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LORD MELBOURNE.
I The new queen was almost entirely unknown to her subjects.

In her public appearances her mother had invariably dominated the scene.

Her private life had been that of a novice in a convent: hardly a human being from the outside world had ever spoken to her; and no human being at all, except her mother and the Baroness Lehzen, had ever been alone with her in a room.

Thus it was not only the public at large that was in ignorance of everything concerning her; the inner circles of statesmen and officials and high-born ladies were equally in the dark.