to the right places, etc. In her scheme for the nursing of the wounded, the Princess had before her the bright example of Florence Nightingale, during the Crimean War; and she also profited by a study of what had been done in Baden under the direction of the Grand Duchess. She delighted in the work, and was successful in carrying out her object. A committee was constituted in 1867, consisting of six ladies and four doctors, with the Princess as president. In the course of two years from its inauguration, the Ladies' Union embraced a membership of no less than 2500, a large organization for a comparatively small State.

Nor was this the only undertaking which occupied the Princess's thoughts. With the aid of Fräulein Louise Büchner-a well-known authoress, and an advocate of the educational and other claims of women-she devoted her attention to the improvement of the education and general condition of poor unmarried women and girls. A committee was formed for the encouragement of female industry, and a permanent institution was set on foot called, "The Alice Bazaar," for the purpose of receiving and disposing of articles of needlework at their proper value, and also for obtaining employment for women of all classes. Year by year, the institution progressed, and accomplished excellent work.

The Prince and Princess visited Berlin in 1867, and they also accepted the invitation of the Emperor Napoleon, given to all the Sovereigns and Princes of Europe, to visit the Great International Exhibition at Paris. Princess Alice was

greatly attracted by the art galleries of Paris, and she was long enamoured of the idea of founding schools of art and design in her own country. Crossing over to England from Paris, the Prince and Princess were present at Windsor and Osborne during the visits of the Sultan, and they also witnessed the great naval review at Spithead in his honour. On returning to Germany, they made various excursions in the autumn, travelling quietly and unostentatiously like ordinary tourists. At Cassel, they enjoyed for a time the society of the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia. Home difficulties arose at Darmstadt, owing to the opposition of the Grand Duke and the War Department to Prince Louis. They were anxious to evade their responsibilities towards Prussia, while he was resolved to keep loyally to the engagements made. Matters came to such a pass that the Prince determined to resign his command, hoping that by October 1, when the convention was to be carried out, the King of Prussia would send a Prussian general to Darmstadt invested with full responsibility. Ultimately the Grand Duke gave way, and the Prince retained his command.

During the summer of 1868, the Princess passed a considerable time in England. The ensuing autumn was spent at Kranichstein, and on November 25-after the return to Darmstadt-a son and heir was born to the Prince and Princess. The occasion was one of great rejoicing to the parents, and also to the whole country, and on December 28 the child was christened in the names of Ernst Ludwig, which had been borne by many of the

old Landgraves of Hesse-the Queen of England and the King of Prussia being the sponsors. The most interesting personal episode in 1869 was the visit which the Prince and Princess of Wales and their family paid to the Prince and Princess Louis at Kranichstein-the favourite resort of the latter. Then, on October 15, the Idiot Asylum built by the Princess Alice was formally opened in her presence, and that of the Prince of Wales. Prince Louis had gone on a tour in the east with the Crown Prince of Prussia. They visited Venice, Corfu, Athens, Constantinople, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Damascus, etc., and on November 15 arrived at Port Said, for the opening of the Suez Canal. After this interesting ceremony, they journeyed up the Nile as far as the first and second cataracts, and returned home by way of Naples, and through Italy. While the Princes were absent, the Crown Princess of Prussia and Princess Alice, with her infant son, paid a lengthy visit to Cannes. Here they were joined by their husbands in December, and the whole party returned to Germany shortly before Christmas.

The year 1870 was destined to be a most eventful one. Soon after its opening, Prince Louis was attacked with scarlet fever, and the Princess Victoria and the young Prince were soon down with the same disease. Princess Alice nursed them all through, and although the attack was severe, she had the satisfaction of seeing all the patients recover, and happily no ill effects followed. It was at this time that the Princess became acquainted with David Friedrich Strauss, the

writer and theologian. She greatly enjoyed the intellectual intercourse, and Strauss read to her a course of lectures on Voltaire, which he afterwards published with a dedication to the Princess. As time went on, however, she agreed less and less with Strauss's religious views, and she widely differed from those enunciated in his work on "The Old and New Faith." Strauss himself, however, she continued to regard with esteem on account of his scholarship, his literary ability, and the winning modesty of his personal demeanour. In the spring, the Princess visited the hospitals at Mayence, Offenbach, and Giessen, and held many consultations with the heads of these establishments, with a view to possible improvements.

In July, like a bolt out of a clear sky, came the declaration of war between France and Prussia. Prince Louis had to take the field with his division, which, with another division, formed the Ninth Army Corps, and belonged to the second army, commanded by Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia. The final leave-taking between husband and wife took place on August 1, and on the 15th, the Hessian division was engaged with the enemy before Metz. On the 16th it bore its part in the sanguinary battle of Mars-la-Tour. Two days later, it was in the deadly engagement at Gravelotte, when Prince Louis and his division occupied a central position in the army which drove Marshal Bazaine back into Metz, and imprisoned him there. The Prince was in active service on several occasions after this, and it was on October 8, while the German troops were in hourly expectation of

a sortie of the French from Metz, that he received news of the birth of his second son, who had been born on August 7.

Although the Princess Alice was daily filled with anxiety, knowing that her husband was in the thick of the fight, she bravely subdued her own feelings, and engaged in helping, comforting, and advising all around her at Darmstadt. Dr. Sell observes that "she worked, like any other woman, to alleviate as best she could the sufferings of the sick and the wounded, and giving aid to those who were plunged into destitution by the war. Whilst she was living with her children at Kranichstein, the Hülfsverein,' or Committee of Aid, had its head-quarters in her palace at Darmstadt. She herself went there every day, and visited all the hospitals, also the ambulance at the railway station, and superintended the organization of Committees of Aid' all over the country. The committees which she had organized long previously now proved themselves an untold blessing.

"The 'Alice Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded' had sixteen trained nurses ready for work at the beginning of the war. Through the voluntary help of some of the best doctors and surgeons, who arranged classes at different places for the instruction of all those who were anxious to help to nurse during the war, the number of nurses was increased to one hundred and sixty four. These were sent to the different hospitals in Hesse, to ambulances near Metz, to the hospital trains, and the hospitals on the steamers.

"In her own palace, the Princess arranged a