THE QUEEN'S RETURN JOURNEY.

her departure the Queen walked round to the train, a distance of some 300 yards, a very beautiful velvet carpet being laid along the platform.

Her Majesty arrived at Normanton station before four. That station being the commencement of the Midland Railway, Her Majesty was received by the directors, secretary, and other officials. The Lord Mayor of York introduced Mr. Ellis, M. P. for Leicester, and chairman of the board, to the Queen and the Prince, and signified to Her Majesty that his own power to afford accommodation extended no further south. The Queen rose from her seat and acknowledged the Lord Mayor's attention in the most gracious manner, expressing the great satisfaction with which she had viewed all the arrangements made for her convenience throughout the journey, and emphatically closing her observations with this remark, "I am indeed very much obliged to you, my Lord Mayor."

The run from Normanton to Derby, of sixty miles, was accomplished, under conduct of Mr. Kirtley, the chief of the locomotive department, in considerably

less than two hours.

Her Majesty arrived at Derby on Friday evening. Great preparations were made at the station. Two raised platforms were erected for the accommodation of a limited number of ladies and gentlemen. Immediately facing the Royal party was a festoon, with Prince of Wales's Feathers, and on either side the letters, "V. R." all illuminated with gas jets. In the hall of exit also was a festoon, with star and other devices; and in front of the station a transparency of the Royal arms; added to this, there were betwixt one and two thousand gas lights in the station. A large space in front of the station and Midland Hotel had been barricaded off, to prevent pressure upon the Royal party as they proceeded to the Midland Hotel, in front of which were several illuminated devices, and

Royal standards and union-jacks waved in every direction. The 12th Foot acted as a guard of honour. At eleven minutes past six, the cheers of the thousands who had congregated along the embankments of the line announced the approach of the Royal cortège; the bells in every church tower sent forth merry peals; the cannon fired a Royal salute; and as the train ran into the station, it was hailed with prolonged and hearty cheers. The High Sheriff of the county, Jedediah Strutt, Esq., and the mayor of the borough, Robert Forman, Esq., received Her Majesty on the platform, and escorted the Royal pair to the Sheriff's carriage at the entrance; on their appearance in front of the platform, the Royal party were received with deafening cheers, renewed as the Royal cortège passed to the Hotel. Before the departure from the station, the mayor and corporation were received by Her Majesty, to whom a loyal address, with a beautifully illuminated border, with the rose, thistle, and shamrock entwining the borough and Royal arms, was presented by the mayor; Her Majesty made a most gracious reply, and the corporation then withdrew to the residence of the mayor, to drink Her Majesty's health. Various buildings in the town were illuminated during the evening. The dinner party at the Midland Hotel comprised Her Majesty and the Prince, Sir George Grey, Mr. Anson, and the ladies and gentlemen in attendance on Her Majesty. The dinner service was of silver, elegantly chased, and of the most costly description; the manufacturers being G. R. Collis and Co., of Regentstreet, London, and also of Birmingham. The bed, and drawing and dressing-room furniture, was manufactured by Mr. Woollat, of Derby.

On Saturday morning, at eight, Her Majesty, Prince Albert, and the Royal suite, quitted the Hotel at Derby, in the Royal Carriages, and proceeded to the railway station, where there was a special train

THE QUEEN'S RETURN JOURNEY.

in readiness to receive them. Her Majesty was enthusiastically cheered on her departure.

Her Majesty arrived at Birmingham at ten. An address, adopted by the corporation, was presented to Her Majesty, who was most enthusiastically cheered on her arrival and departure.

At Bromsgrove the Royal train stopped for a few minutes, and here a large number of the gentry and country families, together with the middle class, assembled to give Her Majesty a hearty welcome into Worcestershire. The train proceeded through Worcestershire, only slackening speed once, in consequence of one of the engine axles becoming heated. The Royal train slackened speed again near Cheltenham, to indulge the inhabitants assembled on the banks. There were, also, some 4,000 or 5,000 school children brought together here to see the train pass.

An immense number of people had assembled at the Gloucester station. The Queen received addresses from the corporation of the city and clergy of the diocese while her suite was changing carriages, necessary on account of the break of guage. The Royal family walked across the platform dividing the two lines on the broad and narrow gauge, and entered the Great Western State-carriage, where the Queen, taking the Royal children by the hand, presented them at the windows to the people, who testified their hearty loyalty by crowding round the train in a moving mass and raising vociferous cheers. In a few minutes, the train proceeded rapidly up the Junction to Swindon, where an immense concourse of persons from all parts of the adjoining district had assembled. The north side of the station-that at which Her Majesty was to arrive-was decorated with ingeniously devised festoons of plants and flowers, while from every spot flags floated in the air. A line of human beings stretched along the rails,

several hundred yards westward; and as the train hurried past at the usual rate of speed, and the curtains of the Royal carriage were drawn to their inexpressible disappointment, they did not even catch a passing glance of Her Majesty. At the station Her Majesty and suite alighted, and proceeded into the large room, in which luncheon had been provided. The table was served with gold and silver plate, and was ornamented with three superb fruit and flower stands, two of silver gilt. Her Majesty was graciously pleased, through Lady Barrington, to express her approbation of the preparations made for her reception by Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, and intimated, through Sir George Grey, her permission to designate the Swindon Hotel in future the Queen's Royal Hotel.

The Royal party remained three quarters of an hour, when they re-entered the carriages, and the train started at a slow pace. The Queen stood up in the carriage and bowed to her subjects in token of her appreciation of their loyalty.

The Royal travellers reached Bassingstoke at a quarter-past three, alighted, and entered the Statecarriage of the London and South-Western Railway. A special engine was in readiness, and Gosport was reached at a quarter past four, whence Her Majesty immediately embarked in the "Fairy" for East Cowes, and arrived at Osborne-house before six, all safe and well.

There: we have given this account of the Queen's Return Journey, because we thought it would interest our young friends; but there are somethings in it we do not altogether approve. So much worship and honour to any human beings is not well. It may lift them up too high, and cause them to forget that in the sight of the Majesty of Heaven they are all sinners, and need his pardoning mercy. May the great God save our beloved Queen from all pride and vanity.

ALL the numerous and beautiful varieties of this tribe derive their origin from the Stockdove, or Woodpigeon; which is of a deep blueish ash colour: the breast dashed with a fine changeable green and purple; the wings marked with two black bars; the back white, and the tail barred near the end with black. Such are the colours of the pigeon in its natural state; and from these simple tints the effects of domestication have produced a variety that words cannot describe, nor even fancy suggest. The stock-dove usually builds in holes of rocks, or in excavated trees. Its murmuring note, at morning and dusk, is highly pleasing.

The RINGDOVE is considerably larger than the former, and derives its appellation from a beautiful white circle round the neck. It is the largest pigeon of our island; it being eighteen inches in length, and weighing about twenty ounces. This bird builds its nest with a few dry sticks, in the boughs of trees; and is so strongly attached to its native freedom, that all attempts to domesticate it have hitherto proved ineffectual. Mr. Montague, the naturalist, took con