expressed the hope that the Exhibition will be a success. We
most sincerely hope it will be a success in every sense of the
word. The objects, as you are well aware, are, first, to pay a
compliment to us in respect of the twenty-fifth anniversary of
our wedding-day; and, secondly, to aid an institution which is
much in need of funds, and one which is most meritorious and
useful. You are anxious that money should be obtained in order
to build a new Home for Incurables. Very appropriately this
Exhibition has been connected with the institution which was the
first with which the Princess became connected when she came to
this country. I sincerely hope that the endeavours you have made
will be successful, and that the Exhibition will be instructive,
agreeable, and useful. It must be gratifying to you to see that
the King of Denmark has sent over one of his war ships, manned
by all those fine young men who are around us, and it is
gratifying to all of us, I am sure, to welcome these ladies
whose costumes lend such picturesqueness to the scene. We thank
you for your very kind reception of us, and I can only assure
you that it has given us the greatest pleasure to take part in
this very interesting ceremony, and that we wish the Exhibition
the most thorough success."
In the evening, the Duke of Cambridge presided at a special festival, in
aid of rebuilding the British Home for Incurables at Clapham, which was
held in the Conservatory of the Anglo-Danish Exhibition. There was a
numerous attendance, and the donations to the building fund amounted to
nearly £5000. This Institution, founded in 1861, provides home with
every comfort for hopelessly incurable sufferers (except the idiotic,
insane, and the blind, for whom there are other asylums), and also gives
pensions to out-patients of £20 per annum.
GREAT NORTHERN HOSPITAL, HOLLOWAY ROAD.
_July 17th, 1888._
The Prince of Wales performed the ceremony of opening the new buildings
of the Great Northern Hospital, at Islington, on the 17th of July, 1888.
He was accompanied by the Princess of Wales, and by the Princesses
Louise, Victoria, and Maude. The event caused much interest in the
northern part of London, and vast crowds filled the streets and roads.
The Rev. W. H. Barlow, Vicar of Islington, and many of the clergy, Mr.
Murdoch, M.P., Chairman of the Hospital, and other official persons,
received the Royal visitors in a gaily decorated tent. Their Royal
Highnesses, however, were attired in deep mourning, on account of the
death of the Emperor Frederick of Germany. An address was read, in which
it was stated that Islington is the largest parish in England in
population. At the beginning of the reign of the Queen it had 40,000
inhabitants, now it has 320,000. The Great Northern Hospital was
established in 1857, but in 1882 it was resolved to erect a building
more suitable for the increased population. The wish was to make the new
hospital a thanksgiving memorial of the Jubilee year.
The Prince of Wales, in replying to the address, said:--
"Ladies and Gentlemen,--I am most anxious, in my own name, and
also in that of the Princess, to acknowledge the most cordial
and kind words of the address which we have just heard read by
the Vestry Clerk, and also for the kind expressions which have
fallen from Mr. Murdoch. We are very glad to be able to take
part in so interesting a ceremony as this, and we are glad to
think that in so large and ever-increasing a population as this
in the North of London is, the project of commemorating the
Queen's Jubilee should have been so appropriately celebrated by
the building of a hospital. We shall shortly have an opportunity
of visiting the wards, and I have little doubt that we shall
find everything in the most admirable and efficient state.
Amongst the many duties we have to perform, none, I assure you,
ladies and gentlemen, gives us greater gratification and
pleasure than such a function as this, where we come to give our
assistance and support to a philanthropic object, and to a cause
the object of which is to alleviate the sufferings of our
fellow-creatures. I can only express the pleasure it has given
us to have it in our power to open this hospital to-day. You
are well aware how much we regretted that it was not in our
power to come here and open the hospital on the date originally
fixed. You are also aware of the cause, and I well know how much
you all sympathise with us and the other members of our family
in our sorrow and grief. I am glad to have the opportunity of
saying, on this public occasion, that my sister has felt deeply
that, although thirty years have elapsed since she left this
country, her compatriots have not forgotten her, and that they
have sympathised with her, that they have felt for her, in the
great and overwhelming sorrow which it has pleased God to
inflict upon her, I beg to thank you once more for your kind
reception of us to-day, and again to assure you of the sincere
gratification it has given us to be present."
