THE BLOOD ROYAL PLAYING WITH BLOOD. THE case of kings
and queens is hard, in doing all things before the world, so that they cannot commit any little error without running the chance of being called to account for it They must do the very best thing, on all possible occasions, under pain of criticism ; the second best thing will not do. So rudely, has censure visited our own fair Sovereign, that one almost regrets the decay of the time-honoured custom of adulation, which would shield her from such penalties. The present occasion is the deer. shooting at Gotha. The Duke of Saxe Coburg is fond of sport, and cultivates the breeding of game : in the forests near Rein- hardtsbrunn the deer increase so fast that it is necessary to thin their numbers by an annual slaughter ; which, it seems, is too pleasant a task to be delegated to any but princely hands, and the Duke does the work himself, sharing the delights with his intimate friends. The carnage is a festival. It is a theatrical version of a scene familiar enough to Londoners—the slaughter of oxen for the meat-market : instead of the slaughterhouse in a by-lane, the scene is an enclosure in the forest, with a gayly- adorned pavilion in the midst ; the butcher and his journeymen are the Duke and his princely friends ; instead of the little black- guard boys and girls that look on upon sufferance, the spectators are queens and dutchesses. Occasionally an ox, smelling blood, turns riotous, and bolts, running away down the street,' to the infinite delight of the crowd, in hopes of an accident •; and just in the same way, a stag, convulsed with terror, leaps the en- closure, and the people shout. The oxen are knocked down with mallets, the stags more genteelly with bullets; but the cutting of the throats by the huntsman, 4orant regi, is a very ,piquant addi- ition'to the feast of reason and the flow of blood. Probably the *ate for .such mental banquet, like that for the,green fig, may be .tem luscious to -uninitiated palates, not to say disgusting. One avouldsuppose that to an English lady, even to one of the highest releases, snot •unfamiliar with battueg, it must have been loathsome. Ater-the deer is an animal "higher. in the scale of creation" than Awl, and its agonies are more obvious. Queen Victoria is :blamed for sitting •out the protracted and ililocalz,atousement ; which, with the polkas and other entremets, tamped two hours. But what was she to do ? The spectacle was mo .doubt very odious ; but those who had provided it meant no .harm, certainly none to her ; with them the slaughter was a na- lianal ,custom, perhaps not worse in itself than same which we vaunt as most laudable. It might possibly have been a creditable and impressive act had she risen and left the murderous show ; bunt:-how was she to discuss so nice a point.of morals and etiquette Au the,spot ? Such a proceeding might have been praised, but it was scarcely to be expected. We are disposed, indeed, to think that the Royal lady's •considerate kindness for her husband's family and their national custom was severely taxed. Alcibiades ..ate black broth rather than offend the Spartans ; Captain Lyon wallowed whale-blubber rather than mortify the hospitality.of the Eaquimaux ; and Queen Victoria gulped yet more nauseous dainties at Gotha, no doubt reluctantly. The Standard asserts that it was so; quoting an " extract of a letter dated September ..1, .addressed to a gentleman in London "—
" This -(the deer-killing) was very shocking. The Queen wept. I saw large margin her des; and her Majesty tells me that she with difficulty kept the chair
g What followed. 'When the Queen saw the otter-hunt in Scotland, the pity 1161 she naturally felt at the death of the animal was counterbalanced by a :,11nowleS1.e of his propensities, -so that it is almost as meritorious to destroy an interns it is a snake: but this was a totally different case; nor is her Majesty eetancovered. For the Prince, the .deer were too numerous and must be killed; .this was the German method; and no doubt the reigning Duke will distribute them ko his people, who will thank Prince Albert for providing them venison."
This is the probable solution of the affair. It is still a ques- tion whether a marked expression of disgust on the spot would have been in the highest taste : but if Queen 'Victoria desires to deal a rebuke to a savage custom, it is quite in her power to do ,so within her own province ; she can discountenance battues here In England, and thus make an effectual reform in practice while .asserting a principle. Surely Prince Albert, wiser than Adonis, will not refuse to forego the wholesale pleasures of the fiel&at the entreaty of his Venus; and will be rewarded by escaping the late of the mythic prince, to live happy with the lady whose chosen he is, all the rest of their lives.
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