HOME LIFE AND SOCIAL EVENTS IN 1846.
Prince Albert and the Home Farm--Royalty and the Windsor
Vestry--The New Home at Osborne--The Birth of the Princess
Helena--The Visit of Ibrahim Pasha--A Royal Christening--The
Queen’s Loneliness--Visitors at Osborne--A Cruise in Summer
Seas--The “Lop” of the Channel--In the Channel Islands--The Duke of
Cornwall in his Duchy--Exploring the South Coast--The Queen Acts as
the Family Tutor--Her Majesty among the Iron-miners--The
House-warming at Osborne--Baron Stockmar’s Impressions of the
Queen--Some German Visitors--A Dinner-Party at Windsor--The
Baroness Bunsen’s Picture of the Scene--The Royal Visits to
Hatfield and Arundel--Social Movements in 1846--Dr. Hook’s Pamphlet
on Education--Origin of Secularism--The Triumphs of
Science--Faraday’s Researches--Laying of the First Submarine Cable
at Portsmouth--The Use of Ether in Surgery--Evil Tidings from
Starving Ireland.
Early in 1846 the Royal Family became involved in a little local dispute
that gave the Queen some slight annoyance, and afforded busybodies a
great deal of material for gossip. It was one of those incidents which
serve to remind Royalty that in a free country even the most exalted
station affords no protection from the tyranny of Bumbledom. The
history of the affair is briefly as follows. The parochial rating
authorities of Windsor had long cast hungry eyes on the Flemish Farm
occupied by Prince Albert. It was a good subject for rating if it could
be rated. Thinking that the Prince would be afraid of exposing himself
to public odium, and would therefore contribute submissively to the
support of the poor of the parish, a rate was levied on him by the local
officials. But his Royal Highness resisted the claim, and pleaded, at
the request of the Queen, that the farm was Royal property, which, being
in Royal occupation, was exempt from rates. The most celebrated legal
authorities were consulted, and agreed with his Royal Highness. Hence
the following letter was sent to the official who represented the
parish:--
“WINDSOR CASTLE, _14th January, 1846_.
“SIR,--I am commanded by his Royal Highness Prince Albert to
acknowledge the receipt of the memorial which you have forwarded to
me from the parish officers of Windsor, and in reply to state, that
when a claim was preferred for the payment of rates by the Prince
on account of the Flemish Farm, and when the legal liability of the
Prince was insisted upon by the Vestry, his Royal Highness felt
himself precluded from admitting such a claim without previous
consultation with the highest legal authorities.
“His Royal Highness submitted the whole facts of the case to the
Attorney- and Solicitor-General of her Majesty, and subsequently to
Sir Thomas Wilde. Their opinion was, that his Royal Highness was
not liable, in point of law, to the payment of rates, and that the
admission by him of such liability might constitute a dangerous
precedent, affecting the prerogatives of the Crown.
“In the letter which I addressed to you on the 15th of December, I
informed you ‘that his Royal Highness had no disposition to resist
any claim that could in fairness be made upon him, whatever might
be the legal obligations.’ I have now to inform you, on the part of
his Royal Highness, that if the parochial authorities had continued
to insist on the payment of the demand, made as a matter of legal
right, his Royal Highness would have felt himself compelled, by a
sense of the duty which he owes to her Majesty, to resist the
claim.
“You have informed his Royal Highness that the Vestry of Windsor
has passed resolutions of which the following are copies:--
‘That the Vestry extremely regrets that the resolutions in
reference to the rating of his Royal Highness Prince Albert passed
at the Vestry Meeting held on the 18th September last, should have
been so carried, inasmuch as this meeting is now fully aware that
his Royal Highness is not in any way liable to be rated for Flemish
Farm; and that this Vestry deprecates the garbled statements set
forth in the public journals on this subject.’
“Again--
‘That inasmuch as the maintenance of the poor presses heavily on
the parishioners, a respectful memorial be now presented to his
Royal Highness, praying him to take the state of the parish into
his gracious consideration, and that such memorial be prepared and
presented by the parish officers.’
“His Royal Highness infers from these resolutions that the Vestry
distinctly admits that his Royal Highness is not in any way liable
to be rated for the Flemish Farm; and his Royal Highness feels
himself at liberty to take the course which is most satisfactory to
his own feelings, and to pay as a voluntary contribution, a sum
equal to the rate which would have been annually due had the legal
liability of his Royal Highness been established.
