NEWS OF THE WEEK.
IT is officially announced that the Princess Louise of Wales, who will one day be Princess Royal, and who at present, after her father, stands third in the succession, has been betrothed, with the Queen's consent, to the Earl of Fife. Although the Earl is thirty-nine and the Princess only twenty-two, the betrothal is, it is stated, the result Of strong affection on both sides, and there is reason to believe that the statement is less courtly than has occasionally been the case. We are not sure 'that alliances with subjects are genuinely popular, though it is the fashion to say so ; but there seems no reasonable -ground of objection to this one: The Earl, though he does not belong to the " even-born," is the head of an ancient family, and a man of character; he has two hundred and fifty thousand acres in Scotland, besides wealth much less subject to deterioration ; and he is not a prominent politician. As to the succession, Prince Albert Victor will probably marry soon ; and if he does not, there is Prince George, who is just coming forward in public life. We can but hope, though without much confidence, that Parlia- ment will avoid the usual mean discussions about dowry, and -vote the provision it is sure to sanction, with something of .decent grace.
