For the first time for many months the centre of
interest has shifted from South Africa. Since Monday all eyes have been turned to Ireland, where, after an absence of nearly
forty years, the Queen is now paying a holiday visit. Arriving at Kingstown on Tuesday afternoon, the Queen drove in through the suburbs and streets of Dublin to the Viceregal Lodge in the Phcenix Park on Wednesday morning, along a route nearly ten miles long lined by half a million people and decorated with a profuseness, picturesqueness, and variety admitted by the English visitors to have surpassed the decorations of London in 1897. The weather, which had been wet and stormy, changed to brilliant sunshine on Wednesday, and the Queen, who wore the shamrock all through, was greeted all along the route with extraordinary fervour. The motives of her visit were set forth with admir- able tact and simplicity in her reply to the Lord Mayor's address :—" I came to this fair country to seek change and rest, and to revisit scenes which recall to my mind, among thoughts of the losses which years must bring, the happiest recollection of the warm-hearted welcome given to me and my beloved husband and children. I am deeply gratified that I have been able at this time to see again the mother. land of those brave eons who have borne themselves in defence of my Crown and Empire with a cheerful valour as conspicuous now as ever in their glorious past."
