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THE 
 
 LIFE 
 
 n 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 Printed Charlotte; 
 
 DETAILING 
 
 Her Birth, Education, and Sweet Disposition, while an Infant — her 
 Progress in Learning and Polite Accomplishments — with many interest- 
 ing Stories of her Royal Highness during that Period. — Her Attachment 
 to Religious Duties, and her charitable Demeanour to relieve the Dis- 
 tresses of the Indigent — The Addresses of the Hereditary Prince of 
 Orange — The Reluctance of the Princess to quit England, or to give her 
 Hand without the most cordial Approbation of her Heart — The filial Re- 
 verence which she always manifested towards both her Royal Parents — 
 Prince Leopold's first Introduction to her — His amiable Demeanour at- 
 tracts her Notice, and impresses her Mind with favourable Sentiments 
 towards him — The honourable and manly Conduct of Prince Leopold as 
 soon as he perceived the Indications of her Esteem — His frank Declaration 
 to the Prince Regent — The Regent's free Consent — The Genealogy of 
 Prince Leopold, with some Account of his Life — The Nuptial Ceremony 
 — Their Abode at Claremont— -The affectionate, exemplary and domestic 
 Way in which their Time was passed, and the Charitable Actions of both 
 — Symptoms of Her Royal Kigbness's Pregnancy. — Her Accouchement, 
 and her ever lamentable End— The Funeral, &c. &c. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PR1NTEP FOR, AND PUBLISHED BY T. KINNERSLEY, 
 
 3, ACTON KLACE, KINGSLANB ROAD. 
 
 1818. 
 
:3? 
 
 
 ' 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Life of Princess Charlotte may be naturally 
 supposed by many to have passed away in too 
 much retirement and disconnection from the bustle 
 of the world to furnish an abundance of such strik- 
 ing incidents as deserve a place in history. But the 
 circumstances, however trifling in their own nature, 
 in which she had any concern, derive an important 
 character from her agency; and indeed she seems to 
 have bestowed animation upon the flattest occur- 
 rence, such was the sprightliness, such was the ac- 
 tivity of her disposition. Added to that interest 
 which every thing she did must excite, the amiable, 
 the sweet, the good natured Princess has had a full 
 dominancy over our hearts, and we insensibly feel 
 our thoughts as much taken up in perusing her 
 story, as if the dearest friend on earth were the sub- 
 ject of our contemplations : this consideration will 
 therefore render an apology from me altogether 
 needless for introducing now and again very 
 simple and obvious anecdotes. But if to any 
 these anecdotes appear to be overdrawn, it should 
 be remembered that her Royal Highness was no 
 
IV PREFACE 
 
 common individual, and that her cast of mind 
 and manner would have proclaimed her worthy 
 of a throne, had she; been the daughter of humble 
 parents, and , born to the inheritance of poverty 
 and virtue; for while in one respect she was 
 gentle as a lamb, in cases that called for strength 
 and determination, the lion did not surpass her 
 Royal Highness in courageous adherence to the 
 dictates of her feelings, and kind and charitable 
 were those feelings of hers : She was firm but not 
 obstinate, she was religious and wise, but devoid of 
 austerity or ostentation, a model for Princes and a 
 boast to human nature. 
 
 D. Ml. 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR THE BINDER. 
 . . . Pa S e 
 
 Frontispiece and Title to face each other 
 
 Princess Charlotte 
 
 1 
 
 Prince Regent 
 
 5 
 
 Princess of Wales ... 
 
 59 
 
 'First Interview 
 
 157 
 
 Prince Leopold 
 
 265 
 
 Solemnization of the Marriage 
 
 277 
 
 Claremont 
 
 326 
 
 Funeral Procession 
 
 534 
 
 The King ... ; 
 
 556 
 

 iMt 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 FubhslieJ Jan .1**1818. by Henry I 
 
LIFE 
 
 yrftttttf ®1&vlottt. 
 
 J. HE Princess Charlotte was the only child of his 
 Royal Highness George, Prince of Wales, and 
 Caroline, the second daughter of the Duke of 
 Brunswick, by his consort Augusta, eldest sister 
 of his Britannic Majesty. The nuptials of her 
 illustrious parents were solemnized in the Chapel 
 Royal of St. James's, on the eighth of April, 1795. 
 On the seventh of January, 1796, between nine 
 and ten o'clock in the morning, in Carlton House, 
 the infant first drew the vital air. The Duke of 
 Gloucester, brother to the King, the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Pre- 
 sident of the Council, the Lord Chamberlain, and 
 the Ladies of the Princess of Wales's Bedchamber, 
 were present. Her baptism took place at the usual 
 time, and she was christened Charlotte Augusta. 
 While in the prime of earliest infancy, she is 
 
 E 
 
a LIFE OF THE 
 
 said, among her first perceptions, to have expressed 
 in smiles the pleasure afforded to her by the assi- 
 duities and caresses of those who were in attend- 
 ance upon her. The Laureate, therefore, stood 
 not in so much need of imagination as is commonly 
 employed in congratulating a Monarch upon the 
 virtues of his progeny, when adverting to the fair 
 pledges of a sweet and noble temper in the royal 
 child, the regal songster complimented in his poesy. 
 The opening of every year is celebrated by the 
 Laureate with an ode, according to ancient custom. 
 In the ode which hailed the entrance of 1796, were 
 the following stanzas very prettily put together : — 
 
 4< Now strike a livelier chord ! this happy day, 
 Selected from the circling year, 
 To celebrate a name to Britain dear, 
 From Britain's sons demands a festive lay. 
 
 Mild sovereign of our Monarch's soul, 
 Whose eye*s meek radiance can controul 
 The powers of care, and grace a throne 
 With each calm joy to life domestic known ; 
 
 Propitious heav'n has o'er thy head 
 Blossoms of richer fragrance shed, 
 Than all the assiduous muse can bring, 
 Cull'd from the honied stores of spring. 
 
 For see, amidst wild winter's hours, 
 A Bud its silken folds display ; , 
 Sweeter than all the chalic'd flowers, 
 That crown thy own ambrosial May. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 3 
 
 O ! may thy smiles, blest infant, prove 
 
 Omens of concord and of love ! 
 
 Bid the loud strain of martial triumph raise, 
 
 And tune to softer mood the marbling reed of praise." 
 
 But scarcely had the bright morning of her days 
 arose, when a hapless misunderstanding took place 
 betwixt her illustrious parents, originating in a di- 
 versity of taste. Few rulers of kingdoms have 
 had the happiness in connubial life which has fallen 
 to the lot of George III. the gracious head of the 
 British empire, since the day he was united to his 
 consort. They have had a numerous offspring of 
 boy s and girls, all of them excelling in the make of 
 their persons, and none of them deficient in the 
 powers of the mind. But whatever felicity provi- 
 dence has vouchsafed him, it could not have been 
 enough to secure domestic happiness, had not his 
 disposition been fitted for the reception of it. Peo- 
 ple very grossly deceive themselves to imagine that 
 any accidental and foreign causes of comfort what- 
 ever can inspire with fulness of joy a heart that is 
 compelled to look out of itself for the pleasure 
 which cannot be found within. His Majesty's na- 
 tural affections and acquired habits, rendered him 
 peculiarly accommodated to the matrimonial state. 
 He was open, liberal, arid sanguine ; and had the 
 good fortune, in the very dawn of his youth, when 
 
4 LIFE OF THE 
 
 the best qualities of the soul are most susceptible 
 of direction and improvement, to obtain the hand 
 of a virtuous and accomplished Princess, whose 
 hold being early, was the more likely to be lasting 
 upon that account. She was amiable and prudent ; 
 and neither did she want personal grace, although 
 not charged with the winning charms which go to 
 the composition of an absolute beauty. The neat- 
 ness of her foot was greatly talked of; and from this 
 it was concluded that her shape must be of the 
 finest order ; for the judges of female excellence 
 were disposed, in those days, to make the foot the 
 criterion : perhaps they had then no better oppor- 
 tunities of judging. A small foot was accordingly 
 for a long time in vogue. Her Majesty, however, 
 did not depend upon her attractions in that way ; 
 such indeed was the modest opinion she held of her- 
 self, that when at sea, and before she had an in- 
 terview with the sovereign, observing the English 
 ladies in her escort with some attention, she is 
 reported to have said—" I fear but little admira- 
 tion will attend upon me in a country which can 
 furnish so much loveliness as I see before me." 
 Certain it is that the royal pair, whatever may 
 have stood in the way of it, have passed as agree- 
 able a life as any couple under their government. 
 Such was the example set to those of the royal 
 

 
 >//"///. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 5 
 
 family who might enter into the married state, which, 
 that his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, would enter 
 into, was not only the wish of the King in his pater- 
 nal character, but an object besides of his majesty's 
 solicitude as a monarch, at once to establish his child 
 in virtue, and to provide for the success-ion to the 
 crown. He felt the more forward to see his Royal 
 Highness happily wedded ; because he knew him 
 to be exposed to temptations, with power to indulge, 
 and a temperament to enjoy them. His Royal 
 Highness's countenance was dignified and free, and 
 his whole aspect commanding. No English gentle- 
 man surpassed him in any polite accomplishment of 
 body or mind ; he spoke his native language with 
 great elegance and propriety, and was conversant in 
 the antient and modern tongues ; his attainments 
 in science were very considerable, and the whole of 
 these acquired advantages received lustre from the 
 brilliancy of his wit, which came to him without 
 study, and therefore the more striking. How at- 
 tracting must a prince be, so adorned with fine pro- 
 perties ; but as the favours of nature, often grudged 
 by her companions to a sweet rustic, do not guard 
 her from harm, neither do the lighter merits of a 
 prince always promote his ultimate happiness. In 
 England the attractions of beauty are made more 
 powerful by the modesty that seems to forbid them 
 
6 LIFE OF THE 
 
 to be exercised. Is it astonishing then that a young 
 man, and a prince, could not long continue master 
 of his inclinations ? A complying disposition is not 
 the characteristic of the British fair ; but what avail 
 the precepts of virtue or the dictates of conscience 
 with many females, as well as men, if ambition and 
 love unite to overthrow them ? Can pride in all its 
 force, or the strength of innocence, refuse to submit 
 at the magic touch of the grandeur and importance 
 with which a prince comes to see, to be seen, and to 
 conquer ? They can ; but let it be remembered that 
 although most beautiful women are virtuous, virtue 
 has at times been found wanting where there was a 
 profusion of beauty. Under these circumstances 
 the greatest anxiety was evinced by the whole 
 nation that his Royal Highness would devote his 
 agreeable manners and qualifications to embellish 
 and make happy a family circle at his own fire-side. 
 Thus the example set by his Majesty to his subjects 
 would be still more enforced, while the great pur- 
 poses of the mar-riage would be going on. As the 
 Prince of Wales was the presumptive heir to the 
 throne, he could not leave the country, and court 
 the hand of a Princess selected by himself. Whilst 
 the prince's affairs were in this posture, the graceful 
 and obliging manners, the luxuriant charms and im- 
 proved understanding of Caroline of Brunswick, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 7 
 
 haa gained the respect and admiration of all that 
 beheld her; and his Majesty fixed upon the Prince 
 of Wales to become the possessor of the precious 
 object. The business was debated for a long time 
 privately before any communication was formally 
 made; it is even said that the first knowledge the 
 cabinet ministers gained of the matter was from the 
 royal order for preparing the ceremonies which 
 are customary upon those occasions, and for arrang- 
 ing the legation and other necessary things, amongst 
 them of course was to determine the provision which 
 should be allowed to his Royal Highness for the 
 maintenance of the additional state, required to be 
 kept up in his new capacity. 
 