The Prince resumed his seat amidst loud cheers, and a number of children
and young ladies then presented purses to the Princess, the names of the
donors being announced by the Secretary. The total of these
subscriptions was £1050. This ceremony being finished, their Royal
Highnesses left the pavilion to visit the hospital.
* * * * *
The opening of the new Northern hospital in London was the last public
function performed by the Prince of Wales before his autumn visit to
Austria and other regions of Southern Europe. With it our record of his
presence at charitable institutions must close. It has been necessary to
make only a selection of his speeches on such occasions. The Hospital
for Sick Children, the Chelsea Hospital for Women, Queen Charlotte's
Lying-in Hospital, Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, the Holloway
Sanatorium at Virginia Water, the Cottage Homes at Weybridge, St. Mary's
Hospital, University and King's College Hospitals, the Fever Hospital;
these, and many other institutions for the help of the poor or the
suffering, have had the advantage of the Prince's advocacy.
There have been also many occasions where he has assisted by his
presence or his voice other institutions for educational and
philanthropic objects, such as the Marine Society's ship "Warspite," and
the training-ship "Worcester," the Windsor and Eton Albert Institute,
the Church for the Deaf and Dumb, the Dwelling Houses for working people
in Soho, the Alexandra Home at Kensington for Pupils at the Schools of
Art and Music; besides more important educational and charitable
establishments, such as the St. Anne's Schools at Redhill, for children
of the Clergy, and of others whose means are not equal to their position
in life. To have given an account of the proceedings, and reports of
the speeches on all these occasions would have required the space of two
volumes instead of one.
For the same reason it is with regret that the Editor has to omit
descriptions of many important and interesting functions both in the
Metropolis and throughout the country. The truth is there are few parts
of England, certainly few of the great centres of population and
industry, which have not been visited by the Prince, generally
accompanied by the Princess of Wales, for some purpose of local and
often of national utility. Now it is at Birmingham, to open a new
Hospital or an Art Gallery. Now it is at Sheffield to open the Park,
which was the munificent gift of its Mayor, Mark Firth. Now it is at
York, for opening the New Institute. Now it is at Leeds, for
inaugurating the Art Exhibition; and at Leeds the Prince addressed an
audience which included the Lord Mayors of London and York, and the
Mayors of almost every town in Yorkshire, in the Town Hall, opened many
years before by the Queen and the Prince Consort. Another year there was
a Royal visit to Lancashire, where a new Infirmary was opened at Wigan,
an institution praised by the Prince as due as much to the gifts of the
working classes as to the liberality of the employers of labour in that
great mining district. At Bolton, for the first time in its history
honoured by a Royal visit, the Prince opened the Town Hall, one of the
finest edifices of the kind in the provinces. At Hull the new Albert
Dock was opened, and new docks at Grimsby. Another time the Prince is
among the agricultural people, at Dorchester for a Cattle Show, or at
Hunstanton for opening a Convalescent Hospital. Or he is at Newcastle,
opening the Coble Dene Dock for the Tyne Commission. Or he is at
Southampton laying the foundation-stone of a new church for Canon
Wilberforce. Another time he is at Worcester, admiring with the Princess
of Wales the splendid Porcelain Works, as well as the Cathedral and
antiquities of the loyal city. Many other expeditions have been made
during these twenty-five years, and it is noteworthy that in places
supposed to be the most democratic and independent, as Birmingham and at
Sheffield, the reception of the Royal visitors was the most hearty and
enthusiastic. Opening the Victoria Hall at Ealing on December the 15th
was the occasion of the latest public appearance in 1888. It adjoins the
Parish building, and the Free Library, to which the Prince alluded in
his brief speech.
