The Queen behaved with her own wonderful courage on this occasion--which
was expected by her and Prince Albert, from their having a strong
impression that the same wretch had the day before pointed at them, from
the midst of a crowd, a pistol which had missed fire. They drove out
alone together, keeping a pretty sharp lookout for the assassin--and at
last, they saw him just as he fired. The ball passed under the carriage,
and Francis was at once arrested. Lady Bloomfield, who was then Maid of
Honor, gives an account of the excitement at the Palace that evening, and
quotes some words of the Queen, very beautiful because revealing her rare
consideration for others. She says that Sir Robert Peel was there, and
showed intense feeling about the risk Her Majesty had run, and that the
Queen, turning to her, said: "I dare say, Georgy, you were surprised at
not driving with me to-day--but the fact was, that as we were returning
from church yesterday, a man presented a pistol at the carriage window.
It flashed in the pan, and we were so taken by surprise that he had time
to escape. I knew what was hanging over me to-day, and was determined not
to expose any life but my own."
Francis was tried and sentenced to death, but through the Queen's
clemency the sentence was commuted to transportation for life, and the
very day after, Bean, the hunchback, essayed to shoot Her Majesty with a
charge of paper and bits of clay-pipe.
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