is personal friends, and not
inviting any formal addresses from the representatives of municipal
corporations or other public bodies. Nevertheless, it may be permitted
to journalists, taking note of this period in the life of so important
a contemporary personage, to express their continued good wishes for
his health and happiness, and to indulge in a few retrospective
observations on his past career.

Born on Nov. 9, 1841, second of the offspring of Queen Victoria by her
marriage with the late Prince Consort, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales,
inherited the greatest blessing of humanity, that of having good
parents and wise guardians of his childhood and youth. His instruction
at home was, no doubt, wider in range of studies than that of ordinary
English boys, including an acquaintance with several European
languages and with modern history, needful to qualify him for the
duties of a prince. He was further educated at Christ Church, Oxford,
and at Trinity College, Cambridge; was enrolled a law student of the
Middle Temple and held a commission in the army.

His earliest appearance in a leading part on any public occasion was
in 1858 or 1859, we think at the laying of the foundation stone of the
Lambeth School of Art at Vauxhall; but after the lamented death of his
father, in December, 1861, the Prince of Wales naturally became the
most eminent and desirable performer of all ceremonies in which
beneficent or useful undertakings were to be recognized by royal
approval. This work has occupied a very large share of his time during
thirty years; and we can all testify that it has been discharged with
such frank good will, cordiality, and unaffected graciousness, with
such patient attention, diligence, and punctuality, as to deserve the
gratitude of large numbers of her Majesty's subjects in almost every
part of the kingdom. No prince of any country in any age has ever
personally exerted himself more constantly and faithfully, in
rendering services of this kind to the community, than the Prince of
Wales. The multiplicity and variety of his engagements, on behalf of
local and special objects of utility, would make a surprising list,
and they must have involved a sacrifice of ease and leisure, and
endurance of self-imposed restraint, a submission to tedious
repetitions of similar acts and scenes, and to continual requests and
importunities, which few men of high rank would like to undergo.

[Illustration: THE PRINCE OF WALES A