 When this projected alliance had made this pro- 
 gress to its completion, Parliament was consulted, 
 and they made a very liberal grant for an outfit, 
 exceeding 180,000/. ; of this sum 27,000/. was to be 
 at the discretional use of the Prince, in making pre- 
 parations for his nuptials; plate was to be pur- 
 chased, and jewels for the bride, with 28,000/. ; the 
 remainder was intended to be laid out in repairing 
 and in furnishing Carlton House, which the Prince 
 designed to be the magnificent residence of his 
 consort and himself. What was yet more liberal, 
 the Parliament raised, the Prince's income from 
 60,000/. to 125,000/. per annum, and the Prince, 
 
8 LIFE OF THE 
 
 being in debt, appropriated 25,000/. a-year for the 
 payment of his creditors, and this at his own mo- 
 tion. 
 
 The fairest auspices were unfolded by all that 
 occurred, to enable the people to anticipate the 
 public joy and happiness which approach ng events 
 of the kind are always supposed to have in store. 
 A vessel of fifty guns, called the Juno, two sloops 
 of war, and four frigates, were sent to bring the 
 Princess to Great Britain. Maids of honour were 
 appointed ; and the Prince commissioned a few of 
 his friends, attached to his establishment, to attend 
 her Serene Highness to her adopted country. 
 
 The Princess had some land to pass before she 
 could reach the fort where the British vessels were 
 in readiness for her reception ; and on account of 
 the war which was going forward in Germany at 
 that time in its full force and fury, she took, for 
 security's sake, an indirect course. Superstitious 
 persons will no doubt perceive that this necessity of 
 going about, was very ominous, and betokened the 
 future aberrations from happiness which followed 
 her in the condition of life into which she made the 
 journey for entering. As her Serene Highness 
 drew near to the shores of England, a thick and dis- 
 mal fog is said to have encircled the white cliffs. 
 Upon this also the visionary might feed his ima- 
 
PEINCESS CHARLOTTE. y 
 
 gination, but it is now certain knowledge, that in 
 England many fogs and mists did obscure from one 
 another, the charms and the graces actually possessed 
 both by Husband and Wife. The weather indeed 
 at that time was truly tempestuous, but that it did 
 not provL nore favourable to the conveyance of her 
 Serene Highness, is not to be attributed to any 
 want of zeal in the supplication of our poets ; on 
 the contrary, they were most earnest in their suit to 
 the different powers of the air, to render themselves 
 agreeable to the fair visitor on her voyage. Dr. 
 Hurdis who was Poet. Prof, of Oxford University 
 presented without effect a most beautiful petition 
 to the elements, imploring them to treat her Royal 
 Highness with respect and observance. We had 
 some thoughts of printing the Doctor's poem, but 
 our intention is changed, it might not satisfy the 
 readers since it failed to propitiate the king of 
 storms. 
 
 The people were touched with a lively interest 
 upon the occasion, and awaited with anxiety the 
 arrival of a Princess who was in all probability to fill 
 the exalted station of their Queen. Her reception, 
 when she landed, was extremely gratifying, every 
 demonstration of hilarity was shown that it was pos- 
 sible for joyous minds to express. Addresses of con- 
 gratulation were presented from every corner of the 
 c 
 
10 LIFE OF THE 
 
 empire. The whole country was overspread with 
 merriment and festivity, and not an individual was 
 found who did not enter into the general feelings, 
 and exult in the prospect that the crown would be 
 retained for the inheritance of the house of Bruns- 
 wick. 
 
 The personal attractions and graceful deportment 
 of the Princess had been much extolled before they 
 were witnessed by the British people, and the fame 
 of them had long arrived before their owner. But 
 the embellishments fancy always bestows upon royal 
 comeliness, received by the hearers with amplifying 
 credulity, did not exceed the display of fascination 
 which her Royal Highness exhibited at her first ap- 
 pearance in the drawing-room, when all eyes were 
 occupied in admiring her. The Prince and she, to 
 indulge the fond curiosity of the people, frequently 
 came hand in hand to the palace windows in the 
 evening, and received the cheers of the honest 
 gazers. The transient wonder excited by her love- 
 liness was happily softened into the tenderest re- 
 gard by the affability, condescension, and sweetness 
 of her manners, which enchained those whom her 
 first sight had captivated. The beholder of her 
 Royal Highness was ever loth to quit his object; 
 and when she glanced a look at him, an eye was 
 there encountered, beaming with intelligence and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 11 
 
 mellowed by modesty — an eye like a white cloud 
 trembling in a sky of purest blue. Her auburn 
 locks were simply done up, but disposed with ele- 
 gance ; they set forward and relieved her counte- 
 nance formed in the exactest mold of nature, and ani- 
 mated by great liveliness of expression ; and when 
 the sfeilness of thought was released by a smile, a 
 row cf teeth appeared, as a flock of sheep, having 
 washed, lie before the sun along the margin of a 
 brook. The simplicity and neatness visible in every 
 part of her dress, presaged her Royal Highness an 
 arbitress and pattern of costume to an island of 
 beauties. It is commonly accounted frivolous to 
 dwell upon the descriptions of form, but of such a 
 being may not the looks philosophize the mind and 
 impart instruction, whilst the imagination, stricken 
 by the contemplated graces, vibrates in respondent 
 harmony. 
 
 The wedding of the Prince of Wales was, we have 
 noticed, solemnized at the Chapel Royal of St, 
 James's, on the eighth of April 1795. May be it 
 were tedious and irksome to detail the formalities, 
 but since our business is with royalty, and the taste 
 for splendour and parade heightens and grows craw 
 ing in proportion to our indulgence of it, the follow- 
 ing account of the procession is accurately presented: 
 
12 LIFE OF THE 
 
 The PROCESSION of the Bride. 
 Drums and Trumpets. 
 
 Kettle Drums. 
 
 Serjeant Trumpeter. 
 
 Master of the Ceremonies. 
 
 Bride's Geutleman Usher between the two Senior Heralds. 
 
 His Majesty's Vice Chamberlain. 
 
 His Majesty's Lord Chamberlain. 
 
 THE BRIDE, 
 
 in her nuptial Habit, with a Coronet, led by his Royal Highness the 
 
 Duke of Clarence. 
 
 Her train borne by four unmarried Daughters of Dukes and Earls, viz. 
 
 Lady Mary Osborne, Lady Caroline Villiers, 
 
 Lady Charlotte Spencer, Lady Charlotte Legge. 
 
 The ladies appointed to the household of her 
 Royal Highness were likewise attending. 
 
 A seat had been prepared for her close to her 
 Majesty's chair of state, with magnificent decora- 
 tions, to which her Royal Highness was conducted 
 as soon as she entered into the Chapel. Where- 
 upon the Master of the Ceremonies and the Gentle- 
 man Usher repaired in due form to their respective 
 places. 
 
 The Herald Major continued in the Chapel, ar- 
 ranging the stands of the several members of the 
 Procession, for that was his department ; but one 
 of the Heralds accompanied the Lord Chamberlain 
 and the Vice Chamberlain out of the Chapel, who 
 now went to fill up the Procession of the Bride- 
 groom, which advanced 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 13 
 
 Drums and Trumpets. 
 
 Kettle Drums. 
 
 His Majesty's Vice Chamberlain. 
 
 .His Majesty's Lord Chamberlain. 
 
 His Royal Highness the PRINCE OF WALES, 
 
 In his Collar of the Order of the Garter, supported by Two unmarried 
 
 Dukes, the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Roxburgh. 
 
 His Royal Highness being conducted to his seat 
 in the Chapel Royal ; the Lord Chamberlain, the 
 Vice Chamberlain, and Two Heralds, returned to 
 attend his Majesty. 
 
 THEIR MAJESTIES' Procession. 
 Drums and Trumpets (as before.) 
 Knight Marshal. 
 Pursuivants. 
 Herald. 
 Treasurer of the Household. 
 Master of the Horse. 
 Two married Dukes. 
 Duke of Leeds. Duke of Beaufort. 
 
 Lord Stewart of the Household. 
 Provincial King of Arms. 
 Lord Privy Seal. 
 Archbishop of York. 
 ^tos/M ^rd President of the Council. j> So ^. at 
 Lord High Chancellor. 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 Gentleman f Garter Principal King of Arms, ") Gentleman 
 Usher. I with his Sceptre. . ) Usher. 
 
 The Earl Marshal with his Staff 
 Princes of the Blood Royal. 
 Prince Wiiliam. 
 
14 LIFE OF THE 
 
 His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester. 
 
 His Royal Highness the Duke of York. 
 
 Vice Chamberlain of the Household. 
 
 Sword of State, borne by the Duke of Portland. 
 
 Lord Chamberlain of the Household. 
 
