to be considered into “categories-” the word, they thought, smacked dangerously of German metaphysics; but their confidence returned when they observed His Royal Highness’s extraordinary technical acquaintance with the processes of fresco painting.  When the question arose as to whether the decorations upon the walls of the new buildings should, or should not, have a moral purpose, the Prince spoke strongly for the affirmative.  Although many, he observed, would give but a passing glance to the works, the painter was not therefore to forget that others might view them with more thoughtful eyes.  This argument convinced the commission, and it was decided that the subjects to be depicted should be of an improving nature.  The frescoes were carried out in accordance with the commission’s instructions, but unfortunately before very long they had become, even to the most thoughtful eyes, totally invisible.  It seems that His Royal Highness’s technical acquaintance with the processes of fresco painting was incomplete!

The next task upon which the Prince embarked was a more arduous one:  he determined to reform the organisation of the royal household.  This reform had been long overdue.  For years past the confusion, discomfort, and extravagance in the royal residences, and in Buckingham Palace particularly, had been scandalous; no reform had been practicable under the rule of the Baroness; but her functions had now devolved upon the Prince, and in 1844, he boldly attacked the problem.  Three years earlier, Stockmar, after careful enquiry, had revealed in an elaborate memorandum an extraordinary state of affairs.  The control of the household, it appeared, was divided in the strangest manner between a number of authorities, each independent of the other, each possessed of vague and fluctuating powers, without responsibility, and without co-ordination.  Of these authorities, the most prominent were the Lord Steward and the Lord Chamberlain—­noblemen of high rank and political importance, who changed office with every administration, who did not reside with the Court, and had no effective representatives attached to it.  The distribution of their respective functions was uncertain and peculiar.  In Buckingham Palace, it was believed that the Lord Chamberlain had charge of the whole of the rooms, with the exception of the kitchen, sculleries, and pantries, which were claimed by the Lord Steward.  At the same time, the outside of the Palace was under the control of neither of these functionaries—­but of the Office of Woods and Forests; and thus, while the insides of the windows were cleaned by the Department of the Lord Chamberlain—­or possibly, in certain cases, of the Lord Steward—­the Office of Woods and Forests cleaned their outsides.  Of the servants, the housekeepers, the pages, and the housemaids were under the authority of the Lord Chamberlain; the clerk of the kitchen, the cooks, and the porters were under that of the Lord Steward; but the footmen,