NEWS OF THE WEEK.
QUEEN VICTORIA is. taking._ a 'brief dOmestic visiting-tour ; begin- ning with a few days passed-in the hospitable mansion of her Prime Minister, Sir 'Rositer Peer- Such "-progresses," as they are rather affectedly Called, are laudable enough : they are, " good for trade "; they gratify considerable nutnhers of the people, who see the sight of Royalty on its travels; and they bring the young Queen and her cousort more familiarly, into the society of the English gentry. - So far they tend to enlarge the Sovereigns practical knowledge of her dominions' and people. - But that knowledge is sadly distorted. by the special efforts_ to do honour tort tourist w_.ho travels in state. Everything wears a gala .aspect :. the people, as at Tamwerth now, appear in raptures. at the mere sigh and-smile of the .Royal countenance; and even- the donieStiercirele - within which_the.guest enters, assumes an unaccustomed state and dour. There must, one would think, be leas Of"ainusemerit: and relief in thus dragging the stale and oft-breathed atmosPhere of ceremonial about with the traveller, than in a visit to society in its quieter and more real state. Nor does the journey, at the most, go anygreio way beyond the precineta of the palace : the :home* condition of the middle class is an unknown territory ; the deiititu- tion and misery of the poor are perhaps unimagined by thenSovereign,- whose wish and word, wisely spoken, could do a great deal to sti- mulate the zeal of others in amending that miserable condition.• HAROUN the Just went about among his people; visited the poor in their squalor and wretchedness ; assumed for a short hour the' fisher's burden and toil; and thus knew the things of which his councillors spake : for all our " diffusion of information," Queen Vicioara is behind the despot of a semi-barbarous land and age in knowing the actual condition of " my people." Might there not be a Royal progress in Tothill Fields ? might she not pay a visit, incognita, to the hopeless lodging of some poor sempsfress ; and smile a real, blessing of sympathy and hope on Spitalfielda? Alas ! the "forms of society" forbid such an expectation ; and :we must be content with.the thought, that these trips to a limited dpmain, and amid a world of holyday-decorations that shut out the reali- ties, are an innocent and healthful pleasure to one whom all desire to please.