 HIS MAJESTY, 
 
 In the Collar of the Order of the Garter. 
 
 Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. 
 
 Colonel of the Life Guard in waiting. 
 
 Captain of the Band of Gentlemen Pensioners. 
 
 The Lord of the Bed Chamber in waiting. 
 
 Master of the Robes. 
 
 Groom of the Bed Chamber. 
 
 Vice Chamberlain to the Queen. 
 
 The Queen's Lord Chamberlain. 
 
 HER MAJESTY. 
 The Queen's Master of the Horse. 
 Their Royal Highnesses 
 Princess Augusta Sophia, 
 Princess Elizabeth, 
 Princess Mary, 
 Princess Sophia, 
 Princess Amelia. 
 Her Royal Highness the Duchess of York. 
 Princess Sophia of Gloucester, 
 Supported severally by their Gentlemen Ushers. 
 The Ladies of her Majesty's Bed Chamber. 
 Maids of Honour. 
 Women of her Majesty's Bed Chamber. 
 
 When the ritual was ended, their Majesties with- 
 drew to their chairs of state under the great ca- 
 nopy, and a solemn anthem was raised, enforcing 
 the awfulness of the sacred compact which their 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 15 
 
 eldest son and heir had just entered into with a 
 protestant Princess, a fine woman, adorned with 
 the external powers of attracting the regard of her 
 consort, and a mind properly cultivated to manage 
 prudently the gentle dominion, enjoyed by the ob- 
 ject of a husband's fond affections. 
 
 It is needless to remark, that an occasion of such 
 importance was celebrated suitably throughout the 
 capital of the British empire. The windows blazed 
 in all directions, and the reins were thrown upon 
 the necks of Jollity and Merriment, the plentiful 
 feast gave a glaze to the cheeks, the circulating 
 cup diffused joy, and dilated every heart, and 
 prayers, for happiness to the illustrious pair, filled 
 each pause of vociferating congratulation. The more 
 sober indications of pleasure were resorted to by 
 the Aldermen and Board of Common Council, 
 drawing up addresses and presenting them ; and 
 every corporation in the kingdom hastened to pay 
 their duty in a similar way. 
 
 But, alas! the genial couch of Princes is, no 
 more than other men's, exempt from intrusions of 
 cares, disappointments, and sorrow. In their case, 
 a match is generally made before any previous in- 
 tercourse can enable the parties to judge whether 
 they are fitted or not for mutual esteem. Two 
 persons may be very worthy and amiable in their 
 
16 LI¥E OF THE 
 
 separate characters, and yet live uncomfortably with 
 one another when joined in wedlock. And where 
 Princes are concerned, the unseen is generally re- 
 presented in such glow T ing colours, that most ex- 
 traordinary merit only can justify the description, 
 and therefore dissatisfaction is apt to take place. — 
 Since England need not fear to stand in her own 
 strength, there is no political motive that can rea- 
 sonably be held paramount to the bliss of an heir 
 to this throne, with the partner of his life ; for the 
 conjugal repose and mutual love of those at the 
 head of our government, is a thing of prime cons- 
 deration : it may really be doubted whether any 
 other requisite than good conduct is wanted in a 
 British sovereign, confined as he must always be, 
 if he were ill disposed, through ambitious views, 
 by the limits of our glorious constitution ; but that 
 of morality, taking it in the light of example, is a 
 very serious article in the number of monarchcial 
 qualifications, and if this morality was not to be 
 promoted by an alliance with one court, then let 
 another be tried. To be sure, upon the continent 
 two royal houses find their interests often by 
 uniting their members in marriage, and thereby 
 knitting their connexion more close. The union 
 of both imparts consequence to each, and aggres- 
 sion is better kept from either ; because the two 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE, 17 
 
 powers are indentifled and ready to make a com- 
 mon cause of it. But here no extension of domi- 
 nion is wanted, nor is there the same motive for 
 consolidating power, upon which account greater 
 latitude might be allowed to the next in succession 
 of our royal family in selecting fit consorts ; they 
 might be permitted to study similitude of manners 
 and temper, and not have to receive, at the recom- 
 mendation of a third person, what an humbler in- 
 dividual accepts or rejects, courts or declines, ac- 
 cording to judgment and conceit, In private life 
 there are numerous instances that disgust is not 
 avoided by the previous deliberation ; and when 
 the hurried spirits of true lovers have a little sub- 
 sided, they are sometimes at a loss to perceive at 
 last, what they thought they had seen before in 
 each other. The same issue is not impossible to 
 heirs presumptive to a sceptre ; but then the ex- 
 cuse would be taken away, and a regard to public 
 opinion would have claims upon them. 
 
 The pregnancy of the Princess of Wales was 
 grateful to the feelings of the people, who looked 
 forward with pleasure to the consummation of the 
 national wishes. The whispers that began to 
 spread of dislike existing between the Prince and 
 her, were not much heeded, because scandal is well 
 known to be active in the affairs of the exalted. — 
 
 D 
 
18 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Every liberal and candid mind was shocked at the 
 idea of attempts to foment jealousies between two 
 personages equally endeared to the public, and 
 qualified to contribute to their mutual happiness. 
 Some who had been held in high favour, were 
 observed to be falling away from the consequence 
 they had made themselves mastersof; and it was 
 strongly suspected that if there were any grounds 
 for the rumour, these would be busy to extend 
 and lay a good foundation to rebuild their own 
 advantage upon it. 
 
 All the arrangements necessary to be made and 
 becoming the greatness of the expected occurrence, 
 went on with the usual bustle and air of import- 
 ance. No member of the entire community felt 
 disinterested at the crisis which held forth the de- 
 lightful prospects of a child from the family of 
 Brunswick to adorn the throne and perpetuate the 
 succession of that illustrious house. But they who 
 admire the virtue of a king and to whom piety af- 
 fords matter of sweet contemplation, will long 
 dwell with pleasing remembrance upon the conduct 
 of the expectant grandsire. He rejoiced with his 
 subjects in the hope that a line of sovereigns was 
 to come, and prevent the bloodshed and destruction 
 which bestrew the countries where a doubtful claim 
 to the crown is to be decided by force and slaughter. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 19 
 
 To these sentiments were added the paternal solici- 
 tude on his daughter's account, which, in a nature 
 so good and affectionate as his own, awakened many 
 anxious emotions. When he got up in the morning 
 and lay down at night his inquiries were always di- 
 rected to the state of her Royal Highness's health, 
 and at the close of every day and the beginning of 
 it, he made his whole family join with him in prayer, 
 and supplicate before the throne of grace where the 
 addresses of the highest and the most humble, are 
 received without other distinction than godliness 
 confers. It was there that the amiable monarch re- 
 posed his affiance; — thence comes the influence which 
 can mitigate the pains of the mother, and cherish 
 the tender and precarious condition of beginning 
 life, when troubles and uneasinesses (they set in 
 early) first assail a weak mortal, when the conscious 
 infant struggling seems unwilling to live. 
 
 Congratulatory offerings were made upon occa- 
 sion of the royal birth. The city of London is of 
 course always the first corporate body that presents 
 its address. But when the usual inquiries were 
 sent in to know at what time his Royal Highness 
 would receive it, the city remembrancer was ac- 
 quainted by Lord Cholmondeley, on the 29th of 
 January, that his Royal Highness could not indulge 
 his private gratifications, nor accept in form the 
 
20 LIFE OF THE 
 
 compliments of the City of London to himself and 
 the Princess of Wales, for that being under the ne- 
 cessity of dismissing a great part of his establishment, 
 it was not in his power to manifest the respect due 
 to the City of London, and suitable to his own dig- 
 nity and rank. 
 
 The disposal of the Princess Charlotte, and the 
 manner of her education were so intimately joined 
 with the unhappy differences betwixt her royal 
 parents, and dependent on them, that it appears in 
 some measure necessary to enlarge a little upon the 
 deplorable circumstance. In the month of April, 
 1796, it was fixed, that separate habitations were 
 to be occupied by the Prince and Princess of Wales. 
 This was the earliest symptom of disagreement that 
 had annexed to it any thing of a positive nature, 
 and it was too fully confirmed by a letter written 
 from Windsor Castle, on the 30th of April. The 
 intimation given in this letter had been previously 
 communicated to the Princess of Wales through 
 the agency of the Countess Cholmondeley, but the 
 Princess considered the affair too serious and im- 
 portant to be managed in the loose way of a common 
 message by word of mouth, and accordingly requir- 
 ed the matter to be clearly and explicitly laid down 
 in writing. Agreeably to this desire of her Royal 
 Highness, the Prince of AY ales drew up and for- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 21 
 
 warded a letter to the Princess. This is a faithful 
 copy of it : 
 
 " Windsor Castle, April 30, 1796. 
 "Madam, 
 
 "As Lord Cholmondeley informs me, that you 
 wish I would define in writing the terms upon 
 which we are to live, I shall endeavour to explain 
 myself upon that head with as much clearness, and 
 with as much propriety, as the nature of the subject 
 will admit. Our inclinations are not in our power, 
 nor should either of us be held answerable to the 
 other, because nature has not made us suitable to 
 each other. Tranquil and comfortable society is, 
 however, in our power ; let our intercourse, there- 
 fore, be restricted to that, and I will distinctly sub- 
 scribe to the condition which you required through 
 Lady Cholmondeley, that, even in the event of any 
 accident happening to my daughter, which, I trust, 
 Providence in his mercy will avert, I shall not in- 
 fringe the terms of the restriction, by proposing at 
 any period a connexion of a more particular nature. 
 I shall now finally close this disagreeable correspon- 
 dence, trusting, that as we have completely ex- 
 plained ourselves to each other, the rest of our lives 
 will be passed in uninterrupted tranquillity. 
 I am, Madam, 
 
 With great truth, very sincerely yours, 
 (Signed) George P." 
 
