to an unbroken friendship with the singularly gifted man so
well described by Her Majesty. From him I learned much that was of
service to my immediate purpose in depicting the early part of the
Prince's life. He had been so completely behind the scenes also in all
the political movements of the time, that I hoped to have the benefit of
his knowledge in dealing with the subsequent years as well. But this was
not to be. To my infinite regret, he died before the first volume of the
Life was published;[1] but he read the proof-sheets of the greater part
of it, and I was greatly encouraged by the warmth of his approval. In
the same letter the Queen goes on to say: "The Queen is reading Mr
Martin's _Correggio_,[2] of which she used to hear her governess, the
Baroness Lehzen, so often speak. Would he let her have a copy to send to
the Baroness?"
"This day," the letter adds, "has been splendid--a cloudless blue sky,
and equally blue sea, with the purest air. But when the Queen awoke this
morning her heart felt _sick_, as she knew how her darling husband would
have enjoyed such a day in his beloved Osborne, and she yearned for one
hour of former happiness."
I was again summoned to Osborne in the first week of January 1868. A day
or two after my arrival (10th of January) I had a bad accident on the
skating-pond,--so bad that I had to be carried to the Palace, where the
limb was promptly placed in splints by Dr Hofmeister, the Queen's
resident surgeon. The injury was serious, and the pain extreme. On the
Queen's return from her afternoon drive she heard of the accident, and
immediately sent the late Duchess of Roxburghe, her Lady-in-Waiting, to
me. She had been commanded to express Her Majesty's regret that she
could not come at once to see me, as she had so many despatches awaiting
her which required immediate attention. She also added that I was to
write to my wife to come to Osborne: the Royal yacht would be ordered to
Portsmouth to wait her arrival and to bring her over. Before nine
o'clock next morning I was surprised by the appearance of Her Majesty in
my room, where she expressed her warm sympathy with my suffering, and
gave orders for my having the constant attendance of one of her
principal servants. The Queen had scarcely left my room when two
unusually large pillows were brought to me. The Queen, I was told,
thought the pillows I had were too small, and had ordered these larger
ones to replace them. This thoughtful kindness was but the beginning of
a care for my recovery on the part of Her Majesty which left nothing
undone that could minister to my comfort. On the 12th my wife arrived,
and was met by the Duchess of Roxburghe. Soon after, the Queen came to
her room, and her Diary records: "H. M. gave me her hand, and welcomed
me most kindly. I am desired to ask for everything as if I were at
home;" and everything _was_ done to make her feel at home, by Her Majesty,
by the Royal children,--the Princesses Helena, Louise, and Beatrice, and
the Duke of Connaught and Prince Leopold,--and by all the ladies and
gentlemen of the household. What the impression was which she produced
upon the Queen we subsequently learned by a letter from Mr Helps, in
which he quoted Her Majesty's words from a letter he had received:--
"_17th January 1868._
"We are selfishly glad that Mr Martin is kept here, and think Mrs
Martin _most_ pleasing, clever, and distinguished--really very
charming."
Almost daily during the three following weeks we had the honour of
lengthened visits in our rooms from Her Majesty, in which there was a
frank interchange of views, not only in regard to the subject on which I
was specially engaged, but also upon the events of the day and other
topics of general interest. It so happened that just at this time the
_Leaves from a Journal_ were published. Her Majesty's estimate of that
little volume was most humble; and as, possibly from a feeling of
shyness, she shrank from writing with this first literary effort to the
Poet Laureate, she honoured me by requesting me to do so on her behalf.
The Queen reverenced genius; greatness in birth and station she regarded
as but an accident. To the genius which makes its own position by
commanding the love and admiration of the world she bowed with genuine
humility. How well this was shown in her visit to Abbotsford! "In the
study," she writes, "we saw Sir Walter's Journal, in which Mr Hope Scott
asked me to write my name, _which I felt it would be presumption to
do_." Surely a beautiful appreciation of genius, as distinguished from
the accident of position.
The _Leaves_ book was inscribed by the Queen's own hand, and this was
the acknowledgment which reached me from Mr Tennyson:--
"FARRINGFORD, FRESHWATER, _21st January 1868_.
"DEAR MR MARTIN,--We are very sorry to hear of your accident, and
fear, from what you say, that it may have caused you much pain. We
are sure that with the Queen, if anywhere, you will have been made
to forget it.
"I need not say that I am very much honoured by Her Majesty's
gift--you know that; and I know that I may trust to you to make my
thanks acceptable for a book not only of so much interest in its own
day, but trebly valuable to the historian of that future when we
shall all of us have gone to join Tullus and Ancus.
"Will you remember us most kindly to Mrs Martin? and with a hope
that you will soon be well, I am, yours very sincerely,
"A. TENNYSON."
I must have written to the Queen in warm terms of satisfaction at the
burst of enthusiastic and affectionate loyalty with which her little
volume was hailed, knowing, as I did, how this feeling contrasted with
much of a very different tenor to which Her Majesty's close retirement
after the Prince's death had given rise, and which had caused her
extreme pain, for on the 16th of January the following note was sent to
my room:--
"The Queen was moved to tears on reading Mr Martin's beautiful and too
kind letter. Indeed it is not possible for her to say _how_ touched she
is by the kindness of _every one_. People are far too kind. What has she
done to be so loved and liked? She did suffer acutely last year, she
will not deny, and it made her ill; but the sore feeling has vanished
entirely, and the very thought of it has lost its sting.... Mr Martin
must keep very quiet to-night, and be very good, and _do_ what Mrs
Martin and the doctor tell him."
