ful eyes in telling that one was called Albert, like himself."

It has been already mentioned that the young princes bore the same names as Ernest and Albert, the sons of the Elector Frederick the Mild, who gave their names to the two branches into which the Saxon family was thenceforward divided. The story represented in the picture above mentioned was, that these princes were stolen in infancy from the schloss of Altenburg by one Kunz of Kauffungen, chamberlain to the Elector, in revenge for having been compelled to restore property that, during some disturbances, had been trusted to his care.

"The boys are very wild"-the dowager duchess I writes on the 9th of May-" and Ernest flies about like a swallow. One need not, therefore, be astonished at his catching cold during these few warm days, with the wind getting up in the evening.

"Florschütz, who has been with Mensdorff's boys, will come now to those of Ernest, of which I am glad. Do not yet tease your little puss with learning. She is so young still."

The Princess Victoria, who is thus alluded to, would not be four years old till the 24th of that month.

CHAPTER II.

1823-1826.

The Princes removed to the Care of a Tutor.-Prince Albert's first Journal and Letters.-Visits to Gotha.-Letters from the Dowager Duchess of Gotha.

PRINCE ERNEST was barely five years old, and Prince Albert not yet four, when the change alluded to at the end of the last chapter took place, and the young princes were removed from the care of the nurse to whom they had been hitherto intrusted to that of Herr Florschütz of Coburg.

It is generally a severe trial to a child to be separated for the first time from the nurse by whom it has been hitherto tended and cared for; but the Prince, even as a child, showed a great dislike to being in the charge of women, and rejoiced instead of sorrowing over the contemplated change.* His gentle and docile temper, too -his natural tenderness of heart and readiness to love those from whom he experienced kindness-soon led him to attach himself with all the warmth of a loving nature to his new instructor; and it was a source of just and honest pride to the tutor, that the attachment and friendship thus begun endured till the last moment of the Prince's life. Not that the Prince ever forgot-it was not in his nature to forget-her to whom his infancy *Memorandum by the Queen.

owed its earliest care; and Mr. Florschütz relates that many little acts of kindness in after years gave Mme. Müller the grateful assurance of his remembrance of her. From this time forward Mr. Florschütz had the sole direction of the young princes' education till they left Bonn, fifteen years later, at the close of their academical career; and admirably did he perform his task. Noth ing could exceed the patience and unintermitting zeal with which he gave himself up to his new duties; and the progress made by both princes-their varied attainments and extensive information, with the habits which they acquired of application, and of careful and accurate investigation of all subjects submitted to them-gave indisputable proof of the skill and judgment with which he directed their studies. The transfer of the children, however, from the care of their nurse to that of a tutor, alarmed their maternal grandmother at Gotha, and in her tender solicitude, fearing danger to their health from the change thus made, she wrote as follows to the duke on the 23d of November, 1823:

"That the precious children are well makes me very happy, and I long intensely to see them again. I am only sorry that they are now in the hands of the tutor. It is, no doubt, quite right, but I could have wished that, being so subject to attacks of croup, they should still have slept with Müller (their nurse); for a woman, accustomed as Müller has been for so many years to be with the children, naturally sleeps much less soundly than a man who is not used to be with little children.

"Should one of them be suddenly seized with a fit of croup, and he should not be awake, the consequences

might be serious. I could, therefore, have wished that their careful nurse should still have slept with the children till Albertinchen was seven years old. Forgive the anxiety of a grandmother."

When the Duchess of Gotha wrote thus, Prince Albert was still only four years and three months old-certainly rather an early age at which to remove a boy from the care of a nurse to that of a man who could have no experience in infantine disorders, and could know nothing of the many little cares and attentions on which the comfort and health of children so much depend.

Nothing was more remarkable, even in infancy, than the unselfish affection which united the two brothers. "Brought up together," says Mr. Florschütz, "they went hand-in-hand in all things, whether at work or at play. Engaging in the same pursuits, sharing the same joys and the same sorrows, they were bound to each other by no common feelings of mutual love." And this mutual love endured without interruption and without diminution through life.

"Even in infancy, however," their tutor continues, "a marked difference was observable in their characters and dispositions. This difference naturally became more apparent as years went on, and their separate paths in life were definitely marked out for them; yet, far from leading at any time to any, even momentary estrangement, it seems rather to have afforded a closer bond of union between them."

A striking proof of the warm affection which united them will be found in a touching letter from Prince Ernest to the Queen, written when his brother's marriage

was settled, and inserted in its proper place, in which he speaks of the rare qualities and virtues that already distinguished Prince Albert above all his young associates.

Mr. Florschütz describes the young Prince as being singularly easy to instruct; and this, notwithstanding the difficulties thrown constantly in the way by the injudicious, as he considers it, partiality of their mother; by the irregularity of hours, and the interruptions occasioned by their frequent changes of residence, and general mode of life. His complaints on this subject are fully detailed in a memorandum of his early recollections, which will be found presently, inserted at length.

The intellectual and thoughtful turn of the Prince's character, and his love of order, were even at this early age conspicuous. His studies were a pleasure to him, not a task. His constant love of occupation-for, in the words of his tutor, "to do something was with him a necessity"—his perseverance and application were only equaled by his facility of comprehension.

This eager desire for knowledge did not, however, lessen his enjoyment of the active sports and amusements which generally have, and ought to have, so much attraction for boys. Indeed, he seems to have thrown himself into his bodily exercises with the same zeal with which he devoted himself to his studies, and to have entered into the games of boyhood with all the glee and zest of an ardent and energetic spirit. In these games with his brother and his young companions, his was the directing mind. Nor was he at times indisposed to resort to force, if his wishes were not at once complied with.*

* Memorandum by Mr. Florschütz.