Among the influences of his youth upon his maturer age it is impossible to overlook the journeys at home and oversea upon which so much thoughtful care was expended. His first trip, to the English lakes and to Scotland, with a few boy friends, was recorded by the Prince of Wales in his journal, as were others which followed. These journals were a source of some trouble to their author. His father thought them meagre. In point of fact they are boyish and simple records of the day's doings. The first Prince of Wales visiting the Pope' suggested to the analytical mind of the Prince Consort, who so described it, thoughts and ideas which he desired to see reflected, however dimly, in that of his son. He was disappointed. Description is there, but in the cant of the schools, no subjectivity. On the other hand, there exists a letter written by Sir Henry Bulwer, then the representative of the Queen at Constantinople, to Lord John Russell, giving an account of a visit paid by the Prince of Wales in the month of January immediately after the death of the Prince Consort, which would have been read by that Prince of high ideals and lofty standards with unmixed satisfaction.

The following is an extract.

Received January 22, 1862.

'But what pleased and struck me more than all, I must say, was our Prince's own manner. He is always remarkably easy and knows perfectly how to make those little speeches which princes are called upon to have so frequently upon their lips. But this was not all; before arriving at the breakfast, I just gave his Royal Highness a little insight into the Sultan's character, and the things to say that would please him. The manner in which he took advantage of those hints surprised me. The oldest diplomatists could not have succeeded better, or in my belief as well. Every point was touched so lightly, so naturally, and this produced on me the greater impression; since a man cannot have tact merely in one thing. If it is developed by circumstances one day, it is likely to be equally developed by circumstances in action another day. I should say, in short, that the Prince of Wales kept for two or three years in good hands and managed with skill (it requires perhaps some skill), her Majesty will be proud of, and happy in him. I do not think he will study much or learn much from books, but he will attain all that is

practically necessary for him to know by observation and use it with address.

'I saw several instances of a kind heart and of good sense, but there are two extremes I should say to be avoided with him-severity, which would tend to bring out obstinacy, and flattery, which would naturally tend to encourage presumption or over self-confidence.

'But I believe that praise well bestowed when it is really merited would tend very much to form the Prince's character, and fix it steadily in a proper course.

'I have observed also that the wisest way with him is never to maintain any argument at the time about this thing or that thing being the best to do; but simply to state an opinion, and if that opinion is the right one, I have seen him always end after a little in coming round to it.

'All these observations are formed on trifles, but still the subject is so interesting a one that I thought you would like to hear from me confidentially upon it, and as the happiness of our nation and also of our afflicted Queen depends so much on what her eldest son may turn out, this gives an additional importance to the question.

'My opinion, I confess, is on the whole a very favourable one. If H.R.H. is cleverly dealt with now, I do not think he will cause either her Majesty or the nation any anxiety. If he is not, he may for a time do so; but even then I feel certain he would soon right himself, for there is a great fund of good about him. The danger is that through his easy manners (though they are quite dignified enough when necessary) and the desire to be amused, so natural to youth in general, he might get into the hands of some agreeable person who would not have the character and good sense to guide him, and might have a pride and vanity in leading him astray.'

The diplomatist and experienced man of the world had not only gauged truly the character of the young Prince, echoing, as he does, the words of the tutor written with fuller knowledge, but he foreshadows with singular and prophetic accuracy some of those high qualities which enabled King Edward to render the greatest service to his country, and have placed his fame upon an enduring foundation.

Sir Henry Bulwer had no means of foreshadowing, as others had, a gift which was remarkable in the King throughout the years of his mature manhood. Those who

were about the Prince's person at Oxford noticed early the consummate ease with which he was able to put into striking and well-balanced phrase the matter of a public speech. He used often to say that he found elaborate preparation impossible, and that whenever he attempted to learn a speech by heart, he failed to deliver it.

His speeches were, save for their general ideas, delivered impromptu. The right words and phrases, whether in the English, French or German languages, came naturally to his lips, and no one ever excelled him in the power of putting in musical cadence and perfectly chosen words sentiments of courteous welcome or graceful acknowledgment. Those who heard King Edward speak on august occasions can never forget the telling quality of his voice or the emotional dignity of his expression and manner.

