We have said very little about the Princess Victoria, because she lived in retirement, pursuing her studies under the excellent supervision of her mother, the Duchess of Kent; but in the autumn of this year the two royal ladies made an interesting tour through the principal counties of Eng land and Wales, and were everywhere received with demonstrations of welcome and respect. They returned to Kensington Palace in November, highly gratified with their tour. During this year occurred some events to which we must allude, because they are too important to be passed over in silence. One is the marriage of Leopold, King of the Belgians, with the Princess Louise, daughter of King Louis Philippe of France. This event was preceded by the death of the only son of Napoleon I., known as the Duke of Reichstadt. He died of consumption at the palace of Schoenbrunn, near Vienna, at the early age of twenty-one. A funeral service at the church of St. Mary was the only mark of respect shown to the memory of this young man in Paris, because the Bonaparte family were not then in power. Sir Walter Scott died on the twenty-first of September, at Abbotsford, at the age of sixty-one. Few men of genius ever had so brilliant a career, or acquired during their lifetime so widespread a reputation. He was a lawyer, an historian, a novelist, a poet, than whom none have maintained a longer or firmer hold on the popular favor; but, what is {301}better, he died a great and good man. Carlyle says of him: "No sounder piece of British manhood was put together in the eighteenth century of time. Alas! his fine Scotch face, with its shaggy honesty, sagacity, and goodness, when we saw it latterly on the Edinburgh streets was all worn with care, the joy all fled from it,--ploughed deep with labor and sorrow. We shall never forget it; we shall never see it again. Adieu, Sir Walter, pride of all Scotland; take our proud and last farewell!" [[A.D. 1833.]] At the beginning of the new year Queen Adelaide was anxious that Lord Howe, who had resigned the chamberlainship, should resume it. She was very fond of him, and received his respect and attentions in return for the favor she showed him. He had been opposed to the government, and, as his return to office was to be made only on condition that he would change his principles, he refused. He was replaced by William Basil Percy, Earl of Denbigh, who remained in her majesty's service to the close of her life. There was a change in the government this year: Lord Brougham had become chancellor, and the reformed parliament, as it was called, emancipated the slaves in the British colonies. This was a most important event, and interested the whole civilized world. Among the distinguished Frenchmen who visited England at this period was Monsieur Thiers, who was entertained by Talleyrand, the French ambassador to London, at a grand dinner.