Ferdinand of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Crown Prince of Roumania; (2) Victoria, born Nov. 25, 1876; married April 19, 1894, to Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse; (3) Alexandra, born Sept. 1, 1878; married, April 20, 1896, to Prince Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg; (4) Beatrice, born April 20, 1884.

IV. Princess Helena, born May 25, 1846; married, July 5, 1866, to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Offspring:→→ (1) Christian, born April 14, 1867; (2) Albert John, born Feb. 26, 1869; (3) Victoria, born May 3, 1870; (4) Louise, born Aug. 12, 1872; married to Prince Aribert of Anhalt, July 6, 1891.

V. Princess Louise, born March 18, 1848; married March 21, 1871, to John, Marquis of Lorne, eldest son of the Duke of Argyll.

VI. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, born May 1, 1850; married, March 13, 1879, to Princess Louise of Prussia, born July 25, 1860. Offspring (1) Margaret Victoria, born Jan. 15, 1882; (2) Arthur, born Jan. 13, 1883; (3) Victoria, born March 17, 1886.

Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, born 1853; married, 1882, to Princess Helena of Waldeck; died, 1884; left two children, Alice, born February 25, 1883; and Charles Edward, Duke of Albany, born July 19, 1884.

VII. Princess Beatrice, born April 14, 1857; married, July 23, 1885, to Prince Henry (died January 20, 1896), third son of Prince Alexander of Hesse. Offspring (1) Alexander Albert, born Nov. 23, 1886; (2) Victoria Eugénie, born Oct. 24, 1887; (3) Leopold Arthur Louis, born May 21, 1889; (4) Maurice Victor Donald, born October 3, 1891.

Cousins of the Queen.

I. Prince Ernest August, Duke of Cumberland, born Sept. 21, 1845, the grandson of Duke Ernest August of Cumberland, fifth son of King George III. ; married, December 21, 1878, to Princess Thyra of Denmark, born September 29, 1853. Six children.

II. Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, born March 26, 1819, the son of Duke Adolph of Cambridge, sixth son of King George III.; field-marshal in the British army (commander-in-chief till 1895).

III. Princess Augusta, sister of the preceding, born July 19, 1822; married June 28, 1843, to Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

The Queen reigns in her own right, holding the Crown both by inheritance and election. Her legal title rests on the statute of 12 & 13 Will. III. c. 3, by which the succession to the Crown of Great Britain and Ireland was settled on the Princess Sophia of Hanover and the heirs of her body, being Protestants.'

The civil list of the Queen consists in a fixed Parliamentary

grant, and amounts to much less than the incomes of previous sovereigns. Under George I. this sum amounted at times to 1,000,000l. sterling, but in 1777 the civil list of the King was fixed at 900,000%., and the income over and above that sum from the hereditary possessions of the Crown passed to the Treasury. Under William IV. the civil list was relieved of many burthens, and fixed at 510,000l.

It is established by 1 & 2 Vict. c. 2, that during her Majesty's reign all the revenues of the Crown shall be a part of the Consolidated Fund, but that a civil list shall be assigned to the Queen. In virtue of this Act, the Queen has granted to her an annual allowance of 385,000l. of which the Lords of the Treasury are directed to pay yearly 60,000l., into her Majesty's Privy Purse; to set aside 231,2607. for the salaries of the royal household; 44,2407. for retiring allowances and pensions to servants; and 13, 2007. for royal bounty, alms, and special services. This leaves an unappropriated surplus of 36,3007., which may be applied in aid of the general expenditure of her Majesty's Court. The Queen has also paid to her the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster, which in the year 1897 amounted to 83,5327., and the payment made to her Majesty for the year was 60,000%.

On the Consolidated Fund are charged likewise the following sums allowed to members of the royal family :-10,000l. a year to the Duke of Edinburgh (reduced from £25,000 on the Duke's accession the Dukedom of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1893); 25,000l. to the Duke of Connaught; 8,000%. to the Empress Victoria of Germany; 6,000l. to Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein; 6,000l. to Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne; 6,000l. to Princess Henry (Beatrice) of Battenberg; 3,000l. to the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; 12,000l. to George, Duke of Cambridge; and 6,000l. to Princess Helena of Waldeck, Duchess of Albany.

The heir-apparent to the Crown has, by 26 Vict. c. 1, settled upon him an annuity of 40,000l., and by an Act passed in 1889 receives 37,000l. annually in addition for the support and maintenance of his children. The Prince of Wales has besides as income the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, which in the year 1897 were 97,4257., the sum paid to the Prince being 58,1187. The Princess of Wales has settled upon her by 26 Vict. cap. 1, the annual sum of 10,000l., to be increased to 30,000l. in case of widowhood.

