Page:Speeches and addresses of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales.djvu/14

viii which Royalty was worthily represented by the Prince of Wales, and the important and arduous duties voluntarily and cheerfully undertaken by him.

Before carrying out this design, it was advisable to ascertain if there might be any objection on the part of the Prince of Wales. There might, for instance, be a purpose of official publication of these speeches. On the matter being referred to the Prince, he not only made no objection, but, in most kind and gracious terms, gave his sanction to the work, and hoped it might be "useful to the various objects which he had publicly advocated and supported."

The number and diversity of occasions on which the Prince has made these public appearances will surprise those who have not personal recollection of them. The speeches themselves will surprise no one. The Prince has had education and culture such as few of any station obtain; directed at first by such a father as the Prince Consort, and by tutors who carried out the design of both his parents. Accomplished in Art, and interested in Science, in Antiquities, and most branches of learning; with some University training at Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh, and with his mind enlarged by foreign travel, we might expect the fruits of such training to appear in his public addresses. Add to this the kindliness which comes from a good natural disposition, the sympathetic influence of a genial manner, and the grace which is given by a training from childhood in the highest station, and we can understand how the speeches even of the earliest years were heard with pleasure and approval. Some of the speeches are very brief, but are always to the point, and present the gist of the subject in hand. It was Earl Granville who once said, in proposing his health, that, "if the speeches of His Royal Highness were usually short, they were always, to use a homely expression, as full of meat as an egg." Even where there has been no formal speech, we are interested in knowing what the Prince has done as well as