6. Last, but not
least, that he loves his wife and remains her devoted husband."
We may believe the good, fun-loving wife was delighted with this little
letter, and read it to a few of her choicest friends.
A few months later, while the Queen was driving with her children in an
open carriage over that assassin-haunted Constitution Hill, she was fired
at by a mad Irishman--William Hamilton. She did not lose for a moment her
wonderful self-possession, but ordered the carriage to move on, and
quieted with a few calm words the terror of the children.
We have seen that at the time of Oxford's attempt she "laughed at the
thing"; but now there had been so many shootings that "the thing" was
getting tiresome and monotonous, and she did not interfere with the
carrying out of the sentence of seven years' transportation. This was not
the last. In 1872 a Fenian tried his hand against his widowed sovereign,
and we all know of the shocking attempt of two years ago at Windsor. In
truth, Her Majesty has been the greatest royal target in Europe.
_Messieurs les assassins_ are not very gallant.
All this time the Prince-Consort was up to his elbows in work of many
kinds. That which he loved best, planning and planting the grounds of
Osborne and Balmoral and superintending building, he cheerfully
sacrificed for works of public utility.
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