And so the years went on, bringing us from time to time assurances of the Queen's continued interest in Lady Martin and myself. In 1896, when the new Victorian Order was established, I was among the first on whom the Commandership of the Order was conferred. The Insignia of the Order reached me with the following letter:-- "BALMORAL CASTLE, _Sept. 14, 1896_. "The Queen has heard that Sir Theodore Martin will celebrate his 80th birthday on the 16th, which seems to her hardly possible from his appearance. She wishes him to accept her warmest and most heartfelt good wishes for his happiness and welfare for many a year. The Queen wishes on this occasion to mark her sense of Sir Theodore's valuable services, and sends him the decoration of Knight Commander of her new personal 'Victoria Order.' "She hopes Lady Martin has recovered from her last indisposition, and that no anxiety on her account may mar the happiness of this day." On every Christmas morning the Queen sent greetings and good wishes to my wife with an inscribed Christmas card, and to myself, with some framed work of art, or valuable book. In 1897, when all the world was alive with congratulations on the memorable celebration of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, the words which appeared in two of her perfect Addresses to her people inspired me to express, as before, what I conceived was in her heart in writing these Addresses. I give them here, because they were stamped with Her Majesty's approval. "The Queen," she wrote, "thanks Sir Theodore Martin very much for his most kind letter, and the Sonnets enclosed, which it has touched her much that he should write. Of course they may be published in the _Times_;" and they were published there accordingly. THE QUEEN AT ST PAUL'S. _June 22, 1897._ ["From my heart I thank my beloved people. May God bless them!"] Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me The praise be given, that my beloved land This day in all men's eyes from strand to strand Shines first in honour and in majesty; That borne from every clime, o'er every sea, Around me clustering close on every hand, Liegemen from far I see, a noble band, Type of a nobler Empire yet to be! Oh, my beloved people, yours the praise, Yours, who have kept the faith, that made your sires Free, fearless, faithful, through the nights and days, True to the zeal for right, that never tires; May God's best blessing rest on you always, And keep you blameless in your heart's desires! THE QUEEN AT KENSINGTON. _June 28, 1897._ ["I gladly renew my association with a place which, as the scene of my birth and my summons to the Throne, has had, and ever will have with me, tender and solemn recollections."]