She was more--the embodiment, the living apex of a new era in the generations of mankind.
The last vestige of the eighteenth century had disappeared; cynicism and subtlety were shrivelled into powder; and duty, industry, morality, and domesticity triumphed over them.

Even the very chairs and tables had assumed, with a singular responsiveness, the forms of prim solidity.

The Victorian Age was in full swing.
VII Only one thing more was needed: material expression must be given to the new ideals and the new forces so that they might stand revealed, in visible glory, before the eyes of an astonished world.

It was for Albert to supply this want.

He mused, and was inspired: the Great Exhibition came into his head.
Without consulting anyone, he thought out the details of his conception with the minutest care.