He soon became the Prince's confidential adviser, and his unrivalled
knowledge and strict sense of truth and duty proved of the utmost
value.

He endeared himself to both the Queen and the Prince, and successive
statesmen trusted him absolutely for his freedom from prejudice and
for his sincerity.

In 1842 he drew up for the Queen some rules for the education of her
children. "A man's education begins the first day of his life," was
one of his maxims. He insisted that "the education of the royal
infants ought to be from its earliest beginning _a truly moral and
a truly English one_." The persons to whom the children are entrusted
should receive the full support and confidence of the parents,
otherwise "education lacks its very soul and vitality." He suggested
that a lady of rank should be placed at the head of the nursery, as
being better able to understand the responsibilities and duties
attached to the education and upbringing of the Queen's children.

His advice was again taken when it was necessary to settle upon what
plan the young Prince of Wales should be educated.

Stockmar's judgment of men was singularly correct and just. He formed
the highest opinion of Sir Robert Peel, and on the Duke of
Wellington's death in 1852 he wrote in a letter to the Prince a
masterly analysis of the great commander's character, concluding
with these words: "As the times we live in cannot fail to present
your Royal Highness with great and worthy occasions to distinguish
yourself, you should not shrink from turning them to account . . .
as Wellington did, for the good of all, yet without detriment to
yourself."

The Prince corresponded regularly with 'the good Stockmar,' and
always in time of doubt and trial came sage counsel from his trusted
friend. In fact, the Prince took both the Queen and his friend equally
into his confidence; they were the two to whom he could unbosom
himself with entire freedom.

Disraeli, afterward Lord Beaconsfield, obtained the Queen's fullest
confidence and won her friendship to an extent which no Minister
since Melbourne had ever been able to do. 'Dizzy,' the leader of the
'Young England' party, the writer of political novels, was a very
different person from the statesman of later years. It is difficult
to remember or to realize in these days that it was looked upon as
something quite extraordinary for a member of a once despised and
persecuted race, the Jews, to hold high office. The annual