“It is also his Royal Highness’s intention that the payment of the
sum referred to should commence from the year 1841.
“I have the honour to be, your faithful and obedient servant,
“G. E. ANSON. “Henry Darvell, Esq.”
This untoward dispute seemed as if it had been created for the purpose
of worrying the Royal Family by putting Prince Albert in a false
position, and its termination in so satisfactory a manner was deemed
most creditable to the Prince at the time. It, indeed, helped to render
the Prince popular with the middle classes. They saw in him a typical
British ratepayer, who had fought with rating authorities, even as “with
beasts at Ephesus,” and yet survived the strife to enjoy his victory.
The political atmosphere of London became so highly charged with party
passion that her Majesty and Prince Albert, early in February,
determined to migrate to the country. Accordingly, they proceeded to the
Isle of Wight, where they were building a new country-house at Osborne,
and where the
[Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE.]
Queen herself said, in one of her letters, it was “a relief to be away
from all the bitterness which people create for themselves in London.”
Here her Majesty and her family led a simple, happy, peaceful life,
enjoying to the fullest extent all the innocent delight of planning and
laying out the grounds round their new home. But in March they had to
return to town, and again plunge into the excitement and agitation of
political strife. This period was peculiarly trying for the Queen,
because on the 25th of May she gave birth to a daughter--the Princess
Helena--whose advent into a troubled world was heralded by salvoes of
cannon from the Tower. The event rendered her Majesty unable to receive
personally his Highness Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, who was one of the
“lions” of the London season in 1846, and who had been entertained with
sumptuous hospitality at the Court of France. Prince Albert, however,
did what lay in his power to make his Highness’s visit pleasant, and on
the 11th of June her Majesty was able to meet him. He dined with the
Queen on the evening of that day, and left our shores expressing the
utmost satisfaction with the welcome he had received from the Sovereign
and the country whose diplomacy had checked his conquering march in
Syria.
When the elections, which Lord John Russell’s assumption of office
rendered necessary, had been held, her Majesty and the Court again left
town, and migrated to their seaside retreat in the Isle of Wight. The
balmy air and the peaceful life revived the Queen, who had been greatly
depressed in spirits at parting with her Ministers, and she was further
cheered by the promise of her uncle, King Leopold of Belgium, to pay her
a visit in time for the christening of the baby Princess. His Majesty
and Queen Louise were unable to arrive, however, till a few days after
the ceremony, which took place at Buckingham Palace on the 25th of July.
The little lady received the names of Helena Augusta Victoria, her
godmother being Hélène, Duchess of Orleans, who, as sponsor, was
represented by the Duchess of Kent. The other sponsors--the Hereditary
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and H.R.H. the Duchess of
Cambridge--were happily able to attend in person. At the end of the
month the Queen again found her cherished home circle broken, for Prince
Albert was summoned away to Liverpool to open the magnificent Albert
Dock in that city, on the 30th of July. The reports of his speeches, and
the enthusiastic reception with which he was met, brought brightness to
the life of the Queen; but in spite of all that, she evidently could not
conceal her sadness of heart when the head of her family was absent. “As
I write,” said the Prince, with a touch of playful but affectionate
sarcasm, in a letter to the Queen, dated Liverpool, the 30th of July,
“you will be making your evening toilette, and _not_ be in time for
dinner.” Her Majesty, however, had apparently very little thought of the
ceremonial part of her life in her mind at the time, for she was writing
to their old friend, Baron Stockmar, a pretty touching letter, saying,
“I feel very lonely without my dear Master; and though I know other
people are often separated for a few days, I feel habit could not get me
accustomed to it. This, I am sure, you cannot blame. Without him
everything loses its interest.... It will always be a terrible pang to
separate from him, even for two days; and I pray God never to let me
survive him.” In the last words there is indeed a note of pathos which,
in view of the long and lonely widowhood of the Queen, cannot fail to
touch the hearts of her home-loving people.
At the beginning of August the Court circle was again happily reunited
at Osborne, the King and Queen of the Belgians being of the company. The
Queen then decided to proceed on a quiet yachting cruise along the south
coast of England, and accordingly the Royal yacht, with the Royal
Family, and accompanied by the _Fairy_ and the _Eagle_, on the 18th of
August left the island and steamed westward. The weather, however, was
far from propitious, for it blew more than half a gale when, on the
19th, the little pleasure squadron rode out the storm in Portland Roads.
