Diary of Royal Movements. Vol. I. (Elliot Stock.)—This pro- mises
to be a work of preposterous size. Forty pages are devoted to the eighteen years which preceded the Queen's accession to the Throne. This is moderate enough ; but what are we to say of 360 allotted to the nine years and a half between the accession and the end of 1846 ? At this rate, to bring down this " diary " to the pre- sent time, we shall want nearly a thousand pages more. Surely the most loyal subject will think this too much to be given to the per- sonal history—quite apart from politics—of even the most beloved and the most blameless of Sovereigns. Of course, the proportion of quite needless, or, to say the least, needlessly diffuse -" records," is very great. Hero is an instance. We have just had nearly a page about the Queen's visit to Sir Robert Peel at Tamworth. Then comes this notice :—" Prince Albert visited Birmingham, and in- spected some of tub most remarkable objects of interest in that town. In the course of the day, the Queen-Dowager also arrived at Drayton Manor, accompanied by Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, Earl Howe, and the Countess of Brownlow ; so that the Premier had the distinguished honour of entertaining at one time his Sovereign and her Royal Consort, and her Majesty the Queen-Dowager, with their respective suites and attendants. In the evening it public dinner took place in the town-hall of Tamworth, to commemorate her Majesty's visit. The mayor, corporation, and principal in- habitants were present." It pushes human endurance to its extreme verge to read this once in the Court Circular, but to have it thus repeated is quite unbearable. One such volume as this given to the whole period might have been made quite readable. It is interesting to be told that the Duchess of Kent was attended at her daughter's birth by Dr. Charlotte Siebold, and to read how, after the birth of the Prince of Wales, her Majesty had the presence of mind to prevent the issue of a ludicrous announcement. "This will never do," she said to Prince Albert, when she saw the document, "because it conveys the idea that you were confined also." "Her Majesty and the Prince are perfectly well" were the words, and the Queen, it is said, insisted on the insertion of the word " infant " before "Prince." Various personages, more or less entertaining, reappear in these pages ; "General Tom Thumb," for instance, and "The Boy Jones," a young gentleman possibly never heard of in this generation, who had a passion for making his way into Buckingham Palace. We are reminded of a venerable joke to which an illustrated London paper gave rise, by representing the Queen's presence at a " shearing " in Scotland by a picturesque scene of sheep-shearing. The date was September 12th. We hope that the compiler will reconsider his plans.
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