Three days later the Queen wrote to me again on the same subject. Her
Majesty had the special virtue of dating all her letters and notes,
however slight--a grace her subjects too little cultivate.
"OSBORNE, _Jan. 19, 1868_.
"The Queen would have liked to go to Mr Martin, but ever since she
came in, at a quarter past five, she has done nothing but read the
reviews in the newspapers. She is very much moved--deeply so--but
not uplifted or 'puffed up' by so much kindness, so much praise. She
sends one [review] that is very gratifying, which Mr Martin has
_probably_ not seen. Pray, let the Queen have it back after dinner.
"Two things there are in some of the reviews which the Queen wishes
Mr Martin could find means to get rectified and explained: 1. That
the Queen wrote _The Early Years_.[3] Pray, have that contradicted.
2. That it is the Queen's _sorrow_ that keeps her secluded to a
certain extent. Now, it is her _overwhelming work_ and her health,
which is greatly shaken by her sorrow, and the totally overwhelming
amount of work and responsibility--work which she feels really wears
her out. Alice Helps was wonder-struck at the Queen's room; and if
Mrs Martin will look at it, she can tell Mr Martin what surrounds
her. From the hour she gets out of bed till she gets into it again
there is work, work, work--letter-boxes, questions, &c., which are
dreadfully exhausting--and if she had not comparative rest and quiet
in the evening, she would most likely _not be alive_. Her brain is
constantly overtaxed. Could this truth not be openly put before
people? So much has been told them, they should know this very
important fact, for _some_ day she may _quite_ break down."
It was not till a subsequent visit that I had an opportunity of seeing,
in Her Majesty's working-room, the huge piles of despatch-boxes arriving
daily from every department of the Government, by which she was
surrounded. But Mrs Martin saw them during this visit, and this is what
she wrote of them to a friend: "Her Majesty took me into her own room
one morning to show me the piles of despatch-boxes, all of them full of
work for her, and all requiring immediate attention; and this goes on
from day to day. It is the Queen's great aim to follow the Prince's
plan, which was to _sign nothing_ until he had read and made notes upon
what he signed. You may imagine how such conscientiousness swallows up
the Royal leisure."
We were still at Osborne when a gloom was cast over the Palace by the
sudden and very alarming illness of Prince Leopold. Only the day before
he had been in our room full of life and spirit, and when we were told
of his illness we were also told that the very worst was feared. The
prevailing grief showed in a very touching way how much he was beloved.
The Queen was deeply moved; but she bore up with the courage and
hopefulness which was a part of her character, and which, it is well
known, upon occasion put courage and hope into the hearts of her
Ministers, when these were wanted, at times of crisis in either home or
foreign affairs. She had seen crises as bad, or worse, and remembered
their details, and she could remind them how these had been successfully
grappled with and got over. Just so, she had previously seen Prince
Leopold in danger quite as great, and he had recovered. While, then,
those around him were almost in despair, she never lost heart and hope.
The first tidings of a decided change for the better came to us in a
little note from the Queen sent to my room on the evening of the 31st of
January, saying, "Our dear child is going on very satisfactorily, thank
God!"
When we left Osborne three days afterwards, the Prince was out of
danger, and we started for London with a lighter heart than we should
otherwise have done. We had been permitted to share in the anxiety of
the Royal family, and their joy at its removal was a joy to us also.
The Queen pressed us hard to delay our journey, but the quiet of home
was absolutely necessary for my complete recovery. We had made our
formal adieus to Her Majesty the previous evening. She had not returned
from her morning drive when we left Osborne. But the following letter
overtook us by special messenger at Southampton:--
"_Feb. 3, 1868._
"The Queen was much vexed to find, on coming home, that Mr and Mrs
Martin had already left, as she was anxious to wish them good-bye,
and give Mrs Martin the accompanying souvenir of her stay here.[4]
The Queen thought they would hardly venture across to-day with this
high wind and in the public boat. She trusts, however, the journey
will be performed with comparatively little suffering, and that Mr
Martin will not be the worse. Prince Leopold is going on as well as
possible."
On reaching London we wrote to the Queen, and our letters brought the
following reply:--
"The Queen thanks Mr and Mrs Martin both very much for their kind
letters. She rejoices so much to hear of Mr Martin not having suffered,
and hopes he and Mrs Martin may frequently revisit Osborne under more
pleasant circumstances."
The circumstances of our long visit to Osborne on this occasion might
have been in a sense more "pleasant," had they not been dashed, as they
were, by the brief but alarming illness of Prince Leopold, and by the
very painful accident to myself. But more auspicious they could not have
been for my purpose as biographer of the Prince Consort, or my relations
to Her Majesty and the Royal Family. Their kind natures were drawn to me
by sympathy, as, but for my accident, they might not have been, and one
and all vied in making both my wife and myself feel thoroughly at home.
With regard to the Queen herself, frequent personal interviews did what
no amount of correspondence could have done. They served to confirm the
confidence with which I had been previously regarded, a confidence
essential to the successful execution of my task. Insincerity,
selfishness, obsequiousness could not live before her, and when her
trust was given, her own sincere, sensitive, womanly nature was stirred,
and it revealed itself with a frankness, a considerateness, and a
courtesy that were irresistibly fascinating, and raised loyalty to
chivalrous devotion.