one or two hundred extra mouths were in one way or another fed
at Her Majesty's expense. The stables, too, were formerly filled with
horses--and very fine ones they were--whereas now the number is greatly
reduced, and many of those in the royal mews are "jobbed"--_i.e._ hired
by the week or month, as occasion requires, from livery stables. This
poverty of the master of the horse's department excited much angry
comment on the occasion of the princess Alexandra's state entry into
London.

But besides the previously-mentioned L60,000 a year, and what residue
may be unspent from the rest of the "civil list," as the L385,000 is
called, Queen Victoria has two other sources of considerable income. She
is in her own right duchess of Lancaster. The property which goes with
the duchy of Lancaster belonged originally to Saxon noblemen who rose
against the Norman Conqueror. Their estates were confiscated, and in
1265 were in the possession of Robert Ferrers, earl of Derby. This
nobleman took part with Simon de Montfort in his rebellion, and was
deprived of all his estates in 1265 by Henry III., who bestowed them on
his youngest son, Edmund, commonly called Edmund Crouchback, whom he
created earl of Lancaster. From him dates the immediate connection
between royalty and the duchy. In 1310, Thomas, second earl of
Lancaster, son of Edmund Crouchback, married a great heiress, the only
child of De Lacy, earl of Lincoln. By this alliance he became the
wealthiest and most powerful subject of the Crown, possessing in right
of himself and his wife six earldoms, with all the jurisdiction which
under feudal tenure was annexed to such honors. In 1311 he became
involved in the combination formed by several nobles to induce the king
to part with Piers de Gaveston. The result of this conspiracy was that
the unhappy favorite was lynched in Warwick Castle. The king, Edward
II., was at first highly incensed, but ultimately pardoned the
conspirators, including the earl of Lancaster; but that very imprudent
personage, subsequently taking up arms against his sovereign, was
beheaded.

In 1326 an act was passed for reversing the attainder of Earl Thomas in
favor of his brother Henry, earl of Lancaster. Earl Henry left a son and
six daughters. The son was surnamed "Grismond," from the place of his
birth. He greatly distinguished himself in the French wars under Edward
III., and was the second knight companion of the Order of the Garter,
Edward "the Black