Produced by Jonathan Ingram, S.R. Ellison, and Project
Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
1819-1901
[ILLUSTRATION: QUEEN VICTORIA. (From a Photograph by Russell & Son.)]
'Her court was pure, her life serene;
God gave her peace; her land reposed;
A thousand claims to reverence closed
In her as Mother, Wife, and Queen.'
'God bless the Queen for all her unwearied goodness! I admire her as awoman, love her as a friend, and reverence her as a Queen. Her courage,patience, and endurance are marvellous to me.'
'A Prince indeed,
Beyond all titles, and a household name,
Hereafter, through all time, Albert the Good.'
This brief life of Queen Victoria gives the salient features of her reign,including the domestic and public life, with a glance at the wonderfulhistory and progress of our country during the past half-century. In thespace at command it has been impossible to give extended treatment. Thehistory is necessarily very brief, as also the account of the public andprivate life, yet it is believed no really important feature of her lifeand reign has been omitted.
It is a duty, incumbent on old and young alike, as well as a pleasingprivilege, to mark how freedom has slowly 'broadened down, from precedentto precedent,' and how knowledge, wealth, and well-being are more widelydistributed to-day than at any former period of our history. And thisknowledge can only increase the gratitude of the reader for the goldenreign of Queen Victoria, of whom it has been truly written:
A thousand claims to reverence closed
In her as Mother, Wife, and Queen.