And so, Sir Arthur, Sir Theodore, and the General painted him.

In the circumstances, and under such supervision, to have done anything else would have required talents considerably more distinguished than any that those gentlemen possessed.
But that was not all.

By a curious mischance Victoria was also able to press into her service another writer, the distinction of whose talents was this time beyond a doubt.

The Poet Laureate, adopting, either from complaisance or conviction, the tone of his sovereign, joined in the chorus, and endowed the royal formula with the magical resonance of verse.

This settled the matter.