The Life of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort

Practical Philanthropy of the Prince-His Sympathy with the Working Classes-Desire to provide Amusements and proper places of Refreshment for the People-His wide Information and Openness of Mind-His natural Courtesy-Views on Art Education, and on Amateur Artists.

'I AM long persuaded,' says Milton, in his Letter on Education, that to say or do aught worth memory or imitation, no purpose should sooner move us than simply the love of God and of mankind.' In this spirit the Prince Consort lived and acted. A rule good for all men he felt was especially incumbent on him, placed as he was in a position where his influence and example, whether for good or evil, must of necessity be greater than those of ordinary men. In a letter written in December, 1847, we find him saying, in reference to having had his conduct in certain matters misunderstood: 'I must console myself with the consciousness that from my heart I mean well towards all men, have never done them aught but good, and take my stand on truth and reason,1

1 In a letter (17th January, 1862) to the late Sir Arthur Helps from the late Sir Charles Phipps, whose official position as Privy Purse brought him into contact with the Prince for many hours daily, he writes: The principle of right was so firmly and immovably rooted in the Prince, and its influence was ever so present to his every thought, that I am quite sure he never spoke or answered a question without having made instantaneous reference in his thoughts to this principle. His every word, his every act was but a portion of one great resolution to do what was right, and to endeavor to do it with the greatest possible kindness and tenderness to others. To hear of a good action in anybody, from a young child up to a great statesman, was a positive enjoyment to him-a joy which was visibly seen in his countenance.

PRACTICAL PHILANTHROPY

1857

the worship of which becomes daily more and more a matter of conscience with me.' But his was no cold worship of truth and reason in the abstract. Their value for him lay in their application to human beings, to the intricacies and perplexities of human life, and to the social wants and problems of the times in which we live.

Such being his principle of life, no question was indifferent to him, whether great or small, in which the happiness or well-being of his fellow-men was involved. He would turn aside at any time from the discussion of the most intricate question of European policy to deal with a case of personal hardship, or with any scheme for abolishing an abuse or bettering the condition of any section of Her Majesty's subjects. The same faculty of looking not only all round a subject, but also far ahead into remote consequences, which distinguished his political speculations, was applied to every subject to which his attention was directed. Considerations which had escaped the attention even of those whose business it was to deal with the matters which they brought under his notice, or who had made a special study of the subject on which they sought his opinion, presented themselves as if by intuition to his mind. And always, as we learn from those whose daily intercourse with him furnished them with the best means of observation, the fairness, the thoughtfulness for others, which pervaded all his suggestions, where the interests either of single individuals or of classes were involved, were peculiarly conspicuous.

At the same time, his mind, which has been by some called un-English, had at least the peculiarly English quality of being practical. Whether a reform was well-timed, and how it would work, was always his prominent thought, and in the means to be adopted for effecting it, he was careful to keep in view English ways and even prejudices of thinking. His gifts in this respect were very early found out by those who met him in deliberation, and they had good reason to acknowledge that his timely forethought in council had smoothed the way where difficulties unforeseen and unprovided for might otherwise have defeated the most excellent intentions.

Thus it was that the things worth memory and imitation' which were done by the Prince were numerous and widely spread, and have left an inheritance of good in many quarters, especially in those where there is little to cheer the

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