to Louise, duchess of Coburg, the mother of our princes; and the devoted love she bore to her step-grandchildren, to which all her letters quoted in this memoir bear witness, was of a piece with the affectionate and maternal interest this excellent and most amiable woman now expresses in the welfare and happiness of those who had been her husband's subjects.

"I need not tell you," she writes to the Duke of Coburg from Rumpenheim,* on the 5th of September, 1826, "I need not tell you that I thanked God when I heard that the duchy of Gotha had become yours. It was a great comfort to me, for there is no one in whom I have more confidence than in yourself, my dear duke.t But you must also feel and know that this event opens afresh many wounds. The division of the beloved land, to which it was my happiness to be a mother, naturally grieves me. Yet, my dear duke, I love you, your precious children, and the dear country too well not to keep my heart open to my beloved people of Gotha; and whenever it may be in my power to help these faithful

*NOTE BY THE QUEEN.-Rumpenheim belonged to the Landgraf of Hesse, father to the Duchess of Cambridge, and uncle to the Duke and Duchess of Gotha, who was daughter of the Elector of Hesse-Cassel. It now belongs to the Duchess of Cambridge, her three brothers and two sisters.

† Mr. Perthès, on this occasion, wrote as follows to a friend: "My monarchical principles have gained many new adherents, for all suddenly fall down before the new prince. Certainly he is, like Saul, head and shoulders taller than the rest of the people, full of princely dignity, very judicious, and consequently very popular. He knows and is interested about every subject; in short, the whole world is bewitched with him, and men of all parties have suddenly become ducalized."—Memoirs of Freder ick Perthès, by his son, Professor Perthès, of Bonn.

subjects by word or deed, or by intercession for them with their kind sovereign, I will do so as long as God shall spare me.

"I am convinced that you, my dear friend, will do all in your power to make your new subjects happy. Their prosperity is now intrusted to you. I shall hope for the pleasure of seeing you and the dear children often at Gotha. Surely, when you come for the first time, you intend to bring these darlings with you, to gratify us all."

In fact, the hope of now seeing more of her beloved grandchildren was almost her only consolation under the pain caused by this change.

It was not, however, till the month of November that the change was completed by the ratification of the family convention giving Gotha to the Duke of Coburg; and it was toward the end of the year that the duke, accompanied by the young princes, made his formal entry into Gotha on taking possession of his new inheritance.

In the mean time the princes continued to reside as usual, under the care of their tutor, at Coburg and the Rosenau, and in the summer of this year we find them attending a fête of school children at the latter place, and taking a principal part in the proceedings of the day. The Dowager Duchess of Coburg, writing from Ketschendorf to the Duchess of Kent on the 4th of July, thus describes what took place :

"I think I told you that the annual school feast had been held on Ernest's birthday, and, to return this compliment, your brother gave a treat to all the school children last Sunday. (He had waited for Leopold.) We

dined on the meadow, and watched from a stand overlooking the whole place the arrival of the little ones in their gay attire. They were to be treated, at four long tables, to cake and wine, and later in the evening to sausages. 1300 children were thus assembled, and they must have had lectures on good manners in their schools, for they behaved exceedingly well, not indulging in screaming or excessive merriment. It was a most pleasant sight, that of these happy young people playing on the large meadow, and jumping about like grasshoppers. Ernest and Albert went in full armor to meet a procession of knights and hunters, the whole Freischutz, Samiel included, and led them on to the platform to Leopold. Ernest stammered forth a short address (for his comrades confused him), in which he thanked his kind uncle for having come across the sea to spend the feast with them, and begged his favor for Albert, his comrades, and himself."

Shortly after this the Dowager Duchess of Gotha paid a visit to Baden. Passing Meiningen on her way there, the children were sent to that place to see her, and she thus notices their visit in a letter written from Baden on the 16th of July, 1826:

"How can I thank you sufficiently for having sent the dear children to me to Meiningen? It was the most welcome present for my birthday, the day after. I found them both much improved and grown, looking so healthy; and Albert more handsome than ever. Dear Ernest so good and kind.

"I hope the dear children arrived safely at home the

next day, and have given you many kind messages from me. I kiss them a thousand times. They have been so charming and good.

"Please have the kindness and goodness to write to me as often as possible, and if business prevents your doing so, pray let Florschütz do it, for it would be too painful to me to be left, while so far away, without constant news from yourself and the dear children."

The next letter is from the Dowager Duchess of Coburg to the Duchess of Kent:

"17th August, 1826. "I see by the English newspapers that 'his Majesty* and H. R. H. the Duchess of Kent went on Virginia Water.' The little monkey† must have pleased and amused him. She is such a pretty, clever child. The bigger monkey was always much in favor.

"Alberinchen looks rather pale this summer. He is delicate the heat tries him, and he grows fast. In jumping and running about he is as little backward as his brother."

We have already read, in a former letter from the Dowager Duchess of Gotha, her strong and touching expression of affectionate solicitude for the continued happiness and prosperity of a people who were very dear to her as the subjects of her late husband; and in the two following letters, expressive of the love she bore to her grandchildren, the feelings naturally excited by the * George IV.

† Princess Victoria. Princess Feodore, now Princess Hohenlohe.

changes that had occurred at Gotha still show themselves.

"May God spare you and the dearly beloved children," she writes on the 30th of October, 1826, "for many years to come, and grant you every possible happiness. It is natural that I should be much moved; but it will, nevertheless, be a great comfort to see you, and, I hope also, the dear children. I am sure they will never find a more faithful or true friend than myself, and of this I trust you are convinced."

And again, on the 26th of November of the same year:

"How thankful I am that you and the dear children are coming. I will think of this as the only alleviation to my sorrow. . . . . Is it not too long a day's journey from Coburg to Ichtershausen for the dear children; and in this horrible weather? Would it not be perhaps better to make this stage in two days? Excuse this advice, but I am afraid the children might arrive unwell."

Soon after this letter was written the expected visit was paid. The duke, accompanied by his children, made his formal entry into Gotha on taking possession of his new inheritance. He remained there, however, but a short time, and returned to Coburg by the beginning of the new year. The weather was bitterly cold, and the duchess trembled lest the children should suffer on their journey home.

"Thank God!" she writes on the 4th of January, 1827, "that you and the dear children, whom I tenderly embrace, have arrived safely at home, in spite of this terri