'A Prince indeed,
Beyond all titles, and a household name,
Hereafter, through all time, Albert the Good.'

TENNYSON.

PREFACE.

This brief life of Queen Victoria gives the salient features of her reign, including the domestic and public life, with a glance at the wonderful history and progress of our country during the past half-century. In the space at command it has been impossible to give extended treatment. The history is necessarily very brief, as also the account of the public and private life, yet it is believed no really important feature of her life and reign has been omitted.

It is a duty, incumbent on old and young alike, as well as a pleasing privilege, to mark how freedom has slowly 'broadened down, from precedent to precedent,' and how knowledge, wealth, and well-being are more widely distributed to-day than at any former period of our history. And this knowledge can only increase the gratitude of the reader for the golden reign of Queen Victoria, of whom it has been truly written:

A thousand claims to reverence closed
In her as Mother, Wife, and Queen.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.—Reign of Queen Victoria—Outlook of Royalty in 1819—Duke and Duchess of Kent—Birth of Victoria—Anecdotes.
CHAPTER II.—First Meeting with Prince Albert—Death of William IV.—Accession of Queen Victoria—First Speech from the Throne—Coronation—Life at Windsor—Personal Appearance—Betrothal to Prince Albert—Income from the Country.
CHAPTER III.—Marriage—Family Habits—Birth of Princess Royal—Queen's Views of Religious Training—Osborne and Balmoral—Death of the Duke of Wellington.