finches have such a fine house to live in! Think of me very often, and bring me a doll that nods its head.

"Your little

ALBERT."

A visit to their maternal grandmother at Gotha seems now to have become an annual custom, and was the source of much happiness to her, fondly attached as she was to her grandchildren. She also came herself occasionally to Coburg, and in June, 1824, writes during one of these visits:

"The dear children are, thank God! perfectly well, and as happy and merry as one could wish. They delight so much in driving and walking about, that, if one were to ask them, they would say they never wished to go home."

And in July, 1825, when the young princes were again staying with her:

"I can give you," she says, "the very best account of our dear children. Nothing has ailed them, and I think that dear little Albert is grown decidedly fatter since he came. They lead a very simple and regular life, and are out in the open air as much as possible. They are so good and gentle, and give me great pleasure. I shall hope to restore them to you on your return in perfect health. . . The dear children wrote to you by the last post. The 'Rath' really does all he can for them, and you have a real treasure in him.

"I took the children to Reinhardsbrunn, where we spent a very happy day, and yesterday I went with them to Schmepfenthal, where they were perfectly happy. The director, Saltzmann, was delighted at my bringing

them, and invited them to come again. We should make many more such excursions if the weather was not so unsettled."

In the spring of 1826 we find the children spending two months at Gotha under the charge of the good duchess, and, while staying there, the Prince wrote constantly to his father. It might seem too trivial to give all his letters here, and the two following may be taken· as fair samples of the rest:

"1826.

"DEAR GOOD PAPA,-I am very well. I hope you are well. Thank you for your letter. We sometimes make expeditions from here. Last Sunday we went to Schnepfenthal, and dined with the school-boys. Three days afterward we went to Reinhardsbrunn, and walked in the Ungeheurer Grund, where we saw many big rocks, and on the biggest rock there was a falcon's nest. I long for the minerals you are going to bring us. There was a fair yesterday, and grandmamma gave me some money, and I bought myself some pretty things—-a Turkish crescent, a whip, an eagle, and a cross-bow. Think with love of your little

ALBERT."

"1826.

"DEAR PAPA,-I thank you for your letter. We were very merry yesterday. A great many children played with us. I wish you could have seen us.

love of your little

Think with ALBERT."

The last of the letters quoted above refers to a practice which was commenced in the winter of 1825, and was

continued without interruption for the next eight years, of having, every Sunday during the winter months, twelve or thirteen boys of their own age to play with them. In subsequent letters from the Prince, frequent allusion will be found to their young associates, and to the games in which they joined with them. From two till six they were allowed to play as they liked. From six till seven each boy had to recite something; in later years, discussions upon a given subject in some foreign language being substituted for these recitations.*

* Memorandum by the reigning Duke of Coburg.

CHAPTER III.

1826-1828.

Gotha added to the Possessions of the Duke of Coburg. - Difficulties of the Settlement.-Letters from the Dowager Duchess of Coburg.School Fête at the Rosenau.-Visits to Gotha.-Letters from the Dowager Duchess of Gotha.-Recollections of Count Arthur Mensdorff.

IN 1826, after considerable difficulty and discussion, the arrangement was completed by which the duchy of Gotha was given to the Duke of Coburg.

We need not enter here into the difficulties which attended the negotiations farther than they will be found noticed in some of the letters that follow from the Dowager Duchess of Coburg. Suffice it to say that, by the death, in 1825, without issue male, of Frederick, duke of SaxeGotha-Altenburg, the direct succession of the Gotha-Altenburg branch of the Ernestine line came to an end, and the inheritance passed to other branches of the same line. After much delay, owing chiefly to the exorbitant pretensions of the Duke of Meiningen, it was finally settled that, in consideration of the acquisition of the duchy of Gotha, the Duke of Coburg should cede that of Saalfeld to the Duke of Meiningen, Hildburghausen being also added to the inheritance of the latter duke; the Duke of Hildburghausen receiving in exchange the duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, and assuming that title.

"Ernest is very busy just now," writes the Dowager

Duchess of Coburg from Ketschendorf, on the 30th of May, 1826, "as the Saxon Commissioners are here to settle about the inheritance. It will be a difficult task, as the Duke of Meiningen and old K are very obstinate. General M is a good and sensible man, who would like to make all straight, and fears he will have to return to Dresden without any thing having been settled. . . He went first to Hildburghausen, taking with him the ultimatum of the old Duke of Meiningen, who is the senior of the Ernestine line. . . . The ultimatum was to the effect that the duke would enter into no arrangement except:

"1. That he should retain all his possessions, besides acquiring Hildburghausen, Coburg, and Saalfeld; that he should be the only Duke of Coburg, founding a new duchy of Coburg.

"2. Ernest to have Gotha (Hildburghausen, Altenburg), and to give up the name which your great-uncle and your brothers made so celebrated! Sis gone to Meiningen with the answer that Ernest will neither give up Coburg nor the name of his family."

To the Dowager Duchess of Gotha the termination of the Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg line, and the separation of those duchies, was an event inexpressibly painful; and she gives vent to her feelings in the following touching letter to the duke, which, as it relates exclusively to this subject, we insert here, though somewhat anticipating the date at which it was written. Second wife and widow of Duke Augustus, the predecessor of the duke just deceased, it will be remembered that she was step-mother