[[A.D. 1847.]] This year an evidence of Prince Albert's having gained in public esteem was shown by his being offered the chancellorship of Cambridge University. He accepted, and at his request William Wordsworth, then in his seventy-seventh year, wrote the ode for the occasion, which was set to music by Mr. Thomas Attwood Walmisley, and proved most effective. The ceremony of installation {376}was very impressive, and after it was over there was a fine banquet at Trinity Hall, followed by a reception. [Illustration: 0382] [[A.D. 1848.]] Early in the following year the Orleans dynasty in France was overthrown, and a republic was proclaimed. By the end of February King Louis Philippe, his queen, and the various members of his family were hurrying secretly and in disguise by different routes to England, their fortunes ruined, and they themselves anxious to escape from the fury of the revolution and the horrible scenes that were being enacted in their native land. This flight of King Louis Philippe with his queen, in the depth of a very severe winter, is a painful story. They were old, wretched, and deserted; and, although the king was responsible for the mistakes that brought about the revolution after a peaceful reign of eighteen years, who can fail to pity him? It was but a sorry asylum he found in England, for he had lost the good opinion of the queen and the nation, and {377}he was tolerated merely as an object of compassion. In course of time his position and that of his sons was much improved, because they bore their adversity with so much dignity, manliness, and amiability. Great sympathy was excited in their behalf when Louis Napoleon, the man whose life the king had spared, hastened to France, seized the throne by conspiracy, and confiscated all the property of his benefactor and the entire Orleans family. The French revolution had begun so suddenly that all the world looked on in astonishment. No sooner were the particulars of it known than it found an echo in Italy, Germany, and Austria; and all three of those countries rose in revolt, eager for improvements in their respective governments. Prince Metternich, the Austrian minister, was another person of note who sought refuge in England at this period. This great diplomatist fell, after long years of service to his emperor, who abdicated his throne rather than fight for his rights; and with his wife, made his way through Germany under a feigned name, and with a price set upon his head. Then Louis Kossuth came forward with the determination to free Hungary from Austrian rule. Tumults broke out in every state and principality of Germany, and a demand was made for freedom of the press, trial by jury, and representation of the people in government affairs. In small towns the peasants attacked the castles of their feudal lords, set fire -to them, and put their owners to flight. The work of destruction was going on everywhere.