Reference has not been made to occasions of a private kind, such as
Regimental and Club Dinners, where the presence of the Prince is always
welcomed, and what he says is remembered, though not reported. Perhaps
it is right to mention the Savage Club, of which many Press reporters
are members, and where the Prince made one of his genial addresses, and
drew from the Club very acceptable aid towards founding the Musical
Scholarships in which he was then interested.
Any one who could see the engagement book of the Prince of Wales during
a season would think there is little exaggeration when it is said he is
one of the most busy and hard-working of public men. If it cannot be
said _nulla dies sine lineâ_, there are few days on which some important
business has not to be attended to, besides his personal or private
affairs in town and country. In one of his early addresses, he said
that, being excluded by his position from taking active part in
political life, he would devote his time to "duties connected with works
of charity and of public utility." How far this resolution has been
carried out, the readers of this volume have the means of judging.
In many of his speeches the Prince has, in grateful and touching terms,
referred to the useful and beneficent services rendered by his revered
and lamented father, whose example he desires to follow. That example
also influenced the character and the life of the late Emperor of
Germany, "Frederick the Noble." In the introduction to the brief
biographical memoir of 'Frederick, Crown Prince and Emperor,' recently
published by Mr. Rennell Rodd, the widowed Empress--our own Princess
Royal--expresses a hope that the book will make his name better known to
the English public, and give him a place in their affections beside that
of her father, the Prince Consort, "for whom he had so great love,
admiration, and veneration." The words of Lord Tennyson are thus
recalled with new power:--
"Dear to thy land and ours; a Prince indeed
Beyond all titles, and a household name
Hereafter through all times--ALBERT THE GOOD."
SPEECHES AT ROYAL ACADEMY BANQUETS.
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SPEECHES AT ROYAL ACADEMY BANQUETS.
The first appearance of the Prince of Wales at the annual dinner of the
Royal Academy, with the short speech made on the occasion, has been
given under the date, May 4th, 1863. In many subsequent years the Prince
has been a welcome and honoured guest, and has been called to address
the company. Instead of giving these speeches in the years when they
were delivered, it seems better to group them together. The guests at
the banquet are in the main the same year by year. After the Royal and
official personages, and notable public men always present, and the
Academicians and their friends, there remains not much room for variety
in the invitations. If any very distinguished stranger is in London at
the time, or some hero of the day, he is pretty certain to be invited,
and the speech of such a guest is a distinctive feature in the yearly
record of the banquets. There is also effort made to secure some
eloquent speakers to reply to some of the toasts given from the Chair.
But on the whole there is considerable sameness in the reports, the same
toasts being always given, and often the same speakers responding. The
Prince of Wales has been more than once complimented for his being able
to find fresh material for his speeches at these dinners. The simple art
in effecting this is that he takes some topic which is before the public
at the time, or refers to his own public acts, which interest the
audience on account of his personal popularity. We cannot give all the
speeches on these occasions, but the following show the general spirit
of them, and the variety of subjects touched by him.
_1866._
At the banquet of 1866, on the 5th of May, the President, Sir Francis
Grant, then recently elected, for the first time occupied the chair. In
proposing the health of the Prince of Wales, Sir Francis wished to his
Royal guest, "amidst the cares and labours of his exalted station, all
the soothing influences of a love of art. He inherits the enlightened
appreciation of art, which had distinguished both his illustrious
parents. But the title of artist is not confined to the subjects which
occupy the Royal Academicians. In England, especially in the Midland
counties, a gentleman who particularly distinguishes himself in riding
across country after hounds is popularly called an artist. Gentlemen,"
continued the President, himself an artist of high repute in both senses
of the word, "I am able to assure you from my own personal observation,
and I feel sure his Grace the Duke of Rutland will bear me out, that His
Royal Highness in his recent visit to Leicestershire, in two very severe
runs across the Vale of Belvoir, proved himself a first-rate artist in
that particular department of art. Since His Royal Highness has proved
himself in one sense an artist, may I, if His Royal Highness will
forgive my boldness, claim his sympathy for his brother artists of the
brush? Allow me to add, the brush is an important element in both
departments of art. I beg to say on the occasion alluded to His Royal
Highness was most deservedly presented with the brush. I have the honour
to propose 'The health of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess
of Wales and the other members of the Royal Family."
