Prince delighted most in the extension of the bounds of knowledge.

Prince ac

ledge.

It is always a subject of interest to endea- How the vour to find out how men who have been quired knowremarkable for knowledge have found time and opportunity, in this busy, anxious, hurried world, to acquire that knowledge. And in the case of the Prince it is especially difficult to answer the question. But the truth is, that, much as the Prince read books (and in early life he had been very studious), he read men and Nature more. He never gave a listless or half-awake attention to anything that he thought worth looking at, or to any person to whom he thought it worth while to listen. And to the observant man, who is always on the watch for general laws, the minutest objects contemplated by him are full of insight and instruction. In the Prince's converse with men, he delighted at getting at what they knew best, and what they could do. He would always try to get from them the mystery of their craft; and, probably, after the Prince had had an interview with any person of intelligence, that

The Prince's care for the labouring classes.

person went away having learnt something
from the Prince, and the Prince having
learnt something from him.
Such men,

who are always on the alert to gain and to
impart knowledge, deserve to know; and
their knowledge soon grows to be beyond
book-knowledge, and enters into a higher
sphere, as being the result of delicate and
attentive observation made by themselves,
and for themselves. This is how I account
for the Prince's remarkable acquisition of
much and various knowledge.

If any man in England cared for the working classes, it was the Prince. He understood the great difficulty of the time as regards these classes; namely, the providing for them fitting habitations. He was a beneficent landlord; and his first care was to build good cottages for all the labouring men on his estates. He had entered into minute calculations as to the amount of illness which might be prevented amongst the poorer classes by a careful selection of the materials to be used in the building of their dwellings. In a word, he was tender, thoughtful, and anxious in his

efforts for the welfare of the labouring
man. His constancy of purpose in that,
as in other things, was worthy of all
imitation. He did not become tired of
benevolence. It was not the fancy of a
day for him.
It was the sustained pur-
pose of a life.

sought for

The Prince's love of Art must be spoken What he of separately, for it was something peculiar in Art. to himself. He saw through Art into what, in its highest form, it expressed-the beautiful. He cared not so much for a close representation of the things of daily life, as for that ideal world which Art shadows forth, and interprets to mankind. Hence his love for many a picture which might not be a masterpiece of drawing or of colouring, but which had tenderness and reverence in it, and told of something that was remote from common life, and high and holy.

Joined with this longing for an interpretation of the ideal, there was in the Prince. a love of Art for itself a pleasure in the skilful execution of a design, cuted by himself or others.

whether exe

He was no

Skill in organization.

What the Prince did for agriculture.

mean artist, and his knowledge of Art stretched forth into various directions. But this was not the remarkable point. There have been other Princes who have been artists. It was in his love of Art-in his keen perception of what Art could do, and of what was its highest province-that he excelled many men who were distinguished artists themselves, and had given their lives to the cultivation of Art.

Again, there was the Prince's skill in organization, that almost amounted to an art, which he showed in all the work he touched, and in everything he advised upon.

It may, therefore, justly be said that the Prince approached the highest realms of Art in various ways, which are seldom combined in any one person: in his fondness for what is romantic and ideal, in his love of skill and handicraft, and in his uniform desire for masterly organization.

In distinguishing the various branches of Art which the Prince devoted himself to, and loved to further, Agriculture must be particularly mentioned, not only on account of the great interest he took in it, and of

the practical skill he brought to it, but because of the felicitous results which followed upon his enterprises in this department. As regards works of High Art, it is not much that the wisest Prince, or the most judicious patron, can do to further them. They depend upon the existence, at any particular period, of men or women of genius; and the production of such works lies in a region which is beyond and above the patronage even of the most judicious patrons. But it is not so with Agriculture; and the Prince might fairly lay claim to having himself done much towards that improvement in agriculture which, happily for this country, has been so marked and so rapid within the last twenty years. Men are always much influenced by what their superiors in station do. And that the Prince should have been one of the first persons in this country to appreciate the merits of Deep Drainage, to employ Steam Power in cultivation (a power which does not require to be fed when it is put by in its stable after the day's work), and to apply the resources of Chemistry to Practical Agriculture, ensured the welcome consequence