Queen Charlotte used to find the strict English Sunday hang heavily on her hands. Her industrious fingers "ached," as she said, "for employment. If I read all day my poor eyes get tired. I do not like to go to sleep, so I lock my door that nobody may be shocked, and take my knitting for a little while, and then I read a good book again." Her chief delight was needlework. When in the morning the weather was unfavourable, her Majesty occupied herself with needlework, and in the afternoon she worked while the King read to her. When it was known that the British troops in Holland required flannel waistcoats to screen them from the severe cold and insalubrity of the soil, the Queen Charlotte sent to London immediately for a large quantity of flannel, and she and the elder Princesses cut out several dozens on the very day it was sent. The poor in the neighbourhood of Windsor were employed in making the waistcoats. One of her most important acts in connection with needlework was the establishment of an institution for training and educating in an accomplished manner the daughters of poor clergy and decayed tradesmen. She purchased a house and grounds in Buckinghamshire, where a lady of high attainments was placed at a salary of £500 a year to instruct the pupils in plain needlework, embroidery, and tapestry. The work done in this institution was exquisite. For example, the dresses worn at Court on New Year's Day, 1787, by Queen Charlotte and the two elder Princesses were made there. The state bed of Queen Charlotte, together with several ottomans now in Hampton Court Palace, which are highly-finished pieces of embroidery, were executed by the pupils in this school. Few people knew how much good Queen Charlotte did in a quiet way. One never thinks of Catherine II. of Russia as devoting any time to needlework, yet we find that she worked and presented to Voltaire a likeness of herself, which he placed in his chamber at Ferney. It is still in existence in Ferney, but very much faded, and instead of hanging on the wall as formerly in the place of honour, it is now placed in a dark corner of the room. Once again needlework took a back place until our Queen Adelaide introduced it as a fashion, and required of all ladies who were invited guests at her Court that they should be good needlewomen, otherwise she could not receive them. It was a bold thing to do even for a queen, but it turned out well, causing ladies who took it up for convenience to become skilled workers and to like the occupation. Queen Adelaide herself was a beautiful needlewoman, and set an example to all her people. Thus we have seen how our queens have kept alive the useful and ornamental art of needlework--an art invented by woman and kept going by her for the necessities, comfort, and ornament of the whole peoples of the world.