Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen — Volume 1Tytler, Sarah
History
Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen — Volume 1
Tytler, Sarah
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901
A month later, on the 28th of August, the Queen went by railway to
Southampton, in order to go on board the royal yacht for a trip to the
Isle of Wight and the Devonshire coast. At Southampton Pier, the rain was
falling heavily. Her Majesty had been received by the Mayor and
Corporation, the Duke of Wellington, and other official personages, when
it was discovered that there was not sufficient covering for the stage or
gangway, which was to be run out between the pier and the yacht. Then the
members of the Southampton Corporation were moved to follow the example of
Sir Walter Raleigh in the service which introduced him to the notice of
Queen Elizabeth. They pulled off their red gowns, spread them on the
gangway, and so procured a dry footing for her Majesty.
Lady Bloomfield, as Miss Liddell, in the capacity of Maid of Honour in
waiting, was with the Queen, and has furnished a few particulars of the
pleasant voyage. The Queen landed frequently, returning to the yacht at
night and sleeping on board. At the Isle of Wight she visited Norris
Castle, where she had stayed in her youth, asking to see some of the
rooms, and walking on the terrace. She told her companions that she would
willingly have bought the place but could not afford it. At one point all
the party except Lady Canning were overcome by sea sickness, which is no
respecter of persons. At Dartmouth the Queen entered her barge and was
rowed round the harbour, for the better inspection of the place, and the
gratification of the multitude on the quays and in every description of
sailing craft. At Plymouth the visitors landed and proceeded to Mount
Edgcumbe, the beautiful seat of the Edgcumbe family. Wherever her Majesty
went she made collections of flowers, which she had dried and kept as
mementoes of the scenes in which they had been gathered. In driving
through Plymouth, the crowd was so great, and pressed so much on the
escort, that the infantry bayonets crossed in the carriages.
At Falmouth, the Queen was again rowed in her barge round the harbour, but
the concourse of small boats became dangerous, as their occupants deserted
the helms and rushed to one side to see the Queen, and the royal barge
could only be extricated by the rowers exerting their utmost strength and
skill, and forcing a passage through the swarming flotilla. The Mayor of
Falmouth was a Quaker, and asked permission to keep on his hat while
reading his address to the Queen. The Mayor of Truro, who with the Mayor
of Penryn had accompanied their official brother when he put off in a
small boat to intercept her Majesty in her circuit round the harbour, was
doomed to play a more undignified part. He unluckily overleaped himself
and fell into the water, so that he and his address, being too wet for
presentation, were obliged to be put on shore again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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