22 LIFE OF THE 
 
 The Princess, in her answer, maintained both 
 her own consequence, and the respect and deference 
 fit to be shown to her husband. She called upon 
 the Sovereign, as her regal protector, and the guar- 
 dian of his daughter's fortunes, to interpose his 
 beneficent offices in her behalf. All things put to- 
 gether and considered, people generally think that 
 it was in consequence of the weight exerted by her 
 august and venerated Sire, that she was enabled to 
 possess the person of her child, without restriction, 
 for the eight years after she had become its mother ; 
 but it is fair to put the reader in mind, that of this 
 there is no certain evidence, and for aught to the 
 contrary that has yet come to light, if it were not 
 the Prince's suggestion, it might at least have met 
 with a ready concurrence in his Royal Highness, 
 whom to make an ungenerous man, would be to 
 form in this case an over-hasty opinion. 
 
 Thus the little Princess was delivered to the 
 care of her mother. She was taken to reside at 
 Shrewsbury .House, near Shooter's Hill. There she 
 advanced in stature, and won the hearts of all that 
 saw her ; innocent and playful, and in this early 
 period of existence giving signs of those gracious 
 virtues which distinguished her riper years, — years, 
 alas ! no more than ripe ! 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 28 
 
 The young scholar owed to the maternal instruc- 
 tion the first elements of literature, the letters of 
 the alphabet; those she was taught to cast into 
 syllables by a clergyman who happened to be resid- 
 ing in the neighbourhood, the reverend Dr. Wat- 
 son, an ecclesiastic of eminent learning, dignified in 
 person and distinguished for piety. The improve- 
 ment she made was w r onderf«l ; the quickness of 
 her natural parts was always kept on the alert by 
 the desire she had to excel in the attempts to attain 
 every sort of knowledge and art, and she appeared 
 to receive, with great satisfaction and cordiality, 
 the encomiums bestowed upon her, when she felt 
 herself at all conscious of meriting them. Those 
 who have had the cultivation of the human mind 
 for their business, and seen how the direction of it, 
 when it is soft and plastic, operates upon future 
 life, will give their full approbation to the attentions 
 which the Princess of Wales paid to the nurture of 
 her daughter, " Train up a child in the way he 
 should go, and when he is old he will not depart 
 from it." More important than the accomplish- 
 ments of the understanding, her mother impressed 
 an awe of the Supreme Being, a sense of his great 
 goodness, the propitiation for our sins, and the 
 doctrines of Christianity. Religious information 
 was agreeable to the turn of the child's thinking, 
 
24t LIFE OF THE 
 
 and she imbibed the most serious notions, without 
 contracting moroseness or affectation of gravity. 
 Her devotion was ardent and sincere, but cheerful 
 and unmixed with sadness and gloom; She formed 
 the highest ideas of the reverence which should 
 attach itself to the ministers of the Gospel, and was 
 ready to honour and respect them. The learned 
 and pious Dr. Porteus, who was then Bishop of 
 London, has left in his Journal the entry here 
 printed, which it will be agreeable to read : 
 
 " Yesterday, the sixth August, 1801, I passed a 
 very pleasant day at Shrewsbury House, near 
 Shooter's Hill, the residence of the Princess Char- 
 lotte of Wales. The day was fine, the prospect 
 extensive and beautiful, taking in a large reach of 
 the Thames, which was covered with vessels of 
 various sizes and descriptions. We saw a good 
 deal of the young Princess ; she is a most captivat- 
 ing and engaging child, and considering the high 
 station she may hereafter fill, a most interesting and 
 important one. She repeated to me several hymns 
 with great correctness and propriety, and on being 
 told when she went to South End in Essex, (as she 
 afterwards did for the benefit of sea-bathing,) she 
 would then be in my diocese, she fell down on her 
 knees and begged my blessing. I gave it to her 
 with all my heart, and with my earnest secret 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 25 
 
 prayers to God that she might adorn her illustrious 
 station with every Christian grace ; and if ever she 
 became the queen of this truly great and glorious 
 country, she might be the means of diffusing vir- 
 tue, piety, and happiness, through every part of her 
 dominions." 
 
 The biographer feels a pleasure in tracing the 
 various stages of life, when he has it in his power 
 to speak favourably of the character which employs 
 his pen, but the task is more delightful still, when 
 the excellent qualities are possessed by one placed 
 above the ordinary level, whether by birth or un- 
 common merit, or by both, because he may enter- 
 tain the hope that the records of the virtues which 
 adorned the deceased will come the better recom- 
 mended to the reader's imitation. It is by no means 
 designed to propose the various traits in the character 
 of the Princess Charlotte to the servile copying of the 
 young women in this country in their full extent. 
 We shall diligently set down all the anecdotes that 
 can be gathered with the stamp of truth and nature 
 upon them, regardless of the prevailing inclination 
 to give her the carriage of a perfect angel, which is 
 not merely evinced in several statements respecting 
 her Royal Highness, but unreservedly professed. 
 No one acquainted with the numerous felicities of 
 disposition which seemed to be born with her, and 
 the tendency to virtue and to goodness which even 
 E 
 
26 LIFE OF THE 
 
 her little foibles showed, can withhold his admira- 
 tion, and what is better again, his personal love and 
 esteem. But is it not a very impious thing to take 
 upon ourselves the duties of Omnipotence in hold- 
 ing forth those eternal honours assigned to her, 
 which let us all endeavour to witness ! — but at the 
 same time forbear to measure the kindness of Hea- 
 ven. The stories which are charged with overliveli- 
 ness, are not omitted, when deemed to be true ; for 
 although in females of humbler birth and preten- 
 sions such sprightly and gay sallies are not to pass 
 unreproved, yet are they readily inserted here, be- 
 cause they will be found in her Royal Highness 
 intimately associated with demonstrations of bene- 
 volence, candour, spirit, principle, and liberality ; 
 the reader cannot help loving her for her very faults, 
 and one is disposed to esteem them altogether need- 
 ful to constitute, what she has been, the universal 
 delight of a high-minded and generous people. Let 
 her aggregate qualities be aspired after, the charit- 
 able, humane, and open affections in her nature ; 
 we should however observe, that munificence in 
 the great is extravagant and foolish, very often in 
 the lowly and poor ; — but how admirable must the 
 Princess be, who could compassionate the miseries 
 of mankind, which herself had never endured but 
 in the feelings of her gentle bosom 
 
 She was only in the seventh year of her age, 
 
THINCESS CHARLOTTE. 27 
 
 slapping and gamboling about, in the innocence of 
 her heart, when she displayed the most liberal and 
 generous humanity, but it seemed to have been di- 
 rected with more discretion and good sense, than 
 is found in so young a person ever almost. Who 
 could think it, she made a little bag for herself 
 which she intended to contain money for the relief 
 of the indigent creatures that might fall in her way, 
 and this bag she intitled "The Purse of the af- 
 flicted." To give a laboured account of the benig- 
 nity and satisfaction she expressed in her counte- 
 nance and manner, when she distributed her bounty, 
 to do that would be needless with the intent to ap- 
 plaud her, for it appears from the actions alone, and 
 the occasions of them, that the relieved must have 
 felt an addition to the joy and pleasure done them, 
 when cases which the rest of the world would re- 
 pulse through pride or imagined delicacy, met with 
 ready attention from her Royal Highness : it may 
 therefore be questioned whether more true comfort 
 was conveyed to the benefited than played round 
 the soul of the donor, and with her it might have 
 been a more blessed thing to give than for others 
 to receive. 
 
 The pitying temper of the child was not dis- 
 couraged but improved under the instructions and 
 monition of her royal mother, who added in her 
 mind the fervour of devotion to the impulse of hu- 
 
28 LIFE OF THE 
 
 manity. The Princess of Wales has been never 
 known to check the charitable hand of her daughter; 
 she on the contrary inspired the early glow of re- 
 ligion, which raised the little Princess above the 
 vulgar ideas of propriety and state, when an object 
 of wretchedness craved assistance. While she was 
 strolling, over the road one day she eyed a poor boy 
 in a ditch by the way side, moaning piteously ; she 
 approached him, and anxiously inquired into the 
 cause of his uneasiness. Alas ! cried the other, I am 
 hungry and distressed, and my hand pains me, hold- 
 ing it forward at the same time. Poor fellow! then 
 I see it is all one sore; but let me bind it up for you, 
 said the Princess, and it will be better. With that 
 one of her attendants hastening to her, advised her 
 to desist, lest some hurt should accrue to herself. 
 Nay, I pray you suffer me: the universal Prince, the 
 Prince of the whole world, was not ashamed to heal 
 the leper in the Bible, and shall I turn away from 
 this boy in his misery ? Thus was she trained up by 
 her parent in the commencement of her virtuous 
 career, a time the most fit for imbibing the senti- 
 ments of meekness, charity and condescension. 
 
 Perhaps her frame of mind might have been less 
 determined and bold, had not the unfortunate va- 
 riance subsisting between her august parents im- 
 parted a steadiness to her own principles and opi- 
 nions. In an account whieh has lately appeared 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 29 
 
 of her Royal Highness, drawn up with more than 
 usual pains, the person who gave her lessons in 
 music, is reported to have highly commended her 
 execution, when she knew herself that it was 
 faulty, and deserved no commendation at all. A 
 large assembly happened to be at the time witness- 
 ing her performance, and the whole room were 
 unanimous in extolling her manner of playing ; 
 but she seemed to have a conviction that she had 
 not gone through the tune with musical accuracy, 
 and appealed to the judgment of her master. He 
 declared that not the least mistake in the world 
 was made by her Royal Highness, but that she had 
 displayed her powers with credit and the happiest 
 effect possible. She let the matter rest at the 
 moment ; but the next morning when the flatter- 
 ing teacher called to instruct her, he found him- 
 self obliged to stop. Orders had been given that 
 lie should be instantly paid and discharged when he 
 came, and this lesson offered for nothing to himself: 
 that he should never indulge error in a pupil, where 
 he was employed to perfect the unskilful. This 
 gentleman might have thought he had secured for 
 himself much gratitude and friendship, and it was, 
 generally speaking, good judgment of him to think 
 so, but in her Royal Highness, the music master mis- 
 took his woman. Although the teacher has some 
 claims upon our pity, for there are few situated as 
 
30 LIFE OF THE 
 
 he was, that could resist the. temptation of render- 
 ing themselves acceptable to so distinguished a per- 
 son, and flattery has prevailed so often that it begins 
 to be excused its criminality, notwithstanding we 
 must take pleasure and pride to ourselves to find 
 the presumed heiress of our realm, animated by a 
 spirit so laudable and meritorious. 
 
