nd frugality accumulating a fortune
which will make the royal family almost independent of a parliamentary
grant in excess of the income which the Crown revenues represent, she is
no doubt acting with that deep good sense and prudence which are a part
of her character. And here we may just explain that the Crown revenues
are derived from the property which has always been the appanage of the
English sovereign from the Norman Conquest. For a long time past the
custom has been to give this up to the country, with the understanding
that it cannot be alienated, and to accept, in lieu thereof, a
parliamentary grant of income. This Crown property is of immense value.
It includes a large strip of the best part of London. All the clubs in
Pall Mall, for instance, the Carlton, United Service, Travelers',
Reform; Marlborough House, The Guards Club, Stafford House, Carlton
House Terrace, Carlton Gardens--which pay the highest rents in
London--stand on Crown land; as do Montague House, the duke of
Buccleuch's, Dover House, etc. But this property suffers very much from
the fact of its being inalienable. It can only be leased. The whole of
the New Forest is Crown land, and it is estimated that if sold it would
fetch millions, whereas it is now nearly valueless. If the royal family
could use their Crown lands, just as those noblemen who have received
grants from sovereigns use theirs, it would be the wealthiest in
England, and would have no need to come to Parliament for funds.

Half of the people who howl about the expense of royalty know nothing
about these Crown lands, which really belong to royalty at least as much
as the property of those holding estates originally granted by kings
belongs to such proprietors, and if exception were taken to such tenures
scarcely any title in England would be safe.

Taking her, then, for all in all, Queen Victoria is not only the best,
but probably the cheapest, sovereign England ever had; and her people,
although inclined, as is their wont, to grumble that she doesn't spend a
little more money, feel that she has so few faults that they can well
afford to overlook this. Deeply loved by them, she is yet more
respected.

REGINALD WYNFORD.

FOOTNOTES:

[B] How the revenues of the duchy of Cornwall have grown under the
admirable management instituted by the late prince-consort, who
discovered that peculation and negligence were combining to dissipate
his eldest son's splendid heritage, the follo