Memoir of the Princess Alexandrina Victoria
"Her royal highness the princess Alexandrina Victoria, born on the 24th of May, 1819, has this day, May 24th, 1837, and the eighteenth anniversary of her birth, attained her royal majority by act of parliament, an act which passed the houses of lords and commons, and received his majesty's assent in 1831.
"The biographer of one so young has more to do with hope than with memory. But such youth possesses
'A beauty that was felt, no doubt,
Within the bowers of Paradise, that sets
The opening rose above the rose full blown.'
"The Princess Victoria was born at a time when the tumult of a thousand victories resounded over the earth; but she has lived amid their after-fruits. There is now a yet more mighty struggle proceeding—that of opinion. It is a moral warfare that to-day disturbs the world; and in that, how great must be the influence exercised, and the responsibility incurred, by one destined in all human probability, to the throne of Great Britain. It is not the first time that such authority has been given to the hand of a woman. The reigns of both Elizabeth and Anne are marked as periods of national aggrandisement, equally distinguished by extension of power, of commerce and of intellect.