Prince Albert cannot have enjoyed this part of the trip, for the “lop”
in the Channel was not at all to his liking. In a letter, replying
evidently to some allusions to the disagreeableness of the voyage, Lord
Aberdeen, writing from Haddo House, says to the Prince, though content
with life in that far-off northern solitude, “I confess that in reading
of her Majesty’s progress, I have sometimes wished to find myself on the
Royal yacht, even off the Race of Portland.”[60] When the Royal party
arrived at Portland Roads the sea was so rough, and the wind was blowing
so hard, that at first it was feared they could not land. Ultimately,
they did get ashore, and a salute from the Nothe battery warned the town
of their arrival. There was great excitement among the people, who gave
their visitors a warm welcome. Her Majesty is reported to have looked
fresh and well, but the poor Prince, her consort, bore traces in his
pale face of having suffered a good deal. On the 19th, however, the
party, including Lord Spencer, Lord Alfred Paget, Baron Stockmar, the
Hon. Ann Napier, and Lady Jocelyn, sailed away in fair weather to
Devonport. They drove to Astonbury, the seat of the Earl of
Ilchester--then absent in the south of France--to see his lovely grounds
and curious swannery, and subsequently went on to Weymouth, the Queen
again giving orders that she desired as little fuss as possible to be
made about her visit. She landed at the steps which had always been used
for that purpose by George III. The country folk, through whose villages
they passed, despite Lord Alfred Paget’s assurances, refused to believe
that such a quiet and unassuming party of tourists included the Queen
and her Court. A pleasant time was passed as they skimmed over the
sunlit waters of the Tamar, and examined the ancient and picturesque
mansion of the Mount-Edgecumbe family. They next sailed up the Plym to
Lord Morley’s seat at Saltram. Then, when Sunday came round, they stood
out to sea and steered for the Channel Islands.
This was an exceptionally interesting incident in the tour, for, since
the days of King John, no English sovereign had till then set foot in
the old Norman fief of the Crown. Little wonder that Guernsey was all
excitement when they landed. Loyal cheers and addresses greeted the
Queen and her family wherever they went; and the young Prince of Wales,
by reason of his dress, which was that of a miniature seaman, attracted
universal attention. Bands played and guns fired salutes, and pretty
girls in white strewed the path of their young Queen with flowers. A
brief visit to Jersey threw St. Helier into a frenzy of loyalty; after
which the Royal yacht steamed for Falmouth, carrying the little Prince
of Wales to see his Duchy of Cornwall for the first time. “A beautiful
day again,” writes the Queen in her Diary, on the 4th of September--a
Diary which is full of charming descriptions, in her own vivid but
artless style, of this excursion--“a beautiful day again, with the same
brilliantly blue sea. At a quarter to eight o’clock we got under weigh.
There was a great deal of motion at first, and for the greater part of
the day the ship pitched, but getting up the sails steadied her. From
[Illustration: THE QUEEN VISITING A CORNISH IRON MINE. (_See p. 266._)]
five o’clock it became quite smooth; at half-past five we saw land; and
at seven we entered Falmouth Harbour, where we were immediately
surrounded by boats. The calmest night possible, with a beautiful moon,
when we went on deck; every now and then the splashing of oars and the
hum of voices were heard, but they were the only sounds, unlike the
constant dashing of the sea against the vessel which we heard all the
time we were at Jersey.” At eight o’clock next morning (September 5th)
the Royal party left Falmouth, rounded the Lizard, and skirted the bold
and rugged coast that leads to Land’s End. Here, much to the delight of
Prince Albert, the sea was
[Illustration: ON THE CORNISH COAST: PRADANACK POINT.]