 The lamented separation which parted now for 
 so long a time the illustrious Father and Mother of 
 the Princess, must have pressed very heavily upon 
 her tender feelings, but so much ardour and sensi- 
 bility accompanied her tenderness, that she never, 
 or very seldom, was observed to sit down under the 
 load of grave melancholy, but to give a free passage 
 to her thoughts as far as comported with filial piety 
 and respect to both her parents. Her intelligence 
 was beyond what usually is arrived to by children 
 of the same age, and, exposed as she was to the per- 
 petual fluctuations of attachment, when two strong 
 affections drew different ways, and the uneasiness 
 consequent upon it; his Majesty judiciously deter- 
 mined that she should be entered into a regular 
 course of study, and engage her mind in the pursuit 
 of useful knowledge, which might not only relieve 
 the troubled spirits of her Royal Highness, but make 
 heran ornament andboast to her country. The choice 
 of a tutor fell upon the Right Rev. Doctor Fisher, 
 then Bishop of Exeter, in whose learning and mild- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 31 
 
 ness of temper every confidence was deservedly re- 
 posed. As an assistant to him, the ReV. Dr. Nott 
 was appointed to prepare and direct her in the 
 several steps preparatoiy to the acquisition of sound 
 learning. Science and literature do not constitute 
 virtue, but they lead to it no doubt ; handmaids, 
 they may be held, to the excellencies of an elevated 
 character. Look at all our able statesmen, and such 
 of the nobility as are distinguished for mental at- 
 tainments, they are amiable in private life, humane 
 and obliging. A man of sense may be unkind, but 
 he cannot be brutal ; to be sure he may only be 
 specious, and oh he may be deeply wicked, but what 
 influence other than the celestial can make straight 
 the obliquities or antidote the virus of human na- 
 ture in some minds ? — The cultivation of her intel- 
 lects was attended to with all the care which its im- 
 portance required, and she was initiated in those dif- 
 ferent* parts of letters which could administer to the 
 pleasure of her imagination, and thereby raise a 
 spring of happiness within herself, and likewise her 
 powers were exercised in the investigations of pro- 
 found knowledge; the former pursuits refined her 
 understanding, and by the latter its vigour was con- 
 firmed. Too much care indeed could not be de- 
 voted to the improvement of her Royal Highness, 
 not in the lighter and flippant parts of education, 
 but in a souad and substantial sy tern it was very 
 
32 LIFE OF THE 
 
 necessary that she should be nurtured, for there is 
 more nice discrimination required than is commonly 
 thought, to select wise and discreet ministers ; and 
 the utility of such persons in the public service has 
 been sufficiently proved by all the experience of 
 past ages : now the tinsel finery of the sciolist is apt 
 to dazzle, but deep knowledge enables the possessor 
 of it to distinguish true lustre from fictitious bril- 
 liancy. Indeed the happy selection which Eliza- 
 beth made of her servants was. the grand cause of 
 that elevation to which she raised her kingdom. 
 
 From the profession of her instructors a sincere 
 and ardent fondness for the established religion was 
 naturally sown in her Royal Highness, but no nar- 
 row zeal was ever noticed to the prejudice of those 
 who held different tenets, for she always regarded 
 the Christian graces abstractedly, the pledge o^ 
 every man's honesty and merit. Nevertheless her 
 own principles were firmly established in a convic- 
 tion which her reason approved. But towards people 
 of differing notions the greatest charity was exem- 
 plified. I think, said she one day to her tutor, I 
 can extend my allowances for other religions far 
 enough to think that if any one should alter the 
 professions of his faith in complaisance to me, when 
 his conscience was tied to it as fast as my conscience 
 is to my creed, I would hardly esteem him to be 
 worth the conversion ; I could most cordially love 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 33 
 
 him in his old way, and yet be satisfied that my own 
 was the best, and therefore wish him to adopt it, if 
 his conscience led him, but not otherwise. These 
 generous and upright emotions were encouraged? 
 and it was very proper to give them encouragement. 
 By this means piety was not to her an odious or 
 disagreeable matter, but it found its way in the 
 midst of all her ebullitions of temper, for she was 
 not continually sedate, sometimes her fire got up, 
 but she never was sullen. The learned and devout 
 and amiable Dr. Porteus, the Diocesan of London 
 at that time, used very often to go to see his favour- 
 ite, and give her instructions upon command of the 
 passions. She listened attentively to all he said. 
 But some how or other one of her attendants dis- 
 obliged her mortally, soon after the Bishop had de- 
 livered a long lecture upon self-government and 
 self-denial, and was little more than just gone. At 
 first she only expostulated strongly ; but when a 
 hasty and sharp retort was given to something she 
 herself had said, instantly she turned the cock of 
 the urn (they were at tea) and filling a cup with 
 the boiling water, she dashed it full at the criminal! 
 The deuce was to pay now. The Bishop was sent 
 for. O my beloved, is it come to this! Well, well, 
 I see I must discontinue my advice, that I see 
 clearly, indeed I must. No, no, pray don't, my 
 Lord, (her eyes swimming in tears) indeed, indeed, 
 
 F 
 
34 LIFE OF THE 
 
 your lessons did me good, for them I am much ob- 
 liged, and (trying'for a smile,) somebody else ought 
 to feel obliged too, for were it not (said the sweet 
 acknowledger) for the impressions of your goodness, 
 Somebody perhaps might not have come offso easily ! 
 Nemo me impune lacesset ; the dignity of the sove- 
 reign is identified with the glory of the nation ; the 
 nation's glory was not very likely to be tarnished 
 in the keeping of her Royal Highness. She was 
 then but a mere child. 
 
 To maintain the regular concatenation of events, 
 let us now see the little Princess toiling in the garden 
 of literature, where her paths were rough indeed, but 
 strewed with flowers, and she culled their sweets with 
 critical attention. Her studies were forwarded with 
 great pains and assiduity by her own endeavours 
 and the care of her under preceptors, for every morn- 
 ing at six o'clock the Royal Student entered upon 
 business, and continued her labours through the day 
 without relaxation, except at meal times, and during 
 her attentions to the acquirement of the more fe- 
 minile qualifications, such as drawing, dancing, 
 music. This intense application might have been 
 rather an overmatch for the health of her Royal 
 Highness, but her constitution had been, like her 
 country's, extremely sound. It was, however, with 
 the intention of qualifying her to figure on the 
 great stage, where she was promised to act, that 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. $5 
 
 the rigorous prosecution of her books in childhood 
 was permitted, and probably to fix in her Royal 
 Highness a habit of reading and meditation which 
 might prove very serviceable to her in after years, 
 when the rounds of company might dissipate her 
 thoughts, if not made close by early custom. Her 
 attainments were quite above what fall within the 
 sphere of common females, for her belle-lettre 
 knowledge was not, as we shall presently see, limited 
 to her native tongue, but extended to the ancient 
 learning of Greece and Rome, the Italian and 
 other recent languages, A venerable prelate con- 
 firms by his testimony the great progress she had 
 made; he was perfectly astonished at her adroit 
 and sagacious observations upon her reading, and 
 pronounces her acquaintance with biblical affairs 
 beyond what he had expected far. While these 
 lasting and material parts of her education were 
 pursued with zealous industry, the little Princess 
 was touched with her sex's pride to excel in music, 
 and on many instruments she performed with ad- 
 mirable skill and power. With regard to her voice, 
 it was sweet and mellifluous, but did not take in a 
 very great compass either ; by directing the inton- 
 ations according to the rules of the harmonic science, 
 and her own very critical ear, it notwithstanding 
 soundedina most engaging manner. Rut her longest 
 sittings were always for the perusal of the great 
 
36 LIFE OF THE 
 
 authors of antiquity, men who wrote as the painters 
 drew, in ccternitatem, and whose works will remain 
 the standards of propriety and the models of taste, 
 till an age of barbarism shall have come and sunk 
 the soaring energies of the mind. Nothing can be 
 more truly disgusting to a well informed person 
 than to hear the labours of those ancients sneered 
 at now by empty scribblers, fellows whose names 
 will not survive the ephemeral notice which they 
 have brought upon them by the dint of their im- 
 pudence. 
 
 Considering the dryness of the Latin Grammar, 
 the delight she took in committing it to her me- 
 mory can no otherwise be accounted for than as she 
 felt prond of preparing her entrance into a language, 
 always spoken of with reverence, and which narrated 
 the affairs of the greatest empire, in point of exten- 
 sion and the spirit of its people, that ever flourish ed. 
 On Saturdays, by way of repetition, she had all the 
 business of the foregoing week to say by heart, as 
 it might happen to be, which it was not a difficult 
 matter with her to accomplish, because the back 
 lessons had been so diligently and accurately pre- 
 pared. " Don't tell me now," was a frequent prayer 
 with her to whomever she repeated to at this early 
 period; and the desire of answering rightly the 
 questions that were put, grew upon her Royal 
 Highness with her years,and stimulatedher industry 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 37 
 
 to qualify herself for maintaining this intellectual 
 independency, as it may be called. Had another 
 pupil been educated in her company, she might 
 have had her daring mind humbled too much by 
 suffering in the competition (for a clever young 
 lady should have been chosen,) or by superiority 
 she might have imbibed haughtiness and tyranny 
 even unknown to herself; so it was best perhaps in 
 this particular to promote no rivalry. She made her 
 remarks with great presence of mind, although often 
 apparently confused lest she might say something 
 absurd : but when she had got to the conjugation 
 of the verbs, and was among other words of this 
 class declining corrigo, a supine of which is correc- 
 tum ; Is not the word correct or right, in English, 
 derived from the verb corrigo. It is, replied the 
 Tutor. Then since corrigo means to set right, and 
 no one can be set right that does not go wrong, I 
 suppose the most correct sometimes trip ; I shall 
 not therefore any longer feel too much ashamed, nor 
 take trouble to myself for my mistakes, but occupy 
 my whole thoughts in fixing on my memory your 
 kind corrections, and if I always say what 1 think, 
 your corrections, I suppose, must be very numerous, 
 (smiling). From a mind so discreetly bent and 
 aided by natural powers and the instruction of 
 learned men, what was too much to be expected ? 
 She got forward very speedily indeed; for notwith- 
 
38 LIEE OF THE 
 
 standing the interruptions occasioned by other pur- 
 suits, she was able, in eighteen months from her 
 initiation, to translate the Latin Testament with 
 accuracy and neatness. 
 
