登陆注册
15452500000039

第39章 II(1)

He was not in love with her. Affection, gratitude, the natural reactions to the unqualified devotion of a lively young cousin who was also a queen--such feelings possessed him, but the ardours of reciprocal passion were not his.

Though he found that he liked Victoria very much, what immediately interested him in his curious position was less her than himself. Dazzled and delighted, riding, dancing, singing, laughing, amid the splendours of Windsor, he was aware of a new sensation--the stirrings of ambition in his breast. His place would indeed be a high, an enviable one! And then, on the instant, came another thought. The teaching of religion, the admonitions of Stockmar, his own inmost convictions, all spoke with the same utterance. He would not be there to please himself, but for a very different purpose--to do good. He must be "noble, manly, and princely in all things," he would have "to live and to sacrifice himself for the benefit of his new country;" to "use his powers and endeavours for a great object--that of promoting the welfare of multitudes of his fellowmen." One serious thought led on to another. The wealth and the bustle of the English Court might be delightful for the moment, but, after all, it was Coburg that had his heart. "While I shall be untiring," he wrote to his grandmother, "in my efforts and labours for the country to which I shall in future belong, and where I am called to so high a position, I shall never cease ein treuer Deutscher, Coburger, Gothaner zu sein." And now he must part from Coburg for ever! Sobered and sad, he sought relief in his brother Ernest's company; the two young men would shut themselves up together, and, sitting down at the pianoforte, would escape from the present and the future in the sweet familiar gaiety of a Haydn duet.

They returned to Germany; and while Albert, for a few farewell months, enjoyed, for the last time, the happiness of home, Victoria, for the last time, resumed her old life in London and Windsor. She corresponded daily with her future husband in a mingled flow of German and English; but the accustomed routine reasserted itself; the business and the pleasures of the day would brook no interruption; Lord M. was once more constantly beside her; and the Tories were as intolerable as ever. Indeed, they were more so. For now, in these final moments, the old feud burst out with redoubled fury. The impetuous sovereign found, to her chagrin, that there might be disadvantages in being the declared enemy of one of the great parties in the State. On two occasions, the Tories directly thwarted her in a matter on which she had set her heart.

She wished her husband's rank to be axed by statute, and their opposition prevented it. She wished her husband to receive a settlement from the nation of L50,000 a year; and, again owing to the Tories, he was only allowed L30,000. It was too bad. When the question was discussed in Parliament, it had been pointed out that the bulk of the population was suffering from great poverty, and that L30,000 was the whole revenue of Coburg; but her uncle Leopold had been given L50,000, and it would be monstrous to give Albert less.

Sir Robert Peel--it might have been expected--had had the effrontery to speak and vote for the smaller sum. She was very angry; and determined to revenge herself by omitting to invite a single Tory to her wedding. She would make an exception in favour of old Lord Liverpool, but even the Duke of Wellington she refused to ask. When it was represented to her that it would amount to a national scandal if the Duke were absent from her wedding, she was angrier than ever. "What! That old rebel! I won't have him:" she was reported to have said. Eventually she was induced to send him an invitation; but she made no attempt to conceal the bitterness of her feelings, and the Duke himself was only too well aware of all that had passed.

Nor was it only against the Tories that her irritation rose. As the time for her wedding approached, her temper grew steadily sharper and more arbitrary.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 超级司机

    超级司机

    女友嫌弃我是开出租车的把我甩了,却不知道我的车可以穿梭时空,四大美人,五虎上将,都是我的常客……
  • 剑云传说

    剑云传说

    “世人皆奴性,我却非世人!”看异世少年,如何历经三灾九劫,诸天磨砺,踏遍血雨腥风!如何以剑修仙、以剑入道,以傲世之资,登顶圣山之巅,书写自己的剑云传说!群号:530924581
  • 蜜爱专宠,首席的傲娇甜妻

    蜜爱专宠,首席的傲娇甜妻

    某邪男强制性的话语传来:“给你三个选择。A.爱上我,B.选A,C.选B。”某女欲哭无泪的抹了把老泪纵横的脸,嬉皮笑脸的回应:“欧巴,我要是有喜欢的了呢!”“呵呵......你这种生女儿没胸,生儿子没屁眼的,你能看得上人家,人家能看得上你不?”某女炸毛,霍大大,还能不能愉快的玩耍了!!
  • 罪蓉颜

    罪蓉颜

    十里红妆,火红嫁衣,她十七岁奉旨成婚,不懂情爱,不知阴谋,理所当然的用她的死换亲人的生。当长孙佳蓉死而复生,她换了身份容颜,为寻亲人踏上了这场诡异的和亲之旅。初尝情爱,首开心扉,然而变故突生。从此为家族生为家族死成了她摆不脱的宿命。她为家族生存尽忠守护,他为国之存亡尽忠死守。当爱情遇上国仇家恨,一切阴谋接肘而至。她的重生究竟是为爱为恨?这是一条不归路,踏上了就注定不能回头。
  • 女扮男装闯校园之姐是美男

    女扮男装闯校园之姐是美男

    百变魔女女扮男装闯校园变校草,魅力四射,俘获无数少女芳心,就连校草也身陷其中,上演一场“男男恋”,看看魔女的奇葩校园生活吧~
  • 泪亦为凰

    泪亦为凰

    【在这片古老而神秘的无殇大陆,有一个古老的歌谣:彼岸花开,月玺冷魅无殇,雪莲重现,又复神之悲凉,嗜血之夜,神女浴火成凰,魔主轻叹,终为永世情殇!妖瞳再现,六界再度成殇,倾世之姿,却道是祸水红颜,傲人之才,却成祸世之本,靡荼如雪,逃不过一世凄凉!】她是江湖上赫赫有名的靡荼毒医,他是四海内令人闻风丧胆的无情邪王。那一夜,樱花树下的相识或许就是一个错误…三千万万年的的等待,三世的转世重生,他们到底能不能修成正果?
  • 真灵战纪

    真灵战纪

    上古众神之战万年之后,关山穿越到这片大陆。身具战神血脉的他,深受诸神之王的宠爱。他将如何走向武道巅峰呢?结局真的是你想象的那样么?
  • 王俊凯之吉他少年曾相识

    王俊凯之吉他少年曾相识

    还记得那年教学楼后我们的相遇,你弹着吉他,我仔细倾听着,十年后,我再次倾听你的吉他声时,我听到了十年的成长,吉他声中含着的是十年来我们一点一滴的成长,谢谢你,教会我成长是什么,还有爱一个人是什么。
  • 丰富多彩的风俗(奇妙的大千世界)

    丰富多彩的风俗(奇妙的大千世界)

    世界如此广博与深邃,无论今天的科学多么的发达,终会有许多未解的谜团让我们无能为力,就是在我们身边,一些司空见惯的事情,如果去探究,也隐藏着许许多多令人惊叹的奥秘,《奇妙的大千世界:丰富多彩的风俗》试图从多角度、多方面,结合现代科学的一些新的发现、新的成果进一步揭开背后层层的面纱。
  • 九维劫

    九维劫

    盘古开天,神魔争霸。九九之维,暗藏玄机。……既然天不佑吾,吾便不敬天!既然人不信吾,吾便不信人!吾欲所求者,明而取之。挡者,杀!阻者,杀!逆者,杀!杀!杀!【新书首发,望各位支持!】