[29] Morley, II, 574-5. [30] Buckle, V, 414. [31] _Quarterly Review_, CXCIII, 334. [32] Lee, 434-5. [33] Buckle, V, 339. [34] _Ibid_., V, 384. [35] _Ibid._, VI, 468. [36] Buckle, VI, 629. [37] _Ibid._, VI, 248. [38] _Ibid._, VI, 246-7. [39] Buckle, VI, 464-7. [40] Buckle, VI, 238. [41] _Ibid._, VI, 462. [42] Buckle, V, 414-5. [43] _Ibid._, V, 456-8; VI, 457-8. [44] Buckle, V, 468-9, 473. [45] Hamilton, 120; _Quarterly Review_, CXXXIX, 334. [46] Buckle, VI, 106-7. [47] Buckle, VI, 144. [48] _Ibid._, VI, 150. [49] _Ibid._, VI, 154. [50] _Ibid._, VI, 217. [51] Buckle, VI, 157-9. [52] _Ibid._, VI, 132. [53] _Ibid._, VI, 148. [54] _Ibid._, VI, 217. [55] Buckle, VI, 243-5. [56] _Ibid._. VI, 190. [57] Lee, 445-6. [58] Buckle, VI, 613-4. {269} CHAPTER IX OLD AGE I Meanwhile in Victoria's private life many changes and developments had taken place. With the marriages of her elder children her family circle widened; grandchildren appeared; and a multitude of new domestic interests sprang up. The death of King Leopold in 1865 had removed the predominant figure of the older generation, and the functions he had performed as the centre and adviser of a large group of relatives in Germany and in England devolved upon Victoria. These functions she discharged with unremitting industry, carrying on an enormous correspondence, and following with absorbed interest every detail in the lives of the ever-ramifying cousinhood. And she tasted to the full both the joys and the pains of family affection. She took a particular delight in her grandchildren, to whom she showed an indulgence which their parents had not always enjoyed, though, even to her grandchildren, she could be, when the occasion demanded it, severe. The eldest of them, the little Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, was a remarkably headstrong child; he dared to be impertinent even to his grandmother; and once, when she told him to bow to a visitor at Osborne, he disobeyed her outright. This would not do: the order was sternly repeated, and the naughty boy, noticing {270} that his kind grandmama had suddenly turned into a most terrifying lady, submitted his will to hers, and bowed very low indeed.[1] [Illustration: QUEEN VICTORIA IN 1897.]