smooth. “A little before two,” writes the Queen, “we landed in the
beautiful Mount’s Bay, close below St. Michael’s Mount, which is very
fine. When the bay first opened to our view the sun was lighting up this
beautiful castle, so peculiarly built on a rock which forms an island at
high water.” The sun shone out gloriously as the Queen passed Penzance,
and the smooth sea spread itself like an azure plain under a cloudless
sky. “Soon after our arrival,” she says, “we anchored, and the crowd of
boats was beyond everything; numbers of Cornish pilchard fishermen, in
their curious large boats, kept going round and round, and then
anchored, besides many boats full of people.” “They are,” says her
Majesty, “a very noisy, talkative race, and speak a kind of English
hardly to be understood.” “During the voyage,” adds the Queen, with
maternal satisfaction, “I was able to give Vicky (H.I.H. the Empress
Frederick) her lessons;” indeed, all through these yachting cruises the
Queen insisted, in true English fashion, on acting personally as her
children’s teacher. In fact, it was only when the pressure of public and
social duty became too severe for such labours that her Majesty would
ever consent to delegate the tuition of her children to others; and even
then, she and Prince Albert bestowed on it most vigilant personal
superintendence. In the afternoon, the Royal party, “including the
children,” rowed to the _Fairy_, and steamed round the bay. They visited
St. Michael’s Mount and the smelting works at Penzance, which
monopolised the attention of Prince Albert. “We remained here,” her
Majesty writes, “a little while to sketch, and returned to the _Victoria
and Albert_ by half-past four, the boats crowding round us in all
directions; and when ‘Bertie’ (the Prince of Wales) showed himself the
people shouted, ‘Three cheers for the Duke of Cornwall.’”
Next day they visited the quaint little town of Marazion, or Market Jew,
which lies behind the Mount where the Jews used to traffic in old times.
They inspected the castle, and Prince Albert played on the organ in the
chapel, to the great delight of the Queen and “the children;” after
which he made what the Queen describes as “a beautiful little sketch” of
St. Michael’s Mount itself. On the following day (the 7th) the municipal
dignitaries of Penryn invaded the Royal yacht, and begged to be
introduced to “the Duke of Cornwall.” “So,” writes the Queen, “I stepped
out of the pavilion on deck with Bertie, and Lord Palmerston told them
that that was the Duke of Cornwall; and the old Mayor of Penryn said ‘he
hoped he would grow up a blessing to his parents and to his country.’”
The Fal, winding between wooded banks of dwarfed oaks, and the beautiful
Ruan, with its shores clad with foliage to the water’s edge, were
explored; and at the city of Truro, says the Queen, the whole population
turned out on the banks to give her a welcome, “and were enchanted when
Bertie was held up for them to see.” On the following day the Royal
tourists visited Fowey, “driving,” writes the Queen, “through some of
the narrowest streets I ever saw in England,” and proceeding to the
ivy-clad ruins of Restormel, a castle which belonged to “Bertie” as Duke
of Cornwall.
Here her Majesty was bold enough to explore the iron mines. “You go in
on a level,” she writes. “Albert and I got into one of the trucks and we
were dragged in by the miners, Mr. Taylor” (mineral agent to the Duchy)
“walking behind us. The miners wore a curious woollen dress with a cap,
and they generally have a candlestick in front of the cap. This time
candlesticks were stuck along the sides of the mine, and those who did
not drag or push carried lights. The gentlemen wore miners’ hats. There
was no room to pass between the trucks and the rock, and only just room
enough to hold up one’s head, and not always that. It had a most curious
effect, and there was something unearthly about this lit-up cavern-like
place. We got out and scrambled a little way to see the veins of ore,
and Albert knocked off some pieces.” On the way back they visited
Lostwithiel; and then they returned to Osborne, vastly delighted and
refreshed by their tour.
The Queen’s new house at Osborne was now ready for occupation, and she
and her husband held a “house-warming” ceremony on the 16th of
September,
[Illustration: THE MUNICIPAL DIGNITARIES OF PENRYN INTRODUCED TO THE
PRINCE OF WALES.]
“Our first night,” writes Lady Lyttelton in one of her letters, “in this
house is well spent. Nobody smelt paint or caught cold, and the worst is
over.... After dinner we were to drink to the Queen and the Prince’s
health as a _house-warming_. And after it the Prince said, very
naturally and simply, ‘We have a hymn’ (he called it a psalm) ‘in
Germany for such occasions. It begins,’ and then he repeated two lines
in German which I could not quote right--meaning a prayer to bless our
going out and coming in.”[61] Miss Lucy Kerr, one of the Maids of
Honour, insisted in her Scottish fashion on throwing an old shoe after
the Queen as she crossed the threshold for the first time, and she
further diverted the company by her desire to procure molten lead and
sundry other charms of Scottish witchcraft to bring luck to the Royal
pair.