 Her Royal Highness was often tired of Cornelius 
 Nepos ; at first she liked the book very well, but 
 there is in that author so much difficulty and same- 
 ness, that she was frequently sick of him. It was 
 upon occasion of going through a very long lesson 
 in Datames, that she found it desirable to get away. 
 She fancied her task would never be done, and 
 grew quite exhausted. At length (for all things 
 have an end) the Latin Master pronounced the three 
 joyful words, that 'ill do. Up bounced her Royal 
 Highness. — (An Indian monarch once, it is said, 
 who of all Indians was the most luxurious, had re- 
 ceived from a distant country the present of a small 
 cask of choicest wine, he had emptied the last of it, 
 and anticipating his delight, held it sparkling 
 for a while before his eyes in pleasurable stay, but 
 as he was moving the goblet to his lips, his dog 
 leapt upon him and struck it from his hands.) The 
 Doctor had placed his foot upon the train of her 
 Royal Highness's favourite gown, which by her 
 own jerk was torn obliquely from the bottom to 
 the very top : Silence prevailed. Finally the Doctor 
 declared for apology and consolation, that the rent 
 had been a small one, if it had not fallen in with 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 39 
 
 the direction of the thread, whereby, said he, it ran. 
 Then (returned her Royal Highness) I am sure, Sir, 
 it was none of your fault that it ran, for certainly 
 you held it. And away flew the good humoured 
 Princess. 
 
 Her Royal Highness's exercise was continued, 
 not to the same extent as before, but although it 
 was shorter, yet there was more activity in it. Some- 
 times she drove in her carriage, generally an open 
 one, sometimes she walked, or rather took her air- 
 ings afoot, for walk she hardly could do, so sweet 
 a creature, so very happy in herself, and so very 
 happy in every body's love. 
 
 It was in these recreations of herself, that the op- 
 portunities most offered for the employment of her 
 * charity, which was not frozen up by her learning, 
 only directed with greater prudence. Her mind 
 inured to reflection was beginning to conceive the 
 propriety of withholding from hardened impostors 
 the gifts which ought to be assigned to the deserv- 
 ing poor: but every one with her Royal Highness 
 was what they seemed to be until they betrayed 
 themselves, and even then she could impart comfort 
 and relief, as the following occurrence will very 
 strikingly shew. Her coach was going on rather 
 rapidly, when her Royal Highness descried a poor 
 woman with a flock of little ones at her tail, and 
 immediately directed her coachman to stop. Ad- 
 
40 LIFE OF THE 
 
 dressing the woman, two and two, and four and one, 
 nine, why you have a large family, an uncommon 
 large family, and all of them young and helpless ; 
 but they seem to be of nearly the same age ; are 
 they all of them your own children, my good wo- 
 man ? O yes, my sweet young Lady, they are all 
 of them my own, and by my wedded husband too 
 (this was in the honest woman supererogation, or 
 something very like it). What, all of them your 
 own children! they are so much of a size I hardly 
 could believe it ; now tell me the naked truth, I 
 shall be glad to know, are they all your own children 
 really, do not be afraid to tell the truth, I always 
 desire to hear the truth. Indeed they are. No, no, 
 said the attendant, they cannot be, and putting on 
 a determined air, looked at her, Mistress, come, 
 you shall have a shilling, now tell the truth. The 
 woman cast her eyes upon the ground, as if her 
 sincerity lay there, and hesitating, thus went on; 
 sweet Young Lady, turning to the Princess, for 
 I will own it to you, two of these young things 
 only are mine, one is by my husband, one is not; 
 the rest are, Madam, borrowed. The Princess un- 
 locked her hand, and in its palm there Was a guinea; 
 this guinea, said her Royal Highness, I intended to 
 have presented to you, in consideration of your 
 candour, had you answered my question at the first 
 with plainness and truth, but, John, give the wo- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 41 
 
 man two shillings; your honesty seems to have its 
 price, nor is it worth much at best, so the cheaper 
 had the better; drive on. Poor woman, I pity you, 
 but it were a pity to insult you, drive on. But 
 presently desiring the carriage to be stopt, her 
 Royal Highness beckoned the woman, and gave 
 the guinea to her. Such was her love of truth, that 
 she could not bear even concealment with patience, 
 unless there was an absolute need of secresy ; and to 
 the latter sort of transactions she evermore referred 
 her private charitable doings ; for with her Royal 
 Highness it might be truly said that the right hand 
 was unconscious of what the left had given. 
 
 A most beautiful team of white poneys was pre- 
 sented to her Royal Highness for the draught of 
 her carriage, and she delighted very much in exer- 
 cising the nimble animals, and thereby promoted 
 her health, which, however, was thought by the 
 physicians to be capable of great benefit from a re- 
 sidence at the sea side, and a house was rented at 
 Bognor from a Mr. Wilson for this purpose. An 
 institution had been formed in the neighbourhood 
 for the care of soldiers who might be afflicted with 
 an ophthalmia, a complaint in the eyes which many 
 of them had contracted while employed upon the 
 Egyptian expedition. No sooner had the royal 
 visiter seated herself there, than loud murmurs were 
 raised against the impropriety of selecting that part 
 
42 LIFE OF THE 
 
 of the country for the habitation of the Princess. 
 But after the most minute investigation had taken 
 place, it was reported to be completely safe for her 
 Royal Highness to live at Bognor, for although the 
 distemper is really infectious, still absolute contact 
 only can make it so. Search was made into all the 
 cases that had ever come under the practice of the 
 medical persons connected with the establishment, 
 and the doctors of the village, and no instance had 
 been of any one catching the complaint through 
 mere vicinity/ Bognor was thus made the summer 
 abode of her Royal Highness. In this retirement, 
 unconfined by the stiff restraints of ceremony, the 
 Princess indulged the natural bent of her mind to 
 playfulness and humour. 
 
 Lady de Clifford, who was at this time the guard- 
 ian and care-taker of the young Princess, attended 
 her of course in the different rides she took. Her 
 Lady ship was rather nervous and her mirthful ward 
 loved to sport with her fears, which used to be ex- 
 pressed in the most piteous and woeful visage, if 
 ever her Royal Highness in her chariot drove at 
 full speed along the uneven roads, as often she did, 
 but especially when wheeling off into a field of Sir 
 Thomas Troubridge all over heights and hollows, 
 the Princess would dash forward with precipitancy, 
 her Ladyship uttered themost urgent remonstrances 
 and entreaties, accompanied with looks of terror and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 4£ 
 
 dismay ; but all was in vain, her Royal Highness 
 either pressing her lips together was silent, or only 
 replied, It is exercise, my Lady, exercise, there is 
 nothing like exercise. 
 
 The course of events having led to the particular 
 notice of Lady de Clifford, it were ungrateful to 
 pretermit the mention of another noble person who 
 was employed previously to Lady de Clifford in 
 directing the pursuits of the Princess Charlotte, and 
 discharged her duties to the perfect satisfaction of 
 every body who had an opportunity of witnessing 
 her conduct ; we mean Lady Elgin, the first gover- 
 ness- To an improved understanding was added in 
 this Lady the polite attainments and manners of the 
 fine woman, discretion, a secondary, though per- 
 haps the most useful qualification, distinguished the 
 whole course of her tutelage. She had the skill of 
 repressing the native warmth of temper which 
 glowed in the royal child, without quenching the 
 flame altogether, or else directed the fire, when al- 
 lowed to show itself, in a way most becoming and 
 dignified, and never failed to conjoin the sentiments 
 of a virtuous heart when she inculcated or rather 
 encouraged, (for her Royal Highnesshad it naturally) 
 the noble emulation of her illustrious pupil. As 
 she was sitting once in the drawing room with a 
 book in her hand, the door suddenly opened with 
 amazing violence, her Royal Highness, then a little 
 
44 LIFE OF THE 
 
 -thing, came rushing in quite out of breath, exclaim- 
 ing, O Lady Elgin, O Lady Elgin, Lady Elgin, 
 and clasping her Ladyship's knees fell down upon 
 her with extraordinary emotion, Her Ladyship 
 was struck with stupor, and knew not what to ap- 
 prehend ; ; she begged of her Royal Highness to tell 
 what might have agitated her so much, but the 
 Princess remained speechless, still clinging by her 
 revered guardian ; the sub-governess and the other 
 attendants came round about, and implored her 
 Royal Highness to unfold the cause of her sudden 
 surprise. Lady Elgin besought her with earnest- 
 ness to put them out of suspense, and tell the whole. 
 The Princess sobbed, but was unable to articulate, 
 then burst into a flood of tears. No one could con- 
 jecture what had befallen her, and all united in 
 urging her to reveal, for their sakes, what the affair 
 was. At last rearing up\ her face and turning it 
 half aside, O, she faintly cried, I have beat the turkey 
 cock. The little Princess, it seems, had often been 
 put to flight in her rencounters with the turkey cock 
 in the court-yard; but upon this occasion she 
 mustered up all her courage, which was not incon- 
 siderable, (for she had her full share of the family 
 spirit,) and set to with so much determination and 
 bravery, that her antagonist was forced to yield and 
 retreat with precipitation. But the turkey cock 
 long continued to live the happiest of the vanquish- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 45 
 
 ed, for he experienced (I suppose it is superfluous 
 to say it), a generous friend in his magnanimous 
 victor. 
 
 The rising virtues of her Royal Highness were 
 nourished by the Lady Elgin with incessant care 
 and delight, and perhaps it is owing in no small de- 
 gree to her that many of the Princess's qualities 
 were associated with so much decision and firmness, 
 that they remained immutable when assailed, as 
 they were, by persuasion (if public rumour be cor- 
 rect), or a thwarting influence of a less gentle descrip- 
 tion, (if such an influence was ever resorted to). 
 But by the time that her Royal Highness had 
 made herself mistress of the sampler, her Ladyship 
 was seized with a podagral affection, which con- 
 tinuing without any hopes of amendment, she was 
 obliged to resign her precious charge, and she did 
 so with regret, and deeply regretted. 
 
