round of current politics and the routine of the services of State. Prince Leopold has had more than one tutor; to Canon Duckworth he would gratefully allow his educational obligation; to Mr. Ruskin he has openly proclaimed his intellectual and moral debt; and he has freely opened his mind to such culture as the philosophic lore of the world affords to every earnest student. Prince Leopold was entered at Christ Church, Oxford, and is a member of the University, and a Doctor of Civil Law, dating thirteen years later than his forerunner in the same curriculum, the Prince of Wales, who is not quite twelve years. his senior. An English Prince at the University does not reside in the College to which he is attached, but in a house of his own. Prince Leopold, however, had his own set among the students of his time, and might often have been seen playing chess at the Oxford Chess Club, a game particularly conducive to patience and quiet strength, and one which we shall see from his speeches has taught him some metaphorical lessons. How far he is possessed of native talent, and how much he owes to Oxford, we need not reckon, for the reports of his speeches show that the former qualification does not yield before the latter. In reference to one of his speeches the Times leader expressed the opinion that "few Oxford men of Prince Leopold's age could have said what he had to say, or have said it so simply, plainly, and brightly.”

Prince Leopold's position is peculiar. So many lives come between his own and the splendid burden of the crown, that he is comparatively free from the restrictions which Court etiquette imposes upon those near the succession. He may call Lord Beaconsfield "a great master of style and language" without an outcry that he is favouring a political party. He may speak from the same platform as Mr. Gladstone without any fear of suspicion that he is reviving the old spectre of "Prerogative" in order to influence a general election. He may even become a Peer of the Realm, and take part in the debates of the House of Lords. There is nothing to prevent him, if he should so incline, from entering the arena of legislation as a partisan. Were the Prince of Wales to assume such a position, he would immediately lay himself open to the danger of being supposed to represent the Sovereign, and expose the judgment of Her Majesty to indirect attack. Prince Leopold possesses all of what we may perhaps describe as the poetical prerogatives of princely position, without any of its onerous and uneasy responsibilities. There is indeed much to captivate the imagination in the spectacle of a prince, who has every form of sumptuous show and idle luxury within reach, rising above the lower dream into the altitude of a lover of wisdom and truth. And as Sakya Mouni was the better Buddha for the expanded views due to his princely nurture and experience, so there is a rare charm, such as sometimes emanates from the work of artists of unique individuality, in philosophy that has passed through the crucible

of a life so uncommon in its experience as that of a member of the Royal family of a country like our own. A certain remoteness is a necessary constituent of artistic effect, and in the speeches of a prince it is as if the voice came to us from some mysterious distance, on which account it is pregnant with a romantic power which makes it the more impressive. As this remoteness from the commonplace is what every great poet and artist aims at, it can scarcely be urged that the influence thence derived should be despised or regarded as moonshine, because it happens to proceed in a natural manner from the peculiar composition of circumstances which form the environment of a prince. A very important impressive power resides in the idealistic, even though the practical man may confess its influence more by the secret and unconscious effect which it has upon his motives, than by any ostensible appreciation of it. High position has its duties, and opportunities of a kind that can come by no other way, of adding to the welfare of the world. It is only selfish isolation-the inversion of the true birthright of aristocracy-on the part of those whom the public would be glad to worship as it worships all communicators of what is above the commonplace, which can make royal persons unpopular. Our English princes one and all seem as by instinct aware of this fact; and each has his own sphere of manifest activity. To describe the kind of work in which a prince engages as ornamental, is a great mistake. A man in business often says, "I can do nothing with my agents until they have had their legs under my mahogany." A certain relation between them and centrality of the enterprise are thus produced which are of more effect than acres of written correspondence. It is to the ensuring of this kind of centrality for enterprises of larger scope, that the presence and interest of a prince are so often the means, with a success beyond cold and practical expectation; and in this respect the prince may be regarded as occupying, not an ornamental, but a pivotal position.

When it came to the turn of Prince Leopold to make a public appearance, it was the signal for the expression all over the country of a most candid and pleased surprise. It was found that wherever he went he went with something to say, and that that something was said clearly, eloquently, naturally, and persuasively. The delivery was calm and powerful, and the air of self-conviction which marked each address made it evident that a genuine thinker and speaker was present. The discourses were indubitably not bought, but made by the orator himself, were all of a piece, and worthy of study not only in the hearing, but under the more trying ordeal of a reading in cold blood and away from the speaker's spell. The life of a young prince is necessarily and rightly somewhat obscure; a few persons only had known of Prince Leopold as a cultivated student, a large number now were first introduced to him as a large-minded and accomplished teacher. The surprise was pardonable.