In Russia it is a common mode of expression to say: "As happy as a priest's wife." The reason why she is so happy is because her husband's position depends upon her. If she dies, he is deposed and becomes a layman, and his property is taken away from him and distributed, half to his children and half to the Government. This dreadful contingency makes the Russian priest careful to get a healthy wife if he can, and to take extraordinary good care of her after he has secured her. He waits upon her in the most abject way. She must never get her feet wet, and she is petted and put in hot blankets if she has so much as a cold in the head. It is the greatest possible good fortune for a girl to marry a priest--infinitely better than to be the wife of a noble. THE ROYAL FUSILIERS. We will claim for this noble regiment the honour of being second to none--either in the field for its dashing intrepidity, or in quarters for its steady, soldier-like qualities. It is one of the most famous regiments in the British army. It has fought and conquered in all quarters of the globe, and has proved that neither the storms of autumn, the snows of winter, nor the heat of an Indian summer--that neither the sword nor the bayonet, nor musketry fire, can subdue them. Napier might well call them "the astonishing infantry." It has traditions of glory which inspire and maintain that _esprit de corps_ so valuable in the hour of peril--so animating in the crisis of battle. The Royal Fusiliers was raised in June, 1685, as an ordnance regiment, not from any particular county, but from every part of the United Kingdom. Some of the noblest sons of Albion and Erin's Isle have served in its ranks, and the haughtiest sons of Adam's race have had to bow before them, and give up the palm to the matchless Fusiliers. We find that Lord George Dartmouth was appointed its first colonel; its second was no other than the brave and talented nobleman, the Duke of Marlborough, who made the French to quail before him on field after field. Its third colonel was Lord George Hamilton. And on the 9th of April, 1789, His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (Her Most Gracious Majesty's father) was appointed its commander. The following pages will show that his Royal Highness was a soldier of no mean sort, and his courage knew no bounds.