During the yachting cruise round the south coast, Baron Stockmar appears
to have used his opportunities of close and intimate companionship with
the Queen and her consort to note the changes that time had wrought in
their characters. In his “Memorabilia” he records his impressions. “The
Prince,” he writes, “has made great strides of late.... He has also
gained much in self-reliance. His natural vivacity leads him at times to
jump too rapidly to a conclusion; and he occasionally acts too hastily;
but he has grown too clear-sighted to commit any great mistake.” “And
the Queen also,” writes the same keen and watchful critic, “improves
greatly. She makes daily advances in discernment and experience; the
candour, the love of truth, the fairness, the considerateness with which
she judges men and things, are truly delightful; and the ingenuous
self-knowledge with which she speaks about herself is simply
charming.”[62]
In the autumn, too, some other German friends cheered the Queen with a
visit. The Princess of Prussia, afterwards the Empress Augusta, came on
a visit to her aunt, the Queen Dowager Adelaide, and in September her
Royal Highness went to Windsor. The Baroness Bunsen, who was in her
suite, has given us a charming picture of the happy family circle round
the Queen into which she then found herself introduced. In a letter to
her mother from Windsor Castle, the Baroness writes:--“I arrived here at
six, and at eight went to dinner in the Great Hall, hung round with the
Waterloo pictures. The band played exquisitely, so placed as to be
invisible; so that, what with the large proportions of the hall, and the
well-subdued lights, and the splendours of plate and decoration, the
scene was such as fairy tales present; and Lady Canning, Miss Stanley,
and Miss Dawson were beautiful enough to represent an ideal Queen’s
ideal attendants. The Queen looked well and _rayonnante_, with that
pleased expression of countenance which she has when pleased with what
surrounds her, and which, you know, I like to see.”[63]
In October the Queen and Prince Albert paid another round of visits.
They left Windsor on the 19th and drove to the Queen Dowager’s place at
Cashiobury, where they spent three days in strict privacy. After that
they drove to Lord Clarendon’s seat near Watford, and went on to the
Marquis of Abercorn’s at Stanmore Abbey. Taking a circuitous route by
Reading, they drove to Hatfield, where they visited the Marquis of
Salisbury. But the weather was most disagreeable, and even St. Albans
failed to put up the usual arches of welcome, and bedeck itself in
congratulatory bunting. Four miles from Hatfield they were met by Lord
Salisbury and the
[Illustration: ARUNDEL. (_After the Picture by Vicat Cole, R.A._)]
Duke of Wellington. There was a pleasant party of friends at Hatfield
waiting to welcome the Royal guests, including Lord Melbourne and Lord
John Russell, the latter brooding over the growing uneasiness of the
country and the painful dispute with the Court of France, the former gay
and debonair, as if he had never known what it was to face the storms
and strife of State. The Queen, it seems, was greatly interested in the
treasures of the library, and spent much time poring over the Cecil
papers. Her visit was long talked of in the district, for, in true
baronial style, five hundred labourers were feasted in commemoration of
the event at Hatfield, a great ox being roasted for the banquet, at
which home-brewed ale flowed generously in hogsheads. In December her
Majesty visited the Duke of Norfolk, Master of the Horse, at Arundel. At
Portsmouth and Chichester she was welcomed with cordial demonstrations
of affection, and not only was Arundel illuminated, but, what pleased
her still more, a substantial dinner was given in her honour to every
poor person in the town. Prince Albert, Lord John Russell, and the Earl
of Arundel amused themselves with field sports; but the Queen,
[Illustration: PROFESSOR FARADAY.]
attended by her host, the Duke of Norfolk, and the old Duke of
Wellington, explored objects of interest in the neighbourhood. She held
a formal reception in the great drawing-room of the Castle, and charmed
all the “country people” with her simple, winning ways and sweet
courtesies. It is recorded that at the ball held after this reception
her Majesty distinguished herself by the hearty manner in which she
joined in the dancing, an amusement which was ever a favourite one with
her in those happy days of her golden youth.
But life in the Royal circle was not all amusement. Baron Stockmar bears
testimony to the zeal with which both the Prince and the Queen devoted
themselves at this time to business and graver studies. And many events
were happening, many intellectual and social movements beginning to
develop, which keenly interested them. The unsatisfactory position of
British art--emphasised by the fate of Haydon, who committed suicide in
despair of ever interesting the English people in the higher forms of
art--the development of the great movement in favour of popular
education, and the rise of what afterwards came to be known as the Party
of Secularism, were keenly canvassed during the latter part of this
eventful year in every circle where thoughtful men and women met.
