The example of France was followed in Belgium, a country which had been joined to Holland, so as to make but one kingdom, over which the Dutch king reigned. The Belgians fought hard, and succeeded in completely driving away the Dutch; after which they invited Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg to be their king. Although Prince Leopold would not be King of Greece, he accepted the kingdom of Belgium; and he afterwards married the Princess Louise, daughter of Louis Philippe, the new King of the French. He reigned a long time and wisely, and was succeeded by his son, Leopold the Second. I will now tell you of some improvements that were made in this reign, the principal of which is perhaps the forming of railways. The first that was opened in England was one between Liverpool and Manchester; and it was a very useful one. You know that the people at Manchester weave great quantities of cotton; so much, indeed, that the town is full of factories, where thousands of spinners and weavers are constantly at work. After the railway was opened, the work went on faster than ever, for as soon as the raw cotton arrived in bales from America to Liverpool, it was sent off by rail to Manchester; and as fast as it was spun and woven at Manchester, a great deal was sent back by rail to Liverpool, to be shipped off to America and other parts of the world. This kept a great many people at work, and as this railway seemed to do so much good, railways were very soon carried from one end of Britain to the other. Amongst the sad events of this reign, may be mentioned the appearance of the cholera in England, and a great fire which destroyed the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. William the Fourth died, after a reign of seven years, at the age of seventy-one; and his widowed queen, who then became Queen Dowager, survived him about twelve years, when she died, much loved and respected by the English people. CHAPTER LX. QUEEN VICTORIA.—1837. How Hanover was separated from England; how the Queen married her cousin, Prince Albert; how a fresh Revolution broke out in Paris, and how Louis Philippe escaped to England; how the Chartists held meetings; how we went to war with Russia; how the Sepoys mutinied in India; how the young men in Great Britain became Volunteers; how Parliament was reformed the second time, and means taken to educate the people; how there were a great many discoveries and improvements made. The Princess Victoria, niece of William the Fourth, succeeded him on the throne. She was the daughter of Edward Duke of Kent, the next brother of the late king. Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, was sister to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, King of the Belgians. A princess is of age to reign at eighteen; the Princess Victoria had happily attained that age a few weeks before she was called to be Queen of England.