When I congratulated him on his
seeming revival in strength, he showed me his hand, which was puffy and
blown, and answered: "Oh, I'm not so well as you might think." Poor
fellow, the remark was too true, for he died within a fortnight from that
evening.'
To South Africa, soon after Sir George Grey had resumed duty there, came
a member of the Royal family. This was Prince Alfred, later the Duke of
Edinburgh, now the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Sir George suggested the
visit, and he believed it had excellent results. It delighted the
colonists to have a son of the Queen among them. Seeing him the natives
could exclaim, 'Again, the Queen loves us or she would not send us her
son!' The visit drew out the regard of South Africa towards England and
its Sovereign. Certainly the federal idea!
'Prince Alfred,' Sir George made an appreciation of him, 'was a nice,
frank, handsome boy; an excessively taking little boy. In his honour, we
had perhaps the largest hunt that ever took place in South Africa. It was
calculated that he shot more deer in fifteen minutes, than his father
would have shot in the Scottish Highlands in a season.
'The Prince had to face a different sort of experience at a town, Port
Elizabeth I think, which we reached on his birthday. He had to walk
between lines of girls, laden with bouquets, which they flung down before
him, to the words: "Many happy returns of the day.
Pages:
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191