One of the last wishes she
expressed was that her body should be borne to rest on a gun-carriage,
for she had never forgotten that she was a soldier's daughter.
On the day of the funeral the horses attached to the gun-carriage
became restive, and the sailors who formed the guard of honour took
their place, and drew the coffin, draped in the Union Jack, to its
last resting-place.
Through the streets of London, which had witnessed two great Jubilee
processions, festivals of rejoicing and thanksgiving, the funeral
cortege passed, and a great reign and a great epoch in history had
come to an end.
CHAPTER XV: _Victoria the Great_
The keynote of Queen Victoria's life was simplicity. She was a great
ruler, and at the same time a simple-minded, sympathetic woman, the
true mother of her people. She seemed by some natural instinct to
understand their joys and their sorrows, and this was the more
remarkable as for forty years she reigned alone without the
invaluable advice and assistance of her husband.
Her qualities were not those which have made other great rulers
famous, but they were typical of the age in which she lived.
All her life she was industrious, and never spared herself any time
or trouble, however arduous and disagreeable her duties might be.
She possessed the keenest sense of duty, and in dealing with men and
circumstances she never failed to do or say the right thing.
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