Page:Daughters of Genius.djvu/63

 Lord Melbourne came to the Queen in the afternoon, and between five and six the Prince generally drove her out in a pony-phaeton. If the Prince did not drive the Queen, he rode, in which case she took a drive with her mother or the ladies. The Prince also read aloud most days to the Queen. The dinner was at eight o'clock, and always with company The hours were never late, and it was very seldom that the party had not broken up at eleven o'clock."

Under the example and influence of the royal pair, life at the English Court, which had long been filled with scandal and strife, became marked by purity and virtue. Prince Albert's pleasures were all domestic; his taste was for a quiet and unostentatious life.

Peace and quiet reigned in the Court, and the removal of all disturbing influences there enabled the statesmen of the day to give all the more attention to the actual needs of millions of people. Evils which had originated with the great wars against Napoleon pressed with crushing weight on the laboring classes. Agricultural distress had developed into famine, and the laws enacted in 1815 prohibited the importation of grain for its relief. Turbulence and riots followed, and the evils grew worse. What could the Queen do to alleviate the misery of her subjects? By the advice of her ministers, she checked the gayeties of the court; she even submitted to a reduction of her income. At the baptism of the Prince of Wales, in January, 1842, it was prescribed that the dresses worn by members of the court should be of Scotch manufacture, in order to set a fashion and stimulate home production. But these remedies were trifling. A mightier power than Queen or Court must be invoked. Richard Cobden, seeing the magnitude of the evil, and discerning its cause, appealed to the people to abolish the duties on grain. The agitation was carried on by Cobden, Bright and others for seven long years, and at last the walls of the English Jericho fell down. Sir