Victoria's cup of sorrows was indeed overflowing; and the public, as it watched the widowed mother weeping for her children and her friends, displayed a constantly increasing sympathy.
An event which occurred in 1882 revealed and accentuated the feelings of the nation.

As the Queen, at Windsor, was walking from the train to her carriage, a youth named Roderick Maclean fired a pistol at her from a distance of a few yards.

An Eton boy struck up Maclean's arm with an umbrella before the pistol went off; no damage was done, and the culprit was at once arrested.

This was the last of a series of seven attempts upon the Queen--attempts which, taking place at sporadic intervals over a period of forty years, resembled one another in a curious manner.

All, with a single exception, were perpetrated by adolescents, whose motives were apparently not murderous, since, save in the case of Maclean, none of their pistols was loaded.