the affectionate
anxiety of the royal mother, and brothers and sisters; and how the
Prince himself, when he recovered consciousness, asked thoughtfully
about the condition of the servant, who died of the same fever
which nearly proved fatal to his master.

Had the Prince been "taken" at this period of his life, history would
have recorded the loss in terms of tender regret, such as had been, more
than once, felt towards Princes of Wales who died before coming to the
throne. The eldest son of James I., for instance, was long remembered
with deepest sorrow, so much was he loved, and so large the hopes of the
nation which had been centered in him. Had our Prince been lost in that
illness, there would have been another instance of what inspired one of
the noblest of all passages in classic literature, the "_Tu Marcellus
eris_" of Virgil. Happily it was otherwise ordained, and the enthusiasm
of joyful thankfulness at the recovery of the Prince was as truly
national as had been the anxiety and grief at his illness. The special
Thanksgiving Collect, written by the Archbishop of Canterbury, expressed
well the universal feeling of the nation:--

"O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, we thank Thee that Thou
hast heard the prayers of this nation in the day of our trial. We praise
and magnify Thy glorious name for that Thou hast raised Thy servant
Albert Edward Prince of Wales from the bed of sickness. Thou castest
down and Thou liftest up, and health and strength are Thy gifts. We pray
Thee to perfect the recovery of Thy servant, and to crown him day by day
with more abundant blessings both for body and soul; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen."

When the Thanksgiving day was proclaimed, it was still doubtful whether
the Prince himself would be allowed by his medical attendants to risk
the winter journey for Osborne, along with the Queen. But his own desire
to be present nerved him for the effort, and he obtained the assent of
Sir James Paget, who had gone specially to give his opinion.

The danger had increased in the end of November and the first weeks of
December. The first hopeful announcement was made on December 17th, and
on January 3rd convalescence had decidedly begun. A public thanksgiving
service was proclaimed for the 21st of January. On February 22nd the
Letter of the Queen to the nation was published, and then followed the
National Thanksgiving Service in St. Paul's on the 27th.

With regard to the Royal