POSTSCRIPT.
SATURDAY NIGHT.
Lofty was the ceremonial, splendid the feast, in Windsor Castle last night ; when Queen Victoria's second son was christened. Royal visiters began to arrive early in the afternoon,—the Dutchess of Kent, the Queen Dowager with Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, the Duke and Dntchess of Cambridge with the Hereditary Grand Duke and Grand Dutchess of Mecklenburg Strelitz, the Dutchess of Gloucester, Prince William of Prussia ; all suitably attended. Many more distin- guished visiters also came—Foreign Ministers, Cabinet Ministers, and others, and were admitted to seats in the Chapel. The sacred place was gorgeously fitted up for the occasion ; the altar covered with crim- son velvet and gold, and illumined by wax-lights in golden candle- sticks. The Archbishop of Canterbury presided at the altar, aided by the Bishop of Norwich and the Bishop of Oxford, with the Queen's and Prince Albert's Chaplains. After six o'clock all was ready, and the Royal procession entered the Chapel. This was distinguished from pre- vious pageants by the presence of the elder children. First came some officers of the Household. Then the Sponsors—namely, the Duke of Cambridge, proxy for Prince George ; the Dutchess of Kent, proxy for the Dutchess of Saxe-Coburg Gotha ; the Duke of Wellington, proxy for the Prince of Leiningen ; followed by the ladies and gentlemen of their suites. More officers of the Household. The Queen, leading the Princess Royal, walked with Prince William of Prussia by her side ; Prince Albert was beside the Queen Dowager, and led the Prince of Wales. Then came the rest of the Royal visiters ; and lastly, more officers. The Queen wore a white satin dress trimmed with Honiton lace, a diamond tiara on her head, with the insignia of the Garter : the little children were dressed in white satin and lace; the Princes in military uniforms. The service began with Palestrina's "0 bejoyful." When the music ceased, Prince Albert's Groom of the Stole conducted into the Chapel the Dowager Lady Lyttelton, bearing the Royal infant : who was baptized by the Archbishop ; the Duke of Cambridge giving the name--" Alfred-Ernest-Albert." His Royal Highness Prince Alfred was carried out of the Chapel to the sound of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from Judas Maccabaus. A benediction closed the service, at seven o'clock ; and the procession withdrew in the order of its entrance.
Within half an hour afterwards, a bevy of guests entered St. George's Hall for the banquet. Numberless wax-lights made it brighter than day ; the table and sideboards, covered with the riches of the House- hold treasury, "shone all with gold and stones that flame-like blazed." The Queen sat at one end of the table, Prince William on her right, the Duke her uncle on her left ; Prince Albert sat at the other end, be- tween Queen Adelaide and the Dutchess of Kent. More Royal guests, the Clergy, Cabinet and Foreign Ministers, ladies and gentlemen of the Household and of the several suites, surrounded the board. The Steward of the Household gave the toasts, beginning with" His Royal Highness Prince Alfred" ; music playing at the meal and between the toasts.
After dinner, the Queen led the way to the Waterloo Chamber ; where a concert was performed of instrumental music by Beethoven, Haydn, Mayerbeer, Spohr, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Weber. Spohr's piece was a manuscript symphony, describing the moral career of men- the bright innocence of childhood, the age of passion, and the reign of mature virtue : it was composed for two orchestras, and was performed accordingly, by eleven solo-players in the East gallery, and a numerous orchestra in the West gallery, more than a hundred feet distant ; seventy performers in all. Thus the rejoicings terminated.
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