FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



thought of what was happening to the Heir- 

 Apparent. At such times minutes seem to possess 

 the longevity of hours, but even the worst of 

 nightmares lasts but a brief spell, and in detach- 

 ments, somewhat dishevelled, but otherwise no 

 worse for what we had gone through, we reached 

 the horse ring, where, to our intense relief, we 

 found his Royal Highness safe and sound, with 

 nothing in his glance to indicate that he had 

 experienced anything unusual. The people, with 

 whatever lack of consideration they might have 

 had for the rest of the party, whom they probably 

 regarded as of no particular account, did not 

 permit their exuberant demonstration of loyalty 

 to interfere with the progress of their Prince. 

 They somehow kept a passage for him, so that 

 he passed through their midst without let or 

 hindrance, and with no fear except perhaps that 

 arising from the thought that the crowd's self- 

 imposed barrier might not be strong enough to 

 withstand the stress and strain to which it was 

 subjected. 



Our apprehensions were soon further relieved 

 by the Prince himself, for he turned to Lord 

 Allington with a cheery smile and the remark, 

 " How well the people behaved ! ?: And thus, 

 as with the wave of a Prospero's wand, were our 

 fears dissipated, and the capacity of Royalty for 

 putting all around at their ease was brought 

 home to us. 



His late Majesty, together with Queen Alex- 

 andra, then Princess of Wales, next visited the 

 show in 1896, when it was held at St. Albans. 

 It was, happily, a day of brilliant sunshine, and 



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