504 Right Hon. Viscount Esher [March 5, 



Tamburini, came out and were loudly applauded. The two last 

 always make a separate bow to our box, wliichis very amusing to see. 

 We came away immediately after the Opera was over, for the ballet is 

 not worth seeing since La Deesse de la Danse has flown back to Paris 

 again. She appeared for the last time on Saturday, the 4th of this 

 month. We came home at 10 minutes to 12. I was higlily amused 

 and pleased ! We came in while Tamburini was singing his song, 

 which is just before the lovely duet between Grisi and Lablache." 



The Girl Queen. 



Then suddenly, this young girl was awakened out of sleep, and 

 found an Archbishop kneeling at her slippered feet, acclaiming her 

 Queen. The passage is well known, and is published in the corre- 

 spondence. 



" I was awoke at 6 o'clock by Mama, who told me that the Arch- 

 bishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to 

 see me. I got out of bed, and went into my sitting room (only in my 

 dressing gown) and alone, and saw them." 



A few lines further on she writes : — 



" Since it has pleased Providence to place me in this station, I 

 shall do my utmost to fulfil my duty towards my country ; I am very 

 young, and perhaps in many, though not in all things, inexperienced, 

 but I am sure that very few have more real good will and more real 

 desire to do what is fit and right than I have." 



Then again, writing the account of this, to her, most wonderful 

 day, she says : — 



" At 9 came Lord Melbourne, whom I saw in my room, and of 

 course quite alone, as I shall always do all my Ministers. He kissed 

 my hand, and I then acquainted him that it had long been my inten- 

 tion to retain him and the rest of the present Ministry at the head 

 of affairs, and that it could not be in better hands than his. He 

 again then kissed my hand." 



Her 18th Birthday. 



The Queen was 18 years and three weeks old. There had been 

 potent forces at work moulding her character, and preparing her for 

 this supreme moment. Three weeks before she writes in her un- 

 published journal : — 



" Wednesday, 24th May. — To-day is my 18th birthday ! How 

 old ! and yet how far am I from being what I should be. I shall 

 from this day take the ^rm resolution to study with renewed assiduity, 

 to keep my attention always well fixed on whatever I am about, and 