Among the many remarkable movements that arose when the country was
liberated from the strain of the Free Trade agitation, was that which
originated the strife between parties as to the share which the Church
and the State should take in the work of education. A crude and
rudimentary scheme of national education was part of Lord John Russell’s
programme, and the attention of the country had been excited by a
pamphlet published by the late Dr. Hook, then Vicar of Leeds, afterwards
Dean of Chichester, in which he proposed a plan which very much
resembles that which the late Mr. W. E. Forster induced Parliament to
accept in 1870. Her Majesty and Prince Albert were deeply interested in
Dr. Hook’s plan, the leading points of which were: (1) Schools to be
universally supported by the State; (2) Education to be secular, but one
day in the week to be set apart for religious instruction, which should
be given by each denomination to the children of its own members.
The Secularist Party owed their origin to Mr. Holyoake, who at this time
began to propagate the system of ethics known as Secularism, a system
which aimed at promoting the welfare of mankind by human means, and
measuring it by utilitarian standards. The service of others he held to
be the highest duty of life. Secularism rejoiced in life as the sphere
of exalting duties. It was a religion of doubt, neither affirming nor
denying the existence of a Deity. Ultimately it came to be termed
Agnosticism, and the working classes seemed to be considerably
influenced by Mr. Holyoake’s teaching during this year and a few of the
years that followed.
In the year 1846 the scientific world was greatly interested by the
publication of a most extraordinary series of experimental researches in
electricity conducted by Faraday, illustrating alike the genius of the
man and the spirit and methods of scientific investigation during the
early part of the Victorian epoch. That spirit was, in the main,
antagonistic to vacuous speculation or unprofitable theorising. It was
daring enough in its utilitarianism to track by direct experiment the
subtle elements of, or prove by tangible demonstration what were the
occult relations which subsisted between, forms of matter and modes of
force. “I have long held the opinion,” wrote Faraday, “that the various
forms under which the forces of matter are made manifest have one common
origin, or, in other words, are so directly related and mutually
dependent, that they are convertible, as it were, into one another, and
possess equivalents of power in their action.... I recently resumed the
inquiry by experiment in a most strict and searching manner, and have at
last succeeded in magnetising and electrifying a ray of light and in
illuminating a magnetic line of force.”[64] The phrase is not a
felicitous one to express the idea of the transformation and
transmutation of the forces, but it is worth citing as the original
expression used. The paper from which it is taken simply proved that a
ray of polarised light sent through certain transparent substances in
the line of action connecting the two poles of a magnet, became visible
or invisible just as the current was flowing or was stopped. In another
paper “On New Magnetic Actions,” Faraday proved that a non-magnetic body
suspended freely in the line of a magnetic current is repelled by either
pole, and takes up a position at right angles to the line, and,
therefore, at right angles to the line a magnetic body would assume in
similar circumstances.
But perhaps one of the most interesting events, to Prince Albert at
least, was the laying of the first submarine telegraph cable at
Portsmouth on the 13th of December, 1846. In the year 1843 telegraphic
communication from the Nine Elms terminus at Portsmouth to Gosport had
been established. Then the wires were continued to the Clarence
Victualling Yard. The harbour, however, still intervened between the end
of the wire and the Port Admiral’s house, and it was supposed to be
impossible to connect the two points electrically under water. The first
plan suggested was to lay the wires in metal cases, to be fixed in
position by divers with diving-bells. But it was finally agreed to lay
the wires in a stout cable, and this was done without the use of a
return wire. The first message sent over it thus demonstrated that water
would act as a ready conductor in completing the electrical circuit, and
almost immediately projectors were developing a plan for laying a
submarine cable to France. This and the discovery of the use of ether as
an anæsthetic in surgery--the first painless operation being performed
on a patient under its influence by Mr. Liston in University College
Hospital--were the chief practical achievements in science during a year
which closed with anxious forebodings from Ireland and the Highlands of
Scotland, where the scourge of famine was again smiting the people.
[Illustration: THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY.
(_From a Photograph by W. Lawrence, Dublin._)]