His appetite
is fine. He states that he is reading 'Cornelius Nepos,' with which he
is much interested. His masters report," &c. And though Dr. Birch wrote
by the same mail a longer, fuller, and official statement, I have
no doubt the distant parents preferred the friend's letter, with its
artless, possibly ungrammatical, account of their little darling.
I have seen the young heir of Britain. These eyes have beheld him and
his bride, on Saturday in Pall Mall, and on Tuesday in the nave of St.
George's Chapel at Windsor, when the young Princess Alexandra of Denmark
passed by with her blooming procession of bridesmaids; and half an
hour later, when the Princess of Wales came forth from the chapel, her
husband by her side robed in the purple mantle of the famous Order which
his forefather established here five hundred years ago. We were to see
her yet once again, when her open carriage passed out of the Castle
gate to the station of the near railway which was to convey her to
Southampton.
Since womankind existed, has any woman ever had such a greeting? At ten
hours' distance, there is a city far more magnificent than ours. With
every respect for Kensington turnpike, I own that the Arc de l'Etoile
at Paris is a much finer entrance to an imperial capital.
Pages:
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472