Queen Victoria Read Online Free Page B

the chair on the edge of the pathway. The child would have fallen under the vehicle, when Maloney seized her in her fall, and was able to restore her unhurt to the lady attendant. The following day he received from the Duchess her thanks, with a guinea. The Queen has no recollection of this incident, and is sure she never was upset, or in any danger of being thrown out. In 1878 the circumstance was brought up again, and some assistance was given to the old man, who was in distress, though no proof of his claim could be discovered. The Queen’s earliest recollection is that of crawling on the floor on an old yellow carpet at Kensington Palace, and playing with the badge of the Garter belonging to Bishop Fisher, who, as Bishop of Salisbury, was then Chancellor of the Order, and, having been tutor to her father, took a deep and affectionate interest in the welfare of the Duke’s only child. Mr. Wilberforce, who was then living at Kensington Gore, describes to Hannah More a visit which he paid to the Duchess in July, 1820: “In consequence of a very civil letter from the Duchess of Kent, I waited on her this morning. She received me, with her fine animated child on the floor by her side, with its playthings, of which I soon became one. She was very civil, but as she did not sit down, I did not think it right to stay above a quarter of an hour.”
    During these early years, and before a regular course of studies had been attempted, the family life at the Palace was simple and regular. Breakfast was served in summer at eight o’clock, the Princess Victoria having her bread and milk and fruit on a little table by her mother’s side. After breakfast the Princess Feodore studied with her governess, Miss Lehzen, and the Princess Victoria went out for a walk or drive. It has been repeatedly said that at this time she was instructed by her mother; but this is not the case, as the Duchess never gave her daughter any lessons. At two there was a plain dinner, when the Duchess had her luncheon. In the afternoon was the usual walk or drive. At the time of her mother’s dinner the Princess had her supper laid at her side. At nine she was accustomed to retire to her bed, which was placed close to her mother’s.
    It has been said that on the Princess’s fourth birthday her uncle, King George, presented her with a splendid gift of a miniature of himself set in diamonds. This is not the fact; at the Royal Lodge in Windsor Park, in 1827, the King presented the Princess with a badge, worn by the Royal Family, which is still preserved. Another tradition belonging to the same period runs that the King issued invitations for a State dinner, and signified his wish that her infant daughter should accompany the Duchess, and that the Princess accordingly was presented to the assembly before the banquet. This took place at Carlton House, but the Princess was present only for a moment to see the King and the Royal Family.
    It was not till the Princess had entered her fifth year, that she began to receive any regular instruction. On the recommendation of the Rev. Thomas Russell, Vicar of Kensington, the Rev. George Davys was engaged to give elementary lessons. In this determination not to force her daughter’s mind, the Duchess of Kent acted on the counsel of her mother, who had advised her “not to tease her little puss with learning while she was so young.” The advice was justified by results, for the Princess made rapid progress. In this year, 1824, the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg came over to England to visit her son, Prince Leopold, and the united family spent that autumn at Claremont. Then and for years afterwards, these visits to her loved uncle were some of the brightest remembrances of the Queen, who has written, “These were the happiest days of the Queen’s childhood.” Years afterwards, in 1842, when staying at Claremont with her husband and eldest child, the Queen wrote to her uncle Leopold at Brussels: “This place brings back