{"product_id":"2940013564954","title":"LIFE OF HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE QUEEN VOLUME I","description":"PREFACE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have been asked to write a few words of preface to this work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf the life-long friendship of my mother with her Majesty, which gained\u003cbr\u003efor me the honour of often seeing the Queen, or a deep feeling of loyalty\u003cbr\u003eand affection for our sovereign, which is shared by all her subjects, be\u003cbr\u003eaccepted as a qualification, I gratefully respond to the call, but I feel\u003cbr\u003ethat no written words of mine can add value to the following pages.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLooking over some papers lately, I found the following note on a sketch\u003cbr\u003ewhich I had accidentally met with in Windsor Castle--a coloured chalk\u003cbr\u003edrawing, a mere study of one of the Queen's hands, by Sir David Wilkie,\u003cbr\u003eprobably made for his picture now in the corridor of the Castle,\u003cbr\u003erepresenting the first council of Victoria. Of this sketch I wrote as\u003cbr\u003efollows:--\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I was looking in one of the private rooms at Windsor Castle at a chalk\u003cbr\u003esketch, by Sir David Wilkie, of a fair, soft, long-fingered, dimpled\u003cbr\u003ehand, with a graceful wrist attached to a rounded arm. 'Only a woman's\u003cbr\u003ehand,' might Swift, had he seen that sketch, have written below. Only a\u003cbr\u003esketch of a woman's hand; but what memories that sketch recalls! How many\u003cbr\u003eyears ago Wilkie drew it I know not: that great artist died in the month\u003cbr\u003eof June, 1841, so that more than forty years have passed, at least, since\u003cbr\u003ehe made that drawing. The hand that limned this work has long ago suffered\u003cbr\u003e'a sea change.' And the hand which he portrayed? That is still among the\u003cbr\u003eliving--still occupied with dispensing aid and comfort to the suffering\u003cbr\u003eand the afflicted, for the original is that of a Queen, beloved as widely\u003cbr\u003eas her realms extend--the best of sovereigns, the kindest-hearted of\u003cbr\u003ewomen.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo write the life of Queen Victoria is a task which many authors might\u003cbr\u003ewell have felt incompetent to undertake. To succeed in writing it is an\u003cbr\u003ehonour of which any author may well be proud. This honour I humbly think\u003cbr\u003ehas been realised in the work of which these poor lines may form the\u003cbr\u003epreface.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRONALD GOWER.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVOL. I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAP.\u003cbr\u003eI.     Sixty-Three Years Since.\u003cbr\u003eII.    Childhood.\u003cbr\u003eIII.   Youth.\u003cbr\u003eIV.    The Accession.\u003cbr\u003eV.     The Proroguing Of Parliament, The Visit To Guildhall; And The\u003cbr\u003e       Coronation.\u003cbr\u003eVI.    The Maiden Queen.\u003cbr\u003eVII.   The Betrothal.\u003cbr\u003eVIII.  The Marriage.\u003cbr\u003eIX.    A Royal Pair.\u003cbr\u003eX.     Royal Occupations.--An Attempt On The Queen's Life.\u003cbr\u003eXI.    The First Christening.--The Season Of 1841.\u003cbr\u003eXII.   Birth Of The Prince Of Wales.--The Afghan Disasters.--Visit Of The\u003cbr\u003e       King Of Prussia.--The Queen's Plantagenet Ball.\u003cbr\u003eXIII.  Fresh Attempts Against The Queen's Life.--Mendelssohn.--Death Of\u003cbr\u003e       The Duc D'Orleans.\u003cbr\u003eXIV.   The Queen's First Visit To Scotland.\u003cbr\u003eXV.    A Marriage, A Death, And A Birth In The Royal Family.--A Palace\u003cbr\u003e       Home.\u003cbr\u003eXVI.   The Condemnation Of The English Duel.--Another Marriage.--The\u003cbr\u003e       Queen's Visit To Chateau D'Eu.\u003cbr\u003eXVII.  The Queen's Trip To Ostend.--Visits To Drayton, Chatsworth, And\u003cbr\u003e       Belvoir.\u003cbr\u003eXVIII. Allies From Afar.--Death And Absence.--Birthday Greetings.\u003cbr\u003eXIX.   Royal Visitors.--The Birth Of Prince Alfred.--A Northern Retreat.\u003cbr\u003eXX.    Louis Philippe's Visit.--The Opening Of The Royal Exchange.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003eSIXTY-THREE YEARS SINCE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 24th of May, 1819, was a memorable and happy day for England, though\u003cbr\u003elike many such days, it was little noticed at the time. Sixty-three years\u003cbr\u003esince! Do many of us quite realise what England was like then; how much\u003cbr\u003eit differed from the England of to-day, even though some of us have lived\u003cbr\u003eas many years? It is worth while devoting a chapter to an attempt to\u003cbr\u003erecall that England.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA famous novel had for its second heading, \"'Tis sixty years since.\" That\u003cbr\u003enovel--\"Waverley\"--was published anonymously just five years before 1819,\u003cbr\u003eand, we need not say, proved an era in literature. The sixty years behind\u003cbr\u003ehim to which Walter Scott--a man of forty-three--looked over his shoulder,\u003cbr\u003ecarried him as far back as the landing of Prince Charlie in Moidart, and\u003cbr\u003ethe brief romantic campaign of the '45, with the Jacobite songs which\u003cbr\u003eembalmed it and kept it fresh in Scotch memories.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe wounds dealt at Waterloo still throbbed and burnt on occasions in\u003cbr\u003e1819. Many a scarred veteran and limping subaltern continued the heroes\u003cbr\u003eof remote towns and villages, or starred it at Bath or Tunbridge.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079580270832,"sku":"2940013564954","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013564954_p0.jpg?v=1763582426","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013564954","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}