She, of
course, spoke of the prince. She said that he always believed he was to
die soon, and that he often told her that he had never any fear of
death.... The more I learned about the Prince-Consort, the more I agree
with what the Queen said to me about him, "that he really did not seem to
comprehend a selfish character, or what selfishness was."'
It was Dr Macleod's feeling that the Queen had a reasoning, searching
mind, anxious to get at the root and the reality of things, and abhorring
all shams, whether in word or deed. In October 1866, he records: 'After
dinner, the Queen invited me to her room, where I found the Princess
Helena and Marchioness of Ely. The Queen sat down to spin at a nice Scotch
wheel, while I read Robert Burns to her: "Tam o' Shanter," and "A man's a
man for a' that," her favourite. The Prince and Princess of Hesse sent for
me to see their children. The eldest, Victoria, whom I saw at Darmstadt,
is a most sweet child; the youngest, Elizabeth, a round, fat ball of
loving good-nature. I gave her a real hobble, such as I give Polly. I
suppose the little thing never got anything like it, for she screamed and
kicked with a perfect _furore_ of delight, would go from me to neither
father nor mother nor nurse, to their great merriment, but buried her
chubby face in my cheek, until I gave her another right good hobble.
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