birth to play the part that would have been filled by the Princess Charlotte and himself but for her early death. He had, of course, no absolute power to bring this marriage about, but he earnestly desired it, and prepared the way for it by every means at his command. He won, as he deserved to win, the Princess Victoria’s most ardent affection. She has told us herself how she “adored” her uncle. He took his mother, the Duchess Dowager of Coburg, a very able woman, into his confidence. She wholly shared his views and hopes. From the time he was three years old Prince Albert was accustomed to the idea that when he was old enough he was to marry his cousin, Princess Victoria of England. The first mention of Prince Albert as a husband was made to the Queen by her uncle Leopold. The education of both children was conducted with this end in view. This was no doubt a chief bone of contention between Prince Leopold and his sister the Duchess of Kent on the one hand, and the King and his party on the other. For William IV. highly disapproved of the proposed union, and did everything in his power to stop it, proposing in succession no fewer than five other marriages for the young Princess. It throws a light too on his resentment at the degree to which the Princess Victoria was withdrawn from his Court, so that hardly any influence could reach her antagonistic to that of her uncle Leopold. William IV.’s explosions of rage against the Duchess of Kent are illustrative of this; they are those of a stupid man, nominally in a position of authority, but baffled and outwitted, and consequently furious. It was well for the Princess Victoria and for England too that he was not the predominant influence in her education; but it is not difficult to understand his wrath. The game of cross purposes was constantly going on, and the King was constantly being worsted. The Duchess of Kent selected as her daughter’s tutor the Rev. George Davys. The King objected that the education of the heiress-presumptive to the throne should be under the care of some distinguished prelate. The Duchess acquiesced, and, while retaining the services of Dr. Davys, intimated that there would be no objection on her part to his receiving the highest ecclesiastical preferment. A very extensive knowledge of human nature is not needed to know that this sort of thing is to the last degree irritating, nor that the fact of the Duchess and her brother being generally in the right, and the King generally in the wrong, was not soothing to the latter.[3]