Not making his high place the lawless perch
Of wing'd ambitions, nor a vantage ground
For pleasure; but thro' all this tract of years
Wearing the white flower of a blameless life,
Before a thousand peering littlenesses,
In that fierce light which beats upon a throne,
And blackens every blot: for where is he
Who dares foreshadow for an only son
A lovelier life, a more unstain'd than his?"
Indeed, were it not that his character lacked variety, and from its German formalism was sometimes out of harmony with English sentiment, the Prince was an ideal Sovereign. The loss that the nation had sustained naturally occupied the attention of Parliament at the opening of the ensuing Session. In the Royal Speech, which was delivered by commission, the following allusion was made to this all-engrossing subject:—"We are commanded by her Majesty to assure you that her Majesty is persuaded that you will deeply participate in the affliction by which her Majesty has been overwhelmed, by the calamitous, untimely, and irreparable loss of her beloved Consort, who has been her comfort and support. It has been, however, soothing to her Majesty, while suffering most acutely under this awful dispensation of Providence, to receive from all classes of her subjects the most cordial assurances of their sympathy with her sorrow, as well as of their appreciation of the noble character of him, the greatness of whose loss to her Majesty and to the nation is so justly and so universally felt and lamented." In the Queen's answer to the Address we have the mournful key-note of many an utterance that afterwards came from her widowed heart. Her Majesty said:—"I return you most sincere thanks for your dutiful and affectionate Address, especially for the manner in which you have assured me of your feelings on the irreparable loss sustained by myself and the country, in the afflicting dispensation of Providence which bows me to the earth."