[Illustration: FIG. 57.--_Funeral of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort, at Windsor, December_ 23, 1861.]
When Her Majesty became a widow, she slightly modified the conventional English widow's cap, by indenting it over the forehead _à la_ Marie Stuart, thereby imparting to it a certain picturesqueness which was quite lacking in the former head-dress. This coiffure has been not only adopted by her subjects, but also by royal widows abroad. The etiquette of the Imperial House of Germany obliges the Empress Frederick to introduce into her costume two special features during the earlier twelve months of her widowhood. The first concerns the cap, which is black, having a Marie Stuart point over the centre of the forehead, and a long veil of black crape falling like a mantle behind to the ground. The second peculiarity of this stately costume is that the orthodox white batiste collar has two narrow white bands falling straight from head to foot. This costume has been very slightly modified from what it was three centuries ago, when a Princess of the House of Hohenzollern lost her husband.
[Illustration: FIG. 58.--HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE QUEEN. _From a Photograph by Messrs. W. & D. Downey._]
THE first general mourning ever proclaimed in America was on the occasion of the death of Benjamin Franklin, in 1791, and the next on that of Washington, in 1799. The deep and wide-spread grief occasioned by the melancholy death of the first President, assembled a great concourse of people for the purpose of paying him the last tribute of respect, and on Wednesday, December 18, 1799, attended by military honours and the simplest but grandest ceremonies of religion, his body was deposited in the family vault at Mount Vernon. Never in the history of America did a blow fall with more terrible earnestness than the news of the assassination of President Lincoln on April 14, 1865. All party feeling was forgotten, and sorrow was universal. The obsequies were on an exceedingly elaborate scale, and a generous people paid a grateful and sincere tribute to a humane and patriotic chieftain. After an impressive service, the embalmed body was laid in state in the Capitol at Washington, guarded by officers with drawn swords, and afterwards the coffin was closed for removal to Springfield, the home of the late President, a distance of about 1,700 miles. It took twelve days to accomplish the journey. The car which conveyed the remains was completely draped in black, the mourning outside being festooned in two rows above and below the windows, while each window had a strip of mourning connecting the upper with the lower row. Six other cars, all draped in black, were attached to the train, and contained the escort, whilst the engine was covered with crape and its flags draped. At several cities _en route_ a halt was made, in order to permit people to pay tributes of respect to the deceased, and several times the body was removed from the train, so that funeral services might be held. At last, on the 3rd of May, the train reached Springfield, and after a brief delay the procession moved with befitting ceremony to Oak Ridge Cemetery, President Lincoln's final resting-place. During the period intervening between President Lincoln's death and his interment, every city and town in the United States testified the greatest grief, and public expressions of mourning were universal. To take New York, as an instance, that city presented a singularly striking appearance. Scarce a house in it but was not draped in the deepest mourning, long festoons of black and white muslin drooped sadly everywhere, and even the gay show-cases outside the shop doors were dressed with funereal rosettes. The gloom which prevailed was intense. In many places, however, the decorations, though sombre, were exceedingly picturesque, the dark tones being relieved by the bright red and blue of the national colours, entwined with crape.