CHAP. I. Sixty-Three Years Since. II. Childhood. III. Youth. IV. The Accession. V. The Proroguing Of Parliament, The Visit To Guildhall; And The Coronation. VI. The Maiden Queen. VII. The Betrothal. VIII. The Marriage. IX. A Royal Pair. X. Royal Occupations.--An Attempt On The Queen's Life. XI. The First Christening.--The Season Of 1841. XII. Birth Of The Prince Of Wales.--The Afghan Disasters.--Visit Of The King Of Prussia.--The Queen's Plantagenet Ball. XIII. Fresh Attempts Against The Queen's Life.--Mendelssohn.--Death Of The Duc D'Orleans. XIV. The Queen's First Visit To Scotland. XV. A Marriage, A Death, And A Birth In The Royal Family.--A Palace Home. XVI. The Condemnation Of The English Duel.--Another Marriage.--The Queen's Visit To Chateau D'Eu. XVII. The Queen's Trip To Ostend.--Visits To Drayton, Chatsworth, And Belvoir. XVIII. Allies From Afar.--Death And Absence.--Birthday Greetings. XIX. Royal Visitors.--The Birth Of Prince Alfred.--A Northern Retreat. XX. Louis Philippe's Visit.--The Opening Of The Royal Exchange. CHAPTER I. SIXTY-THREE YEARS SINCE. The 24th of May, 1819, was a memorable and happy day for England, though like many such days, it was little noticed at the time. Sixty-three years since! Do many of us quite realise what England was like then; how much it differed from the England of to-day, even though some of us have lived as many years? It is worth while devoting a chapter to an attempt to recall that England. A famous novel had for its second heading, "'Tis sixty years since." That novel--"Waverley"--was published anonymously just five years before 1819, and, we need not say, proved an era in literature. The sixty years behind him to which Walter Scott--a man of forty-three--looked over his shoulder, carried him as far back as the landing of Prince Charlie in Moidart, and the brief romantic campaign of the '45, with the Jacobite songs which embalmed it and kept it fresh in Scotch memories.