The influence wielded upon Society by the Prince of Wales, during nearly forty years of public life, was so marked and important as to merit extended consideration. Society, of course, in such a connection includes much more than any particular set of persons however select, or distinguished, or aristocratic; it means, in fact, all the varied social circles, high and low, which have recognized principles of etiquette and intercourse and common customs of amusement and fashion. Taken in this wide sense of the word, no personage in the history of Europe during the nineteenth century wielded so great an influence as His Royal Highness. He helped to make the unbounded after-dinner drinking of a previous period unpopular and socially un-orthodox; he encouraged in his more youthful days and always enjoyed the pleasures of dancing; he introduced very largely the popular fashion of a cigarette after dinner in place of endless heavy cigars and their accompaniment of liquors; he did much to encourage and popularize a love for music; he led the fashion in the matter of men's dress and, upon the whole, society in most civilized countries has to thank him for simple and dignified customs in this respect; he supported the race-course with courage and persistence and not only made racing more popular but helped to establish its code and operation upon a high plane of honour--by far the highest and cleanest in the world; he made charity and the support of its varied public institutions popular and fashionable; he showed the gilded youth of a great social world that work was a good thing for a Prince and a peer as well as for a peasant; he, with his beautiful wife, presented for many years a model home and family life to the nation and they, together, discouraged many of the petty vices and small faults which creep into all social systems from time to time. LIFE AT MARLBOROUGH HOUSE