ABSTRACT
One of the strongest and most genial interests of the period now closing was the young Queen. If the kindliness and open heart of William IV had been refreshing after the temper and manners of his predecessor, the youthfulness and gayety of the new sovereign were now really exhilarating after the spectacle of so many years, — of a feeble old man in the royal carriage. While the temperance cause seemed to be advancing everywhere, and tea-drinkings with speeches, and dances with music and lemonade, were noticed in newspapers, almost from day to day, certain disclosures were made at a meeting of the Westminster Medical Society in 1839, which appalled the few who heard or attended to the information. Soon after his ‘Political Justice’ was published, working-men were seen to club their earnings to buy it, and to meet under a tree or in an ale-house to read it.
