LORD MELBOURNE AND THE QUEEN.
IN telling the news of the Court last week, we, in our simplicity, remarked on the irksomeness to " the pococurante Premier " of being compelled to beat the Queen's elbow, when he might prefer to join the social circle at Pansanger, or even to relax from cares of' state in the bachelor solitude of Brocket Hall; where, instead of
the gentle dalliance with the muse that his colleague Mr. RICE delights to intlulge in, he would, as he reclined beneath " his old ancestral trees," find consolation in the glances of the wood
nymphs, that (poetically speaking) we may fancy haunt its sylvan shades. Little did we think that there could be any ground for the suspicion so darkly and delicately insinuated in the John Bull of last Sunday.
" The constant residence of Lord Melbourne at Windsor," saith ..//A " and the impudence with which it is tauntingly stated by the hanger,-ou of the Go I vernmeut, that his Lordship's perpetual pretence at Court is by the specia- command of the Queen, have given rise to feelings of a nature which, howl ever unquestionable the constitutionality of their origin may be, we dare no venture more particularly to explain.
" Having a very different opinion of Lord Melbourne from many of our contemporaries, we do not consider the constant association of his Lordship with her Majesty so decidedly dangerous, in a moral point of view, as our cm re-
spondents suggest. From a letter of one of them we extract th,•following passage. You ought to know that the present general subject of conversation amongst sober and reflecti,g persons, whether of the Church Establishment or of Dis- senting congri;! itions, is the frequency and now continuance of the visits of Lord Melbourne to our young Queen : it is, as you must know, a circumstance which never b. f:re was heard of, and is, most assuredly, not required for the transaction of public business. The mischief that may arise from this most unconstitutional influence, in the alienation of her Majesty's attachment to the institutions in Church and State, must be added to the irremediable
which her Majesty may receice flout the daily, and frequently private, eonver- sations with a man
" Here we stop. We will not repeat what our correspondent (a man of the highest character) goes on to say, because we have never touched upon topics of the sort, as regards Lord Melbourne's conduct as a Minister ; but we will ask, because we are sure it will not offend his Lordship, a hypothetical question, put to its by our excellent correspondent, ' Can a more dangerous character be admitted to the frequent and familiar acquaintance of a young and unsuspecting female? Do not a handsome person, an insinuating address, and hazy prac- tice in the arts of gallantry, give great advantage in working upon the feelings of innocence and virtue?'" At first we were duly shocked and alarmed at this plain intima- tion. Recovering, houever, our wonted equanimity, we proceeded, as is our wont, to reflect. A tew light broke in. There is some- thing in the Premier's visits to the youthful Queen, but nothing of the kind that John Bull apprehends. In the fact that Lord Pabateasroat is staying at Windsor as well as Lord MELBOURNE, we see a proof that the intentions of the latter are most honour- able : were they not so, he would pack off PALMERSTON ; but being, as we say, honourable in his views, he is as glad to have the sleek Secretary with him at Windsor, as Othello was to court in company with Cassio, who " came between" the Moor and Desdemona " very oft." Oh ! it's all right. Matrimony, not gallantry, is in the wind; and it must have been Lord MEL- BOURNE, not the " dear Duke," for whom, as the Tories say, her Majesty confessed a tender preference. If it was the Duke, then has Lord MELBOURNE, resolved not to be " done" by the old soldier, furbished up his wooing artillery, and " upon that hint spike' himself. A shrewd fellow this MELBOURNE. See how he has turned the tables on the Tories. They thought to have had the Queen for the Duke of WELLINGTON; but their man was no match for the experienced WILLIAM LAMB, with a HENRY JOHN TEMPLE to play the trumpeter. HAYTER is taking the portraits of the Queen and the Premier—" confirmation strong ;" and the only question is " when is it to be ?•' Alas for the Tories !
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