One of the most marked indications of Victoria's enfranchisement from the thraldom of widowhood had been her resumption--after an interval of thirty years--of the custom of commanding dramatic companies from London to perform before the Court at Windsor.

On such occasions her spirits rose high.

She loved acting; she loved a good plot; above all, she loved a farce.

Engrossed by everything that passed upon the stage she would follow, with childlike innocence, the unwinding of the story; or she would assume an air of knowing superiority and exclaim in triumph, "There! You didn't expect that, did you ?" when the denouement came.

Her sense of humour was of a vigorous though primitive kind.