Page:Life of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (IA lifeofhermajesty01fawc).pdf/140

 respect. Her motherhood has been no mere craze of baby worship. She has ever kept in view high aims for her children and grandchildren, encouraging them to accept nobly the responsibilities and duties of their position. In one of Princess Alice's letters to her mother, written in 1870, she replies to a letter from the Queen upon the bringing up of the little family at Darmstadt; the letter is interesting as throwing a light upon the Queen's own aims in the education of her children. The Princess writes:—

"'What you say about the education of our girls I entirely agree with, and I strive to bring them up totally free from pride of their position, which is nothing save what their personal worth can make it. I read it to the governess, thinking how good it would be for hear to hear your opinion. … I feel so entirely as you do on the difference of rank, and how all important it is for princes and princesses to know that they are nothing better or above others, save through their own merit; and that they only have the double duty of living for others and being an example good and modest. This I hope my children will grow up to.'"

We are not, however, left to infer from the Princess's letters what were the Queen's views on the education of her children; the "Prince Consort's Life" contains several memoranda written by Her Majesty herself on the subject. One of these, written in 1844, says: "The greatest maxim of all is—that the children should be brought up as simply and in as domestic a way as possible; that (not interfering with their lessons) they should be as much as possible with their parents, and learn to place their greatest confidence in them in all things." The religious training of the children was given, as much as circumstances admitted, by the Queen herself; it was based on endeavoring to implant in the children a loving trust in God as their Father, avoiding all extreme views, and not entering upon the differences of creed. Her Majesty does not approve of the Athanasian Creed forming part of the Church service, and does not