Mr.Reeve, however, was impenitent.

When Sir Arthur told him that, in the Queen's opinion, "the book degraded royalty," he replied: "Not at all; it elevates it by the contrast it offers between the present and the defunct state of affairs." But this adroit defence failed to make any impression upon Victoria; and Mr.Reeve, when he retired from the public service, did not receive the knighthood which custom entitled him to expect.

Perhaps if the Queen had known how many caustic comments upon herself Mr.Reeve had quietly suppressed in the published Memoirs, she would have been almost grateful to him; but, in that case, what would she have said of Greville?
Imagination boggles at the thought.

As for more modern essays upon the same topic, Her Majesty, it is to be feared, would have characterised them as "not discreet." But as a rule the leisure hours of that active life were occupied with recreations of a less intangible quality than the study of literature or the appreciation of art.

Victoria was a woman not only of vast property but of innumerable possessions.