revealed.

But till 1861 the queen was surrounded by all those who were dearest
to her, and she and the prince shared the sweet task of
superintending their children's education. Few parents more
anxiously considered the best methods for securing a sound moral and
religious training. "The greatest maxim of all," writes the queen,
"is that the children shall be brought up as simply and in as
domestic a way as possible, that (without interfering with their
lessons) they should be as much as possible with their parents, and
learn to place their greatest confidence in them in all things." As
to religious training, the queen's conviction was that it is best
when given to a child "day by day at his mother's knee." It was only
the great pressure of public duty which rendered it impossible for
her to fulfil her part so completely as she desired. "It is a hard
case for me," her majesty writes, in reference to the princess
royal, "that my occupations prevent me being with her when she says
her prayers."

The religious convictions of the queen and the Prince Consort were
deep. They both cared little for those mere accidents and
conventionalities of religion which so many magnify into essentials.
The prince, eminently devout, insisted on the realities of religion.
"We want not what is safe, but true," was his commentary on the
exaggerated outcry against "Essays and Reviews." "The Gospel, and
the unfettered right to its use," was his claim for Protestantism.
For his own spirit, like that of the queen, was truly religious. The
quiet evenings spent together before communion, and the directness
and reverence with which both served God were combined with an utter
abhorrence of all intolerance. Such qualities are generally
misunderstood by the narrow-minded, who have only their own
"shibboleths" to test all faith, and the one Church--whatever it may
be--that they regard as "true." The queen and the prince rose above
such distinctions; they shared the Catholicism of St. Paul, "Grace
be with all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity."

But these bright and happy years were doomed to a sudden ending. It
is only when we have realized all that her husband was to her that
we can measure how fearful was the blow to her loving heart when he
who was her pride and her constant companion was laid low. We may
well feel what a shattering it brought to all that hitherto had
enriched her life, and how very desolate her position became when