hman, except, perhaps, Mr. Gladstone. But Mr.
Gladstone stands on level ground with his countrymen. If he is
attacked or misrepresented, he can hit back again. The position of
the Prince of Wales imposes upon him the impassivity of the target
used in ordinary rifle practice. Whatever is said or written about
him, he can make no reply, and the happy result which in the main
follows upon this necessary attitude suggests that it might with
advantage be more widely adopted.

Probably in the dead, unhappy night when the rain was on the roof
and the Tranby Croft scandal was on everybody's tongue, the Prince
of Wales had some bad quarters of an hour. But whatever he felt or
suffered, he made no sign. To see him sitting in the chair on the
bench in court whilst that famous trial was proceeding, no one, not
having prior knowledge of the fact, would have guessed that he had
the slightest personal interest in the affair. There was danger of
his even over-doing the attitude of indifference. But he escaped it,
and was exactly as smiling, debonair and courtly as if he were in
his box at the theatre watching the development of some quite other
dramatic performance. He has all the courage of his race, and his
long training has steeled his nerves.

It would be so easy for the Prince of Wales to make mistakes that
would alienate from him the affection which is now his in unstinted
measure. There are plenty of precedents, and a fatal fulness of
exemplars. Take, for example, his relations with political life. It
would not be possible for him now, as a Prince of Wales did at the
beginning of the century, to form a Parliamentary party, and
control votes in the House of Commons by cabals hatched at
Marlborough House. But he might, if he were so disposed, in less
occult ways meddle in politics. As a matter of fact, noteworthy and
of highest honour to the Prince, the outside public have not the
slightest idea to which side of politics his mind is biassed. They
know all about his private life, what he eats, and how much; how he
dresses, whom he talks to, what he does from the comparatively
early hour at which he rises to the decidedly late one at which he
goes to bed. But in all the gossip daily poured forth about him
there is never a hint as to whether he prefers the politics of Tory
or Liberal, the company of Lord Salisbury or Mr. Gladstone.

In a country where every man in whatever station of life is a keen
politician, this is a great thi