The Prince, in responding, said:--
"Sir Francis Grant, your Royal Highnesses, my Lords, and
Gentlemen,--I thank you most sincerely for the very kind manner
in which you have proposed my health, that of the Princess of
Wales, and the other members of the Royal Family, and for the
cordial manner in which it has been received. I need hardly
assure you that it is a source of sincere gratification for me
to be present a second time at the annual dinner of the Royal
Academy, more especially as I am enabled to have the opportunity
of supporting you, Sir Francis, on the first occasion that you
take the chair as President of the Royal Academy. Although we
are assembled on a festive occasion, I cannot omit referring to
the memory of one whose loss we must all deeply deplore. I
allude to your late President, Sir Charles Eastlake. You Royal
Academicians all knew him so well, and how justly popular he was
for his many distinguished qualities, that it would be
superfluous for me to pass any eulogy on his name. But I cannot
forbear offering my small tribute to his merits, having always
considered him as an old friend, and having known him, indeed,
since my childhood. I now take the opportunity of thanking you,
Sir Francis, for the very kind manner in which you have adverted
to me in connection with art. I need not assure you that I shall
always be most ready to do my little best in assisting to
promote the welfare of art and science, and thus following the
bright example of the Queen and my lamented father. I thank you,
also, for the allusion you made to me as a brother of the
'brush.' Although, as I observed before, I will do my utmost to
support art, still I am afraid I shall never be able to compete
with you as a painter, but at the same time I shall always be
ready to enter the lists with you in the hunting field as long
as you do not attempt to ride over me at the first fence. With
respect to the present Exhibition, it may, I think, be said that
the pictures in a great measure not only show the progress of
art, but record the times in which we live. Taken as a whole,
the Exhibition is one of a peaceful character, and indicative of
peace. There is only one picture to which I would refer which,
at the present moment, bears anything of a warlike character--I
mean 'Volunteers at a firing point,' in which there is a picture
of a distinguished Highlander (Mr. Ross), a countryman of your
own, who is represented as shooting for a prize. That is a very
interesting picture, and it reminds us forcibly that the
Volunteers who came forward for the protection of their country
have not been required in that capacity, and are now employing
their time usefully in the art of rifle shooting. Without
further trespassing on your time, permit me once more to thank
you for the manner in which you have proposed and drunk my
health."
The Duke of Cambridge, in responding to the toast of the Army, referred
to the distinction in art attained by the President, the brother of one
already highly distinguished in arms, his friend Sir Hope Grant. Prince
Alfred responded for the Navy.
An interesting fact, not generally known, was mentioned by Sir Francis
Grant, who had been called the successor of Sir Charles Eastlake. Sir
Edwin Landseer had been elected; and, although he could be only
persuaded to retain the office for one week, the Academy had the proud
satisfaction of knowing that his name is registered among its
Presidents.
The other speeches at this banquet were of unusual interest, from the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Earl Russell, and the Earl of Derby. Allusions
were made to the loss of Lord Palmerston, and of Mr. Gibson, the
sculptor, and also to the approaching marriage of the Princess Mary of
Cambridge, for whom the Duke of Teck responded. The Earl of Derby made
special reference to the National Exhibition of Portraits at South
Kensington, interesting alike to the artist and to the student of
history.
_1867._
After dinner, the customary loyal toasts were proposed and responded to,
the President making special reference to the severe and protracted
illness of the Princess of Wales, which they all deplored, with the
trust that it would please God soon to restore her to perfect health.
