"The author writes with dignity and grace, he values his subject, and treats him with a certain courtly reverence, yet never once sinks into the panegyrist, and while apparently most frank--so frank, that the reticent English people may feel the intimacy of his domestic narratives almost painful--he is never once betrayed into a momentary indiscretion. The almost idyllic beauty of the relation between the Prince Consort and the Queen comes out as fully as in all previous histories of that relation--and we have now had three--as does also a good deal of evidence as to the Queen's own character, hitherto always kept down, and, as it were, self effaced in publications written or sanctioned by herself."--_From the London Spectator._
"Of the abilities which have been claimed for the Prince Consort, this work affords us small means of judging. But of his wisdom, strong sense of duty, and great dignity and purity of character, the volume furnishes ample evidence. In this way it will be of service to any one who reads it."--_From the New York Evening Post._
"There is a striking contrast between this volume and the Greville Memoirs, which relate to a period in English history immediately preceding Prince Albert's marriage with Queen Victoria. Radical changes were effected in court-life by Victoria's accession to the throne.... In the work before us, which is the unfolding of a model home-life, a life in fact unrivaled in the abodes of modern royalty, there is nothing but what the purest mind can read with real pleasure and profit.
"Mr. Martin draws a most exquisite portraiture of the married life of the royal pair, which seems to have been as nearly perfect as any thing human can be. The volume closes shortly after the Revolution of 1848, at Paris, when Louis Philippe and his hapless queen were fleeing to England in search of an asylum from the fearful forebodings which overhung their pathway. It was a trying time for England, but, says Mr. Martin with true dramatic effect in the closing passages of his book: 'When the storm burst, it found him prepared. In rising to meet the difficulties of the hour, the prince found the best support in the cheerful courage of the queen,' who on the 4th of April of that same year wrote to King Leopold: 'I never was calmer and quieter or less nervous. Great events make me calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves.' Thus ends the first volume of one of the most important biographies of the present time. The second volume will follow as soon as its preparation can be effected."--_From the Hartford Evening Post._