cation should be of a different kind. The task
of governing well was becoming more and more difficult, and reigning
monarchs were criticized in an open fashion, such as had not hitherto
been possible. After much thought the post was given to Mr Henry Birch
(formerly a master at Eton College, and at that time rector of
Prestwich, near Manchester), who had made a very favourable
impression upon the Queen and her husband.

Plain people as well as princes must be educated, and this fact was
never lost sight of by the Queen and her husband. In 1857 the Prince
called attention to the fact that there were at that time no fewer
than 600,000 children between the ages of three and fifteen absent
from school but known to be employed in some way; he pointed out
also--and this seems in these days difficult to believe--that no less
than _two million_ children were not attending school, and were, so
far as could be ascertained, not employed in any way at all.

[Illustration: BUCKINGHAM PALACE]

The most interesting visitors whom the Queen entertained during her
early married life were the Emperor Nicholas of Russia and Louis
Napoleon of France. The Emperor Nicholas came to England, as he told
the Queen, to see things with his own eyes, and to win, if he could,
the confidence of English statesmen. "I esteem England highly; but
as to what the French say of me, I care not."

He was, however, undoubtedly jealous of this country's growing
friendship with her old enemy, France, but any attempt to weaken this
met with no encouragement.

The Queen, in writing to her uncle Leopold, said, "He gives Albert
and myself the impression of a man who is _not_ happy, and on whom
the burden of his immense power and position weighs heavily and
painfully. He seldom smiles, and when he does, the expression is
_not_ a happy one. He is very easy to get on with." In a further letter
she continued, "By living in the same house together quietly and
unrestrainedly (and this Albert, and with great truth, says is the
great advantage of these visits, that I not only _see_ these great
people, but _know_ them), I got to know the Emperor and he to know
me. . . . He is sincere, I am certain, _sincere_ even in his most
despotic acts--from a sense that that _is_ the _only_ way to
govern. . . . He _feels_ kindness deeply--and his love for his wife
and children, and for all children, is _very_ great. He has a strong
feeling for domestic life, saying to me, when our c