It is to be hoped that some day a life of the King may be written in which more stress may be laid upon the noble features of his nature, and not such exaggerated weight given to those transient foibles which mark the first escape of an ardent youth from pedagogic thraldom. He had one characteristic for which we may go back to the simile of the brilliant. No diamond could be more purely clear and honest than King Edward, and it was that pellucid truthfulness which made him so powerful in his relations with foreign sovereigns and statesmen: they knew that when they were dealing with him they had to do with a King as honest as Nathanael, a man in whom was no guile. There is a sentence in the notice of the King in the “Dictionary of National Biography” which calls for some observation. In connection with Mr. Asquith’s famous visit to Biarritz to kiss hands on becoming Prime Minister, we are told that “the King’s health was held to justify the breach of etiquette. But the episode brought into strong relief the King’s aloofness from the working of politics, and a certain disinclination hastily to adapt his private plans to political emergencies.” That, I affirm, gives a most unfair idea of the King’s attitude to his duties. I have given the reasons, not generally understood, which occasioned his visits to Biarritz. People saw a strongly built, burly man and they were slow to recognize in him an invalid whose days were numbered. As regards the last part of my quotation, I dare assert that it is entirely unjust. For forty years—from 1861 to 1901—as Prince of Wales, he, then a very young man, constantly had to sacrifice his own inclinations for the performance of duties the dullness of which was often of the most wearisome character. Those duties were carried out with a geniality which made men believe that he was really enjoying himself, and for that they loved him. He was keen on sport, was gay and happy in amusement, delighted in the theatre and the Opera, and in society, but never was this side of his character allowed to hinder duty. “It is all so interesting,” was a speech of his which I have quoted once before, in regard to the political work that became his portion as King, and which we are asked to believe that he neglected.