The following is a list of the sovereigns and sovereign rulers of Great Britain, with date of their accession, from the union of the crowns of England and Scotland :

Commons, was made by the Reform Bill of 1867-68. By this Act England and Wales were allotted 493 members and Scotland 60, while the number for Ireland remained unaltered, and household suffrage was conferred on boroughs in England and Scotland. A still greater reform was effected by the Representation of the People Act 1884, and the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885. The former introduced a 'service franchise,' extending to householders and lodgers in counties the suffrages which in 1867 had been conferred upon householders and lodgers in boroughs, and placed the three Kingdoms on a footing of equality as regards electoral qualifications; while the latter made a new division of the United Kingdom into county and borough constituencies, and raised the total number of members to 670, England receiving 6 new members, and Scotland 12.

The number of members and of registered electors for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland respectively, in 1898 was as follows:

:

Thus about one-sixth of the population are electors.

The number of those voting as 'Illiterates,' and the total votes recorded in 1895, were as follows:

All elections for members of Parliament must be by secret vote by ballot, an Act being passed annually to this effect.

No one under twenty-one years of age can be a member of Parliament. All clergymen of the Church of England, ministers of the Church of Scotland, and Roman Catholic clergymen are disqualified from sitting as members; all Government contractors, and all sheriffs and returning officers for the localities for which they act, are disqualified both from voting and from sitting as members. No English or Scottish peer can be elected to the House of Commons, but non-representative Irish peers are eligible,

of Legislature, the Lords and the Commons, dates from the middle of the fourteenth century.

The House of Lords consists of peers who hold their seats— (1) by hereditary right; (2) by creation of the sovereign ; (3) by virtue of office-English bishops; (4) by election for life-Irish peers; (5) by election for duration of Parliament— Scottish peers.

The number of names on the 'Roll' was 401 in 1830; 457 in 1840; 448 in 1850; 458 in 1860; 503 in 1877; and 586 in 1898. About two-thirds of the hereditary peerages were created in the present century. Excluding the royal and ecclesiastical peerages, the 4 oldest existing peerages in the House of Lords date from the latter part of the thirteenth century, while 5 go back to the fourteenth and 7 to the fifteenth century. There are besides 8 peeresses of the United Kingdom in their own right, and 2 Scotch peeresses, and 18 Scotch and 62 Irish peers who are not peers of Parliament.

The House of Commons has consisted, since 49 Hen. III., of knights of the shire, or representatives of counties; of citizens, or representatives of cities; and of burgesses or representatives of boroughs, all of whom vote together. To the House of Commons, in the reign of Edward I., 37 counties and 166 boroughs each returned two representatives; but at the accession of Henry VIII. the total number of constituencies was only 147. The additions from Edward VI. to Charles II. were almost entirely of borough members. In the fourth Parliament of Charles I., the number of places in England and Wales for which returns were made, exclusive of counties, amounted to 210; and in the time of the Stuarts, the total number of members of the House of Commons was about 500. At the union of the English and Scottish Parliaments in 1707, 45 representatives of Scotland were added; and at the union of the British and Irish Parliaments in 1801, 100 representatives of Ireland. The average number of members was then about 650.

By the Reform Bill of 1832, the number of English county constituencies was increased from 52 to 82; 56 boroughs, containing a population of less than 2,000 each, were totally disfranchised, and 31 other boroughs, of less than 4,000 each, were required to send one representative instead of two. On the other hand, 22 new boroughs acquired the right to return two members, and 24 to return one member. In Scotland the town members were increased from 15 to 23--making 53 in all; while the Irish representatives were increased from 100 to 103.

The next great change in the constituency of the House of

Commons, was made by the Reform Bill of 1867-68. By this Act England and Wales were allotted 493 members and Scotland 60, while the number for Ireland remained unaltered, and household suffrage was conferred on boroughs in England and Scotland. A still greater reform was effected by the Representation of the People Act 1884, and the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885. The former introduced a 'service franchise,' extending to householders and lodgers in counties the suffrages which in 1867 had been conferred upon householders and lodgers in boroughs, and placed the three Kingdoms on a footing of equality as regards electoral qualifications; while the latter made a new division of the United Kingdom into county and borough constituencies, and raised the total number of members to 670, England receiving 6 new members, and Scotland 12.

The number of members and of registered electors for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland respectively, in 1898 was as follows:

Thus about one-sixth of the population are electors.

The number of those voting as Illiterates,' and the total votes recorded in 1895, were as follows

All elections for members of Parliament must be by secret vote by ballot, an Act being passed annually to this effect.

No one under twenty-one years of age can be a member of Parliament. All clergymen of the Church of England, ministers of the Church of Scotland, and Roman Catholic clergymen are disqualified from sitting as members; all Government contractors, and all sheriffs and returning officers for the localities for which they act, are disqualified both from voting and from sitting as members. No English or Scottish peer can be elected to the House of Commons, but non-representative Irish peers are eligible,