The long years which intervened between his coming of age and his accession, years occupied with social duties. but deprived of political activities, full of enforced amusement rather than of practical business, were possibly the real source of his influence and one of the secrets of his success. It is a serious difficulty in a constitutional monarchy such as ours that no adequate place is provided for the Heir Apparent to the Throne. Of social engagements and ceremonial opportunities it is true that many were found to occupy the time of the Prince of Wales, and he never shrank from the performance of these duties, however dolorous and heavy.

The prolonged seclusion of the Queen after the death of the Prince Consort, increased in number and importance the popular functions which were thrown upon the shoulders of the Prince of Wales. He bore the burden lightly, and in very debonair fashion. His real love of humanity, his unbored nature, his delight in movement and his easy grace of manner and speech, rendered facile to him obligations from which so many public men and Sovereigns are known to shrink. He thoroughly enjoyed society whether in the great houses in which he and the Princess were received as more than welcome guests, or at public entertainments, where his genial manners and hearty love of fellowship captivated men of all shades of politics, and of every religious or social persuasion.

No one was ever less of an eclectic than King Edward.

All through his life he accepted men and women for what they were, and although he showed preferences and inclined more to some forms of social entertainment than to others, he never encouraged social cliques or ostracised any man from the circles in which he moved because of opinions or because of his tastes. Like Queen Victoria, he disliked backbiters and scandalmongers, and never accepted rumour as a decisive factor in estimating the character of others, but first required proof.

But the King liked a good story, and could tell one with admirable gusto and without the slightest loss of dignity.

Cut off by the experiences of his position from active political interests, he never lowered himself by lending his countenance to political intrigue. Queen Victoria, standing aloof as she did from the bustling world, absorbed by her profound sense of the semi-divine duties imposed upon her by Providence, rejecting the idea that she was entitled to share her higher responsibilities even with her eldest son, and encouraged to hold this view by the experiences of the House of Hanover, and by the advice of her Ministers who had no wish to widen the area of counsel, undoubtedly isolated the Prince of Wales from public affairs, and threw him, not always uncriticised and unblamed, upon amusements and resources which were held by grave men to be unworthy of his abilities and of his high position. The Turf, the Theatre, and 'Society' in the narrower sense of this term, claimed, many thought, an undue share of his time and attention. Serious men were often in doubt whether the Prince of Wales would ever fill even with conventional decorum that high place in the regard of British subjects all over the face of the world which was occupied by the venerated Queen who had so long sat most regally upon the throne. When the Queen died, if any of those in closer contact with King Edward nourished misgivings, they were dissolved in twenty-four hours.

Not only were the Privy Councillors and citizens of London who were present in the Banqueting Hall of St James's Palace on January 23, 1902, moved to admiration by the noble words-written by the King's own unguided hand-in which he announced his determination, so long as there was breath in his body, to work for the good and

amelioration of his people, but those who stood nearer to him still and were for the succeeding days in close touch with the labours of State as they accumulated hour by hour at Marlborough House, realised immediately that in Edward the Seventh the country had come into possession of a great monarch. So far from his previous life, with its want of concentrated energy, with its so-called frivolities, and with what men always prejudiced and sometimes insincere call its ceremonial inanities, proving an obstacle to kingship, the sheer humanity of it had left him unscathed of soul, and most extraordinarily well equipped for dealing with the gravest problem with which a Sovereign has to deal, that is to say, the eternal problem of making good use of the average man. Few have equalled and certainly no one has ever surpassed King Edward in handling, not dexterously, because the word implies over-consciousness, but with grace past understanding, his fellow man.

Whether it was a Radical politician or a foreign statesman, a man embittered by neglect or one of Fortune's favourites, an honest man or a villain, no one ever left the King's presence without a sense of his own increased importance in the worldly scale of things. It was this power of raising a man in his own estimation, which was the mainspring of the King's influence. His varied intercourse with men of all sorts and conditions, his preference for objective rather than for subjective teaching, as his old tutor said of him in boyhood, and his frank interest in the affairs of others, had taught him the most profound and the oftenest ignored of all platitudes, that the vast majority of men are good, and that no man is wholly evil.

Where the simpler forms of monarchy prevail, and where power is vested in the ruler by organic laws, and is exercised by the brutal 'sic volo sic jubeo' methods of a cruder civilisation, its exercise is a comparatively simple thing. Any one can govern in a state of siege. The Constitution of our Empire, with its delicate checks and balances, held together by tradition and sentiment rather than by immutable laws, demands from its Head qualities which King Edward possessed in the highest degree. Our Constitution withholds power from the Sovereign, but it clothes him with an influence which in the hand of King