Princess of Wales, and five hundred other distinguished guests. Yet, in spite of the immense number to be accommodated, we are assured that the entertainment passed off as easily and pleasantly as if there had been but a dozen people present.
She is hospitable to the poor as well as to the wealthy. The beautiful garden and grounds of her villa at Highgate are open to school children, who visit them literally in thousands.
The public and patriotic benevolence of Miss Coutts has not passed unrecognized. She is, and has long been, one of the most beloved women in England. Mr. Julian Young relates that in 1868, when the great Reform procession was passing her house, she was at the window looking on, accompanied by himself and a group of friends.
"Though she stood more out of sight than any of us," he says, "in one instant a shout was raised. For upwards of two hours and a half the air rang with the reiterated huzzas—huzzas unanimous and heart-felt, as if representing a national sentiment."
In June, 1871, the Queen bestowed upon Miss Coutts a peerage, and she became Baroness Burdett-Coutts. In 1872, she was admitted to the freedom of the city of London, and in 1874 to that of the city of Edinburgh.
In 1881, she was married to Mr. William Ashmead-Bartlett, an American gentleman naturalized in England, who had long been her confidential adviser, friend, and man of business. Some were surprised by this marriage, their grounds of objection being the difference in age between the parties, Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett being the younger of the two, and also the fact that a portion of the Baroness's property was held upon such a tenure that she forfeited it if she married. For the first objection, it was certainly the affair of no one but the two most intimately concerned, and their minds were already made up in
