Part 5 (2/2)
Greatly to the disappointment of the good people of Wales, Her Majesty never found it possible to fulfil this contemplated second visit.
In the correspondence which continued at intervals during the ensuing years there is nothing that is available for the object of this monograph. But in November 1896 Her Majesty gave me an opportunity of expressing briefly my views of what an authentic Life of herself should be, of which I was not sorry to avail myself. On the 10th of that month she wrote to me:--
”The Queen is glad that Sir Theodore approves the idea of a short Life of her husband being set in hand and published.
”She so much wishes that something should be done about her own Life, as so many people have published and are publis.h.i.+ng her Life, with the best intentions, full of extraordinary fabrications and untruths.”
Some further communications on the subject took place, and on the 22nd of that month I wrote as follows:--
”Sir Theodore Martin, with his humble duty, has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Her Majesty's gracious letter of the 20th.
”Sir Theodore is much impressed by what the Queen says as to the desirableness of a Life of Her Majesty, which might put a stop to the gossiping fabrications which have of late become so current. The subject has long been present to his mind. While the Queen lives, he fears the inventors of these fictions must have their way. But that the story of Her Majesty's Life should be truthfully and sympathetically told for posterity is a matter of the highest importance. In a great measure the work must be historical, and will demand the skill of some one capable of dealing with the events of Her Majesty's reign, and of the political history of the civilized world, from the date of the Prince Consort's death onwards. It would be most desirable to lay the foundation of such a work with Her Majesty's direct a.s.sistance, could a biographer with the necessary qualifications be found. There will be the difficulty; but, until he can be found, would it be possible for Her Majesty to suggest the lines on which the Life should be written, and to furnish to some trusted person the facts and incidents of which Her Majesty would wish a record to be made?
”The materials must be abundant in Her Majesty's diaries and correspondence, and they would form the basis of a work of infinite value and instruction to future times. So much that is false and misleading is sure to be written in these days of reckless and unscrupulous writing, that every loyal subject of Her Majesty must wish that it should in Her Majesty's case be crushed at the outset. Nothing would do this so effectually as the knowledge that the true story would be told, based upon authentic information as to the private as well as public life of the Queen.
”Sir Theodore makes the above suggestion with all deference to Her Majesty's better judgment. His excuse must be his ardent desire that the story of a life, which he most deeply honours and reveres, should be fitly told for the days to come.”
The Queen, I believe, in so far concurred with my suggestion, that she endeavoured to persuade at least one writer of distinction as a historian to agree to become her biographer. He came to the conclusion that the task of dealing with a subject so vast, and also with a character so complex as that of Her Majesty, was one with which he could not grapple consistently with the duties of a high position which he had already undertaken. Whether any further attempt was made in the same direction I am not aware.
And so the years went on, bringing us from time to time a.s.surances of the Queen's continued interest in Lady Martin and myself. In 1896, when the new Victorian Order was established, I was among the first on whom the Commanders.h.i.+p of the Order was conferred. The Insignia of the Order reached me with the following letter:--
”BALMORAL CASTLE, _Sept. 14, 1896_.
”The Queen has heard that Sir Theodore Martin will celebrate his 80th birthday on the 16th, which seems to her hardly possible from his appearance. She wishes him to accept her warmest and most heartfelt good wishes for his happiness and welfare for many a year.
The Queen wishes on this occasion to mark her sense of Sir Theodore's valuable services, and sends him the decoration of Knight Commander of her new personal 'Victoria Order.'
”She hopes Lady Martin has recovered from her last indisposition, and that no anxiety on her account may mar the happiness of this day.”
On every Christmas morning the Queen sent greetings and good wishes to my wife with an inscribed Christmas card, and to myself, with some framed work of art, or valuable book. In 1897, when all the world was alive with congratulations on the memorable celebration of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, the words which appeared in two of her perfect Addresses to her people inspired me to express, as before, what I conceived was in her heart in writing these Addresses. I give them here, because they were stamped with Her Majesty's approval. ”The Queen,” she wrote, ”thanks Sir Theodore Martin very much for his most kind letter, and the Sonnets enclosed, which it has touched her much that he should write. Of course they may be published in the _Times_;” and they were published there accordingly.
THE QUEEN AT ST PAUL'S.
_June 22, 1897._
[”From my heart I thank my beloved people. May G.o.d bless them!”]
Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me The praise be given, that my beloved land This day in all men's eyes from strand to strand s.h.i.+nes first in honour and in majesty; That borne from every clime, o'er every sea, Around me cl.u.s.tering close on every hand, Liegemen from far I see, a n.o.ble band, Type of a n.o.bler Empire yet to be!
Oh, my beloved people, yours the praise, Yours, who have kept the faith, that made your sires Free, fearless, faithful, through the nights and days, True to the zeal for right, that never tires; May G.o.d's best blessing rest on you always, And keep you blameless in your heart's desires!
THE QUEEN AT KENSINGTON.
_June 28, 1897._
[”I gladly renew my a.s.sociation with a place which, as the scene of my birth and my summons to the Throne, has had, and ever will have with me, tender and solemn recollections.”]
Again the dear old home, the towering trees, The lawns, the garden-plots, the lake, that were My childhood's fairyland,--the dear ones there, Who tended me so lovingly,--the ease Of heart when, sporting at my mother's knees, I dreamed not of a crown, nor knew a care, The call at early morn that crown to wear!
Ah me, the host of tender memories, Tender and solemn, that around me throng, Of all that then I was, and since have been, The many loved and lost, the One so long Missed from my side, and I, a lonely Queen!
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