 A long interval passed before any other was ap- 
 pointed to fill her place ; and although the under- 
 governess was retained, yet heavy censure lighted 
 upon the minister of that day for not immediately 
 providing a fit person to take the office relinquished 
 by Lady Elgin. The gentlewoman who assisted 
 might have possessed very great merit ; that is not 
 the question ; but it could not be supposed that an 
 inferior in the establishment should be able to ascend 
 forthwith into the consequence attached to the 
 
46 LIFE OF THE 
 
 superior : the pupil was the Princess Charlotte ; and 
 taking the matter in its most favourable light, I see 
 not wherefore the minister indulged the negligence 
 he did. Fie might not have instantly pleased him- 
 self in the successor, and used time to make 
 the best selection, that is true certainly, but then 
 who can suppose that amongst all our accomplished 
 and amiable women of quality it could be a difficult 
 affair to procure one, and the more easy might it 
 have been, because the very appointment in itself was 
 an object that merited the aspirations of a lady's 
 ambition. 
 
 When Lady de Clifford, therefore, entered upon 
 her duties, she needed the utmost address tointroduce 
 the ideas of obedience and unqualified respect to 
 her opinions, into a mind now long disused to any 
 required submission; and to effect this without 
 losing the tender fondness of her young companion, 
 which all guardians ought to cultivate in their pupils, 
 so far as can be consistently done. Lady de Clifford 
 had the happiness to enjoy an easy and a mild 
 temper, and by using a little dexterity, soon gained the 
 intire confidence and love, as well as respect of the 
 Princess, whose attachment to her will appear mani- 
 fest, in the following letter addressed to Lady 
 Albemarle, Lady de Clifford's daughter, written in 
 the usual style of the engaging epistolary: 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 47 
 
 a My ever Dear Lady A ; 
 
 w I most heartily thank you for your very kind 
 letter, which I hasten to answer. But I must not 
 forget that this letter must be a letter of congratu- 
 lation, yes, of congratulations the most sincere : I 
 love you, and therefore there is no wish that I do 
 not f jrm for your happiness in this Vorld. May you 
 have as few cares and vexations as may fall to the 
 lot of a woman, and may you long be spared, and 
 may you long enjoy the blessings of all others the 
 most precious, your dear, dear mother, who is not 
 more precious to you than she is to me. But there 
 is a trifle which accompanies this, which I hope you 
 will like ; and if it sometimes reminds you of me, 
 it will be a great source of pleasure to me. I shall 
 be most happy to see you, for it is long since I have 
 had that pleasure. 
 
 " Adieu, my dear Lady A. and believe me ever, 
 "Your affectionate and sincere friend, 
 
 "CHARLOTTE." 
 
 With Lady de Clifford and two assistant gover- 
 nesses she lived at Bognor, enjoying the free exercise 
 of her sprightly turn ; and spent some part of every 
 day in rambling about the coast, looking with in- 
 quisitive eagerness into whatever was curious, parti- 
 cularly she examined the veins of the pebbles, and 
 the cavities of the rocks. But she did not grow so 
 
48 LIFE OF THE 
 
 tipsey with her innocent diversions as to neglect 
 her books and her prayers. The Tutor of her Royal 
 Highness had provided for her elegant editions of 
 the most approved English writers both in prose 
 and verse, and of the latter she appeared greatly 
 enamoured, and yet was not so undistinguishing 
 either, as to be equally pleased with the poems 
 she read. Goldsmith's Deserted Village she used 
 to peruse again and again, and often spoke in rap- 
 tures of that beautiful simile of his, in which a parish 
 curate, surrounded by his flock, lends a sympathis- 
 ing ear to the tales of their distress, and feels their 
 griefs, but directs all his great anxieties to heaven ; 
 the good man is here compared to a lofty cliff in 
 the ocean, which, although buffeted by waves, and 
 assailed by the wind and rain rising beyond the 
 tempest's reach, has eternal sunshine settled on its 
 head. Her Royal Highness often spoke of the 
 simile, and declared thatit was very beautiful indeed. 
 Some portion of her time was devoted to the 
 study of the British Constitution and Laws. A 
 line edition of Blackstone's Commentaries was de- 
 dicated to her, by permission of the Prince of Wales, 
 illustrated with copious annotations, and she is said 
 to have bestowed most extraordinary pains in read- 
 ing this and other works relating to the government 
 and ordinances of England. In order to fix her 
 attention the more closely to such, in order to make 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 49 
 
 these dry pursuits the more palatable, many most 
 excellent means presented themselves, in the first 
 place, to give the learner a due sense of their im- 
 portance, it was only needful to call them the bul- 
 warks of English liberty, and other the like rever- 
 ential terms ; he who supposes such a plan to be 
 ludicrous and futile knows little of the ways in which 
 young understandings are aroused to attention and 
 zeal. To reward any progress made, with praise 
 commensurate to the degree of improvement, and 
 not beyond the deserts of the scholar, is another ad- 
 visable method. When too great commendation 
 is bestowed, the study invariably falls into contempt, 
 as a thing in which excellence is so easily attained ; 
 on the other hand, if the proficiency is unnoticed, 
 the spirits are jaded, and simple consciousness alone 
 of deserving well is inadequate to animate them 
 with renovated vigour. No opportunities for the 
 practice of these measures were suffered to pass un- 
 heeded. Her Royal TSighness always shewed a 
 desire to be spoken of highly, but no mortal could 
 be more averse than she, to unmerited approbation. 
 When any of her friends or attendants would say, 
 Sweet creature, it was the way with her Royal 
 Highness to ask, How, why do you call me sweet? 
 I hope you have no thoughts of eating me. If any 
 body declared that she was a good girl, she always 
 inquired, For what am I good? tell me first what I 
 H 
 
£0 LIFE OF THE 
 
 have done to make me good. And no sooner could 
 she be satisfied of the justice of the compliment, 
 than a flush over-spread her cheeks ; so that she 
 never allowed praise to play round her head, until 
 her understanding approved the fairness with 
 which it was given, but then indeed she rejoiced in 
 it most heartily.. Now this cast of thinking made 
 her Royal Highness the fittest subject possible for 
 the plan of education adopted. With respect to 
 the consequence with which it was proper that she 
 should look upon the serious pursuits of legal science, 
 the time was advancing apace when no adscititious 
 methods would be needed to quicken her attentions, 
 for a sense of the great responsibility of the station 
 to which by birth she was entitled to look up, made 
 a suitable impression upon her mind as soon as she 
 framed the first notions of human affairs, or, as it is 
 commonly expressed, a knowledge of the world. 
 Her wisdom and parts were always discovered to 
 reach beyond what person»of equal standing in life 
 are generally possessed of, and that no doubt may 
 be entertained upon this point, it will be sufficient 
 to state that strangers after holding a conversation 
 with her Royal Highness, could never bring them- 
 selves to suppose that she was so young by several 
 years. The process of her instruction was carried 
 on agreeably to the early ripeness of her judgment. 
 Poring over De Lolme, her Royal Highness was 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 51 
 
 interrupted by two petitions, one of them from an 
 officer who had promoted himself, by his own ad- 
 dress and ingenuity, to a much higher rank with 
 different shppkeepers than he really held, for he re- 
 presented himself to be a major, a man of military 
 skill and experience, and greatly sought after by the 
 highest characters in his profession. He had, (for 
 his story became notorious,) entered into the ser- 
 vice when a very young lad, in the capacity of a 
 private soldier. His adroitness, and being able to 
 write, had so far recommended him to certain officers 
 in his regiment, that he was advanced to the degree 
 of corporal; but to go through all the striking 
 particulars of this man's life would require a larger 
 space than the entire work is intended to occupy. 
 He arrived in the course of time to a lieutenancy, 
 which he was obliged to resign or hold as a half 
 pay officer, for he had committed such low impro- 
 prieties that all the gentlemen of his regiment kept 
 a sharp observation upon his behaviour, expecting 
 to find him involved in such a manner as would set 
 them free from his society. An occasion offered ; 
 but in pity of the culprit's condition, he was suffered 
 to make an exchange with a man on the half-pay 
 list. When this was done, he left the genteel 
 habits which he had been contracting from the 
 company of his betters, and adopted a grovelling 
 mean way of life, one indeed better fitted very pos- 
 
52 LIFE OF THE 
 
 sibly to his taste ; and coming up to London, he 
 formed acquaintance with people of the meanest 
 character and description, spending all his time in 
 public houses, or in sliding from one into another. 
 But relying much on his personal appearance, and 
 confident of pleasing by his polite address he now 
 and then, upon digested plans, left London, and go- 
 ing into the country found his advantage in duping 
 credulous tradesmen, and returning with his spoils, 
 used to indulge himself in the sorry gratifications, 
 which he felt a renewed relish in pursuing, and 
 were really congenial to his temper, for he had been 
 acquainted with them best in his youth. Frequent 
 petitions had been laid before her Royal Highness 
 from this man, worded in so affecting a style, that 
 although at last the Princess grew weary of him, 
 and suspected that the representations he made 
 were groundless, yet he was never suffered to go 
 away before he had received the alleviation of his 
 misfortunes (as he called them). 
 
 The other petition came from a man who had 
 been a reputable shop-keeper in the town of Bognor, 
 and had long been a resident in it : he was in the 
 habit of selling groceries and snuff to the poorer 
 class of people. Having been exceedingly un- 
 fortunate in his children, especially his eldest son, 
 who was a very wasteful young fellow, and he having 
 found means to come privately at his father's drawer, 
 
PKINCESS CHARLOTTE 53 
 
 the substance of the honest dealer was every day 
 diminishing, and at last, being unable to pay a debt 
 he had contracted, he was torn away from his wife 
 and children and sent to gaol. 
 
