h one exception, all the rest, are the hands of
Her Majesty the Queen. They were executed in 1844, when Her Majesty had
sat upon the throne but seven years, and, if I do not greatly err, in
connection with the first statue of the Queen after her accession. They
will no doubt evoke much interest when compared with the hand of the
lamented Princess Alice, who was present at the first ceremony, an
infant in arms of eight months. In addition to that of the Princess
Alice, taken in 1872, we have the hands of the Princesses Louise and
Beatrice, all three of whom sat for portrait statues to Sir Edgar Boehm,
R.A., from whose studio, also, emanates the cast of the hand of the
Prince of Wales.

[Illustration: THE PRINCE OF WALES'S HAND.]

[Illustration: PRINCESS BEATRICE'S HANDS. PRINCESS LOUISE'S HAND.]

In each of the manual extremities thus presented of the Royal Family,
similar characteristics may be noticed. The dark hue which appears on
the surface of the hands of the two last named Princesses is not the
fault of the photograph but of the casts, which are, unfortunately, in a
soiled condition.

[Illustration: HAND OF ANAK, THE GIANT. HAND OF CAROLINE, SISTER OF
NAPOLEON.]

It is a circumstance not a little singular, but the only cast in this
collection which is anterior to the Queen's, itself appertains to
Royalty, being none other than the hand of Caroline, sister of the first
Napoleon, who also, it must not be forgotten, was a queen. It is
purposely coupled in the photograph with that of Anak, the famous French
giant, in order to exhibit the exact degree of its deficiency in that
quality which giants most and ladies least can afford to be complaisant
over size. Certainly it would be hard to deny it grace and exquisite
proportion, in which it resembles an even more beautiful hand, that of
the Greek lady, Zoe, wife of the late Archbishop of York, which seems to
breathe of Ionian mysticism and elegance.

[Illustration: HAND OF ZOE, WIFE OF THE LATE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK.]

[Illustration: MR. GLADSTONE'S HAND.]

[Illustration: LORD BEACONSFIELD'S HAND.]

One cannot dwell long upon this quality of grace and elegance without
adverting to a hand which, if not the most wonderful among the hands
masculine, is with one exception the most beautiful. When it is stated
that this cast of Mr. Gladstone's hand was executed by Mr. Adams-Acton,
quite recently; that one looks upon the hand not of a youth of twenty,
but of an octogen