1845

AT GOTHA.

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very deaf. . . . She was so happy to see us, and kissed me over and over again. Albert, who is the dearest being to her in the world, she was so enraptured to see again, and kissed so kindly. It did one's heart good to see her joy.'

In the afternoon the Royal party entered Gotha. At the outskirts of the town they were met by crowds of people. 'The peasant women not only wear a different costume, but look quite different; have longer faces, are dark, and handsomer. As we came into the town, it was beautifully decorated with festoons of flowers and wreaths suspended across the road.' At Friedrichsthal, the Duchess Dowager's palace, everything had been arranged for the reception of her favourites with the utmost care and forethought. She has hung in our rooms all the pictures from her two palaces, as she thought we might like this, and in our bedroom is the original portrait of Albert and Ernest when children. . . . At eight we dined alone with her downstairs. Dear, kind old lady, her love, her adoration for my Albert is quite touching.'

6

The first visit next day was to the chapel, which formed the temporary resting-place of the Prince's father, until the mausoleum should be ready at Coburg, where he wished to be buried, and where he now lies. Next in interest to this were the rooms where he died. These are left just as they were at that sad time. The wreaths, which decorated his room for his birthday, are still there, and there is that sad clock, which stopped going just before he died. . . . We then went upstairs to the rooms where Albert and Ernest used to live, and which command a beautiful view across the town, over an immense space of country—very flat, but you see from the other side the mountains in the distance.' The Kunst Kabinet, or Museum, which abounds in objects of interest, historical and scientific, next claimed such brief attention as could be given, where so much had to be seen and done within

such limited time. On their return to Friedrichsthal the Queen and Prince found that the Grand-Duke of Weimar and his son the Hereditary Grand-Duke, who had arrived from Weimar, were awaiting them. A great Schützenfest had been arranged for the afternoon; and at two o'clock the assembled visitors, a goodly number, drove, quite in procession, to the Vogelschiessen (the Popinjay shooting) through the very pretty town of Gotha, in broiling heat. We went up to a fine room, a ball-room, just opposite the Schützenhaus, in front of which was a large platform, handsomely arrayed, where we all stood. In walking through the ball-room, a number of young (some pretty) ladies strewed flowers before us. When we were established on the platform, the procession began--first came the Schützen (riflemen), with their chief, the Schützen-König, wearing innumerable medals given by the Schützen-König of each year. After these came all 'the public officials (Beamten); eight peasants from each place, on horseback; and the women, in their best and various pretty costumes, in waggons all decorated with flowers and branches. I am sure 2,000 passed. It was extremely pretty, and to see them file off in the fields was quite a picture. The crowd was immense, and all so orderly, so well behaved. Many of the women wear caps with feathers, such as the children have, only very high. We then went to another platform, where a goblet I had won was brought me; and after this to the Schützenhaus, a small, hot room, and smelling strongly of tobacco, in front of which is the wooden bird on a pole. Uncle Leopold and all the Princes shot, and almost all hit it, but did not bring it down. We drove home at half-past four.'

In the evening a Court was held in the Palace; on returning from which the Queen had the happiness to find awaiting her the Baroness Lehzen, the governess and friend of her early years, who had arrived that afternoon from