It is pleasant to turn from scenes of doubt and discord, of strife and sorrow, to that bright domestic life which was now vouchsafed to the Sovereign, as if in direct compensation for the storms that raved and beat outside her home—­a home now brightened by the presence of five joyous, healthy children.  It is a charming picture of the royal pair and of the manner of life in the palace—­styled by one foreigner “the one really pleasant, comfortable English house, in which one feels at one’s ease “—­that is given us by the finely discerning Mendelssohn, invited by the Prince to “come and try his organ” before leaving England in 1842, on which occasion the Queen joined her husband and his guest at the instrument, enjoying and aiding in their musical performance, and singing, “quite faultlessly and with charming feeling and expression,” a song written by the great master who was now paying a farewell visit, with nothing of ceremony in it, to English royalty.  With a few touches Mendelssohn makes us see the delightful ease and comfort of this royal interior, the Queen gathering up the sheets of music strewn by the wind over the floor—­the Prince cleverly managing the organ-stops so as to suit the master while he played—­the mighty rocking-horse and the two birdcages beside the music-laden piano in the Queen’s own sitting-room, beautiful with pictures and richly-bound books—­the pretty difficulty about her finding some of Mendelssohn’s own songs to sing to him, since her music was packed up and taken away to Claremont—­her naive confession that she had been “so frightened” at singing before the master,—­all are chronicled with not less zest and affection than the graceful gift of a valuable ring “as a remembrance” to the artist from the Queen, through Prince Albert.  It is a much more pleasing impression that we thus obtain than can be given by details of State ceremonial and visits from other sovereigns.  Of these last there was no lack, and the princely visitors were entertained with all due pomp and splendour; but neither on account of these costly entertainments nor on behalf of the royal children did the Sovereign ask the nation for so much as a shilling, the Civil List sufficing for every unlooked-for outlay, now that Prince Albert, by dint of persevering effort, had succeeded in putting the arrangements of the royal household on a satisfactory footing, sweeping away a vast number of time-honoured, thriftless expenses, and rendering a wise and generous economy possible.

[Illustration:  Balmoral.]

Formerly the great officers of the Crown were charged with the oversight of the commonest domestic business of the palace.  Being non-resident, these overseers did no overseeing, and the actual servants were practically masterless.  Hence arose numberless vexations and extravagant hindrances.  In 1843 this objectionable form of the division of labour was brought to an end, and one Master of the household who did his work replaced