The Prince, on rising, was loudly applauded, and spoke with evident
emotion, in witnessing the warm sympathy shown by the assembly:--
"Sir Francis Grant, your Royal Highness, my Lords, and
Gentlemen,--I beg to tender you my warmest thanks for the very
kind manner in which you have proposed and received the health
of the Princess of Wales and myself. I feel sure she will be
deeply gratified for the kind words you have this evening
uttered, and I am glad to say that, although she has now for
very nearly two months been kept to her room by a long and
tedious illness, she is now progressing towards recovery. I know
I can have no more pleasing announcement to make to her Royal
Highness than to tell her of the very kind feeling which has
always been exhibited to her since her first coming to this
country. I beg also, Sir Francis, to thank you for the very kind
manner in which you have alluded to the interest I take with
regard to science and art. I need not tell you that I do take
such an interest. If I may say so, I take the same interest
which my parents have always taken, although I may not have the
same experience or knowledge; still, I hope I shall always tread
in their footsteps in that respect.
"I am flattered, Sir Francis, by your statement that I have
shown an appreciation of art in becoming the possessor of a work
by so celebrated an artist as Sir Edwin Landseer. I think it
would be impossible to find at this table any one who would not
feel the same appreciation of so admirable a work of art. I
obtained the picture under somewhat peculiar circumstances. It
had been painted for a private person who was kind enough to
give it up to me. Sir Edwin Landseer, although he has been
before the public for many years as a painter, has within the
last two months achieved great distinction as a sculptor, and
has produced one of the finest monuments of art that exist in
this country. He kept us perhaps some time in waiting for his
lions, but the result has certainly been a most magnificent
one.
"With reference to the Exhibition now before us, I think I may
say that for many years we have not seen a finer exhibition. The
names of Grant, Watts, Millais, and others I need not
particularise. Last year we had to mourn the loss of Sir C.
Eastlake, and now we have to lament the departure from among us
of another Royal Academician, Mr. Philip, to the vivid
truthfulness of whose pictures from Spanish life I myself, from
having been in Spain, can amply testify. I beg, my lords and
gentlemen, again to thank you for the kind manner in which you
have proposed and received my health, and the still kinder
manner in which you have received the health of the Princess of
Wales."
_1870._
The Royal Academy banquet for 1870 fell on the 30th of April.
Sir Francis Grant, the President, in proposing "The Health of the
Queen," stated that Her Majesty had, in May of the previous year,
conferred on the Academy the honour of visiting the new galleries in
state, and was pleased to express her high approval. At that visit she
gave commissions for pictures to several young artists of rising fame;
and she presented to the Academy the beautiful marble bust of herself,
executed by her accomplished daughter the Princess Louise.
In next proposing "The Health of the Prince and Princess of Wales and
the rest of the Royal Family," the President said that they were all
glad to welcome the Prince, for the first time, in the new galleries.
"Last year His Royal Highness was well employed elsewhere visiting the
historic wonders of ancient Egypt, accompanied by the Princess of Wales,
whom we must all rejoice to see returned to this country in perfect
health. It must be a gratifying circumstance to all Her Majesty's loyal
subjects that the Royal Princes, her sons, are not too delicately
reared, as Princes were of old, but are all manly English gentlemen and
great travellers, who seek to elevate and enlarge their minds by
studying the customs and policy of foreign nations, and to strengthen
the cords of sympathy and loyalty which bind our colonies to the mother
country. I read with pleasure of His Royal Highness recently presiding
at a meeting of the Society of Arts, and the able sentiments he then
expressed on the subject of education. I am glad also to learn that the
Prince has succeeded the late lamented Lord Derby as President of the
Royal Commission of 1851--an institution, if I may so call it, which has
done such great things for the progress of art, especially in connection
with manufactures, and which owes so much, I might say entirely its
great success, to the enlightened genius and active support of the
Prince's illustrious father."
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, who was received with much
cheering, said:--