Letitia Elizabeth Landon

“ With us, the sail and the sword have gone together, and commerce has consolidated what was gained by war. We have now to civilize what we have subdued: it is ours to bestow knowledge, freedom, and faith. Education, settled laws, and Christianity must follow the course of our victories and our manufactures. ”

“ Example is the influence of a sovereign; and royal sympathy will avail to draw that attention which is the harbinger of remedy. In the education of the poor lies the true preservative against the worst ills of want. The first steps towards this object must be taken by the rich; this brings the two classes together, and for their mutual benefit. Indifference is startled out of selfish indulgence—and ignorance awakened into hope. Instruction forms the habit, and lays open the resource—while the schemes that originated in pity will be matured by thought ”

“ Her royal highness was united, in 1818, to Edward duke of Kent, whose death within two years, made her again a widow. Since that period her life has been devoted to the illustrious orphan left in her charge. The character of a sovereign must influence the destinies of a people,—and careful education, though it cannot make, will mould a character. The Princess Victoria has never left her mother's side for a day. ”

“ The reigns of both Elizabeth and Anne are marked as periods of national aggrandisement, equally distinguished by extension of power, of commerce and of intellect. "Our youthful princess has been prepared for her high position by a wise and thoughtful education, which no one was better qualified to conduct than her illustrious mother. ”

“ For food the mother has not to bestow.
These are life's common scenes—thy regal dower
Were but a drop flung in a boundless sea;
But thou mayst lead the way—the pomp of power
Will make the careless many follow thee.
From glowing Ind to Huron's waters spreading
Extends the empire that our sword hath won,
There have our sails been peace and knowledge shedding,
Upon thy sceptre never sets the sun.
A nobler triumph still awaits thy winning,
"The mind's ethereal war is in its birth ”

“ A higher and more generous purpose is now the stimulus to all efforts of improvement: our views are more enlightened, because more general; the many have taken the place of the few. In the earlier ages, science kept as secrets those discoveries, which now its chief object is to promulgate. ”