* * * * * We will end our account of the royal poetess by reminding our English readers that the Prince of Wales paid a visit to Sinaia in October 1888. His Royal Highness was delighted with the beauty of the place and with the arrangements made, in the Queen’s happiest vein, for his entertainment. Among these may be mentioned an elaborate series of _tableaux vivants_, prepared and executed, under the Queen’s personal supervision, by members of her Majesty’s household, and representing the thirteen letters contained in Prince of Wales. The scenes were mostly from Shakespeare, the last of all giving a vivid rendering of the Tavern Scene from “Henry IV.,” in which Falstaff recounts his exploits to the future victor of Agincourt. * * * * * We have learnt to know Carmen Sylva’s old and new home, and have followed her through happy and sorrowful days. We have seen that she has inherited her rich treasures of heart and mind from noble ancestors. Her enthusiastic love of nature and her interest in all its phenomena does not belie her descent from the princely family of Wied. She has a decided gift for music, painting, and poetry, with a leaning towards philosophical thought, as also an unbiassed judgment and great modesty, notwithstanding the richness of her creative fancy. We have also gathered that the Queen has qualities which she not only expresses in her poetry, but that an ideal is carried out in her life. By means of this all-pervading and elevating power which her Majesty possesses, and with which she influences others, this idea has been developed in her labours as a Princess and as a Queen. As a woman, as a Princess, and as a Queen, she is to be reckoned amongst the noblest and most distinguished of her sex. “For not in what we experience, but in our manner of understanding and realising it, lies the deep meaning of human life and what it brings to us. Not many and various events constitute its richness, for in the midst of them it can be empty and vain, and, though outwardly monotonous, it can yet be perpetually changing and abundantly blest. The better we understand this, the more will life itself be our educator and schoolmaster, whose influence over us will be stronger than any other. Well does Goethe say as the conclusion of his deepest and most magnificent conception-- “All things transitory But as symbols are sent.” THE END. PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. EDINBURGH AND LONDON. [Illustration: In life’s deep sorrow, grief and pain, Where None to me belov’d remain, I ever heard the thrilling strain: Oh! serve the Lord with gladness! In shaking storms and anguish past, When hope and joy away were cast, It oft came sounding thro’ the blast: Oh! serve the Lord with gladness!