We regret to note the death of Sir H. Ponsonby.
Originally an officer, he held from 1870 to 1894 the important post of Private Secretary to the Queen, and though entirely tins known to the public he was throughout all that long period one of the men who helped to rule England, more especially at the moment when Cabinets had to be formed. A man of cool judgment and infinite tact, he was yet simple and direct in all his utterances, and, delicate as his duties were, he was never accused in public or private of a blunder in performing them. He was implicitly trusted by the Queen, and under his regime that singular seclusion of the Court, which is so perfect that only our children will accurately know what part it has played in English political life, was rigorously preserved. The Queen, now seventy-six, must feel deeply for him, and realise the grand misery of enjoying the "long life" which her subjects pray in church maybe hers, but which entails for her, as for us all, a danger of surviving all loves, all •friendships, and all intimacies. Sovereigns, who have no equals, feel bitterly the loss of the few whom they select for thorough confidence.
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