 The Princess having read over both petitions, 
 desired her servant to take sums respectively to 
 each, not so much to the major as to the other 
 petitioner. But calling back the messenger again, 
 she injoined him to see the tradesman's wife himself, 
 and, said she, give this to her. When the gover- 
 ness entered, she looked in silence at a particular 
 part of the room, and not speaking, but rapt in her 
 own thoughts, she did not change her position nor 
 the direction of her eye for a long time, and then 
 went on : I greatly admire the achievements of 
 heroic men in the field of battle when fighting in 
 defence of their country's rights, but it is strange 
 withal, that in the whole course of my historical 
 reading, I have not observed any state that fell to 
 the ground through lack of soldiers, at least enough 
 of them seem to have always been in it, I never 
 heard it complained of that men were impossible to 
 be found in sufficient numbers ready to expose their 
 persons for the public good ; people in some parts 
 of the world have even gone so far as to volunteer 
 their lives for the sake of small returns in money, 
 and that in support of a doubtful cause. As to 
 Greece, unhappy Greece was devoured alive by its 
 
54t LIFE OF THE 
 
 swarm of politicians, and as to the Roman Empire; — 
 the Princess stopped there and made a lengthy 
 pause ; resuming again, Commend me to the honest 
 tradesman who rears up his family in religion, and 
 to habits of industry and thrift, and makes early 
 risers of them. 
 
 Her father was very proud of course that he could 
 call the child his. Solomon says that a wise son 
 makes the joy of his parent. That his Royal Highness 
 entertained the most flattering hopes of the consti- 
 tutional behaviour of this beloved Princess when ex- 
 alted to the throne, the Prince's speech at a public 
 dinner in Brighton will bear sufficient testimony. 
 The Princess Charlotte's health being proposed, his 
 Royal Highness spoke to this affect : 
 
 I have made it my first care to instil into the mind 
 and heart of my daughter, the knowledge and love 
 of the true principles of the British Constitution ; 
 and I have pointed out to her young understanding 
 as a model for study, the political conduct of my 
 most revered and lamented friend, Mr. Fox, who 
 had asserted and maintained with such transcendent 
 force, the just principles upon which the government 
 under this excellent constitution ought to be ad- 
 ministered for the true and solid dignity of the 
 Crown, and the real security, freedom, and happiness 
 of the people. I have the most heartfelt enjoyment 
 in knowing, that, even in her present early years, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 55 
 
 my daughter has a just conception of the value of 
 the precepts which have been implanted in her 
 breast ; and that I can say with confidence, that she 
 will fulfil all the duties which she may be called 
 upon to discharge, when my bones are laid in the 
 grave. 
 
 Certain persons whom the Princess of Wales had 
 honoured with special tokens of her favour and re- 
 gard, going to some every day and discoursing to 
 them in the most intimate and familiar manner, 
 with too little attention to punctilio and her own 
 superior rank, had learned different private trans- 
 actions of her Hoyal Highness, which were capable 
 of showy misconstruction, and of these they took 
 methods to make an use most likely to promote their 
 own welfare. Assured of the misunderstanding 
 which had continued for so long a time between the 
 Prince and her, and which did not promise to be 
 of short duration, they very naturally deemed an 
 ill report of her Royal Highness a ready, however 
 dirty, path to the good graces of her consort ; but 
 the minds that were so actuated must have been of 
 the basest mould. That indeed the mother of the 
 heiress to the sovereignty of a great and powerful 
 nation should condescend to visit, like an ordinary 
 acquaintance, a family neither opulent nor noble, 
 ought to have inspired the profound est love and re- 
 verence on the part of the complimented ; but what 
 
56 LIFE OF THE 
 
 do not the selfish resort to, if it only seems instru- 
 mental to forward their views. The Princess of 
 Wales retreated to Blackheath, when the metropolis 
 no longer courted her company, and there she culti- 
 vated the intimacy of several respectable neighbours, 
 but did not proportion the degree of her familiarity 
 to the rank of her friends. Of all the acquaintances 
 which her Royal Highness had made, Sir John and 
 Lady Douglas were most distinguished with royal 
 favour. 
 
 Montague house was the residence of the Princess 
 of Wales, and in its neighbourhood lived Sir John 
 and Lady Douglas. They gradually increased in 
 her esteem, and at last the Princess, as if she were 
 a member of their family, was in the habit of going un- 
 ceremoniously, and paying such visits as the great- 
 est cronies make to chat with one another. The 
 disposition of the Princess was of that open, lively, 
 and unreserved cast which too often leaves one at 
 the mercy of the low and cunning friends, if friends 
 they can be called, in whom we confide the secrets of 
 the inmost bosom. Supposing that her Royal 
 Highness had actually perpetrated a high and e- 
 normous crime, public good might call strongly for 
 its exposure, but has private amity no tie upon the 
 will, nor confidence any hold upon the honour ; 
 not, it will be readily owned, that love for a person 
 whom nature or familv connection has not united 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 57 
 
 to those who are privy to the guilt ought to stand 
 in the way of common justice; but even so, reluc- 
 tance should be always visible. Brutus, the Ro- 
 man consul, ordered the nearest relatives he had on 
 earth to be executed for a conspiracy to rob 
 his countrymen of their independence, and for that 
 he has gained the admiration of the ages which 
 came after him till this day; but the applause 
 ifr rather extorted than lavished spontaneously, 
 since he witnessed the punishment with an uncon- 
 cerned countenance, whereas if he had turned his 
 face away, the same benefit would have been confer- 
 red upon the commonwealth, and then his conduct 
 would have escaped the unamiable character with 
 which it is impressed. If Lady Douglas's proceed- 
 ings were guided by a sense of public duty, let 
 credit be given to her motives ; but since she was 
 evidently forward to make herself active in the im- 
 peachment of her Royal Highness, they who be- 
 stow their applause must deal it with a palsied 
 hand. Her knight was a daring man in battle, and 
 had often risked his life for his country, and why 
 was he timid to vindicate its honour when he sup- 
 posed it invaded in the tenderest point, the purity 
 of the succession to the throne ? The natural reply 
 is no other than that he was not assured of the reality 
 of the criminal behaviour attributed to the Princess 
 of Wales. Personal bravery is justly distinguished 
 
58 LIEE OF THE 
 
 from political hardihood, and perhaps lie had the 
 former unmixed with the latter sort of courage ; 
 and what will be an excuse for him, if he felt con- 
 viction, quite as well grounded, his wife was unwil- 
 ling r to be led, and fortune has evermore favoured 
 such wives with power enough to gratify their lead- 
 ing inclinations. Sir John himself acted a mere 
 secondary part, his lady supported the chief cha- 
 racter. She was bold, fearless, and prompt. The 
 trite observation that women are cyphers, if it hold 
 •good at all in the person of Lady Douglas, must be 
 understood as placing the cypher on the right side, 
 for the husband owed to his helnmate a tenfold 
 significance at least. 
 
 Suggestions begot suspicions in higher quarters, 
 and finally a commission was appointed to investi- 
 gate the grounds of the charges brought against the 
 Princess of Wales, who, while the affair was pending, 
 had of course the mortification to be regarded as 
 undeserving the paternal attentions of his Majesty, 
 and altogether unfit to commvmicate with the young 
 Princess. 
 
 When her Royal Highness received the com- 
 missioners' report upon the evidences delivered be- 
 fore them, she immediately expressed to his Ma* 
 jesty the sense she had of his kindness towards her, 
 and, asserting her integrity in the most solemn 
 terms, declared her ability to prove her accusers de- 
 
'^ 
 
 
 
 
 "V V'./ 
 
TRINCESS CHAHLOTTE. 59 
 
 void of candour and truth, and under the sway of 
 base and selfish principles. The insertion of the 
 report, made by the commissioners, supersedes the 
 painful necessity of minutely stating the depositions 
 of the several persons examined, because the sub- 
 stance of the asseverations made by those persons 
 is deducible from the report itself, which was as 
 follows: 
 
 May it please your Majesty ; 
 Your Majesty having been graciously pleased by 
 an Instrument under you Majesty's Royal Sign 
 Manual, a Copy of which is annexed to this Report, 
 to authorize, empower, and direct, us to enquire 
 into the truth of certain written Declarations touch- 
 ing the conduct of her Royal Highness the Princess 
 of Wales, an abstract of which had been laid before 
 your Majesty, and to examine upon oath, such 
 persons as we should see fit touching and concern^ 
 ing the same, and to report to your Majesty the re- 
 sult of such Examinations : — we have in dutiful 
 obedience to your Majesty's commands, proceeded 
 to examine the several witnesses, the copies of whose 
 depositions we have hereunto annexed ; and in 
 further execution of the said commands, we now 
 most respectfully submit to your Majesty the Report 
 of the Examinations as it has appeared to us But, 
 we beg leave at the same time, humbly to refer your 
 Majesty for more complete information to the Ex* 
 
60 LIFE OF THE 
 
 aminations themselves, in order to correct any error 
 of judgment in which we may have unintentionally 
 fallen, with respect to any part of this business. On 
 a reference to the above mentioned declarations as 
 the necessary foundation of all our proceedings, we 
 found that they consisted in certain statements which 
 had been laid before his Royal Highness the Prince 
 of Wales, respecting the conduct of her Royal High- 
 ness the Princess of Wales ; that these statements, 
 not only imputed to her Royal Highness great impro- 
 priety and indecency of behaviour, but expressly as- 
 serted, partly on the ground of certain alleged decla- 
 rations from the Princess's own mouth, and partly on 
 the personal observations of the informants, the fol- 
 lowing most important facts, viz. — That her Royal 
 Highness had been pregnant in the year 1802, in 
 consequence of an illicit intercourse, and that she 
 had in the same year been secretly delivered of a male 
 child, which child had ever since that period been 
 brought up by her Royal Highness in her own 
 house, and under her immediate inspection. 
 
 These allegations thus made, had, as we found, 
 been followed by declarations from other persons, 
 who had not indeed spoken to the important facts 
 of the pregnancy or delivery of her Royal Highness, 
 but had stated other particulars in themselves ex- 
 tremely suspicious, and still more so when connected 
 with the assertions already mentioned. — In the very 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE, 61 
 
 painful situation in which his Royal Highness was 
 placed by the communications, we learnt that his 
 Royal Highness had adopted the only course which 
 could, in our judgment, with propriety be followed, 
 when informations such asthese had been confidently 
 alleged, and particularly detailed, and had been in 
 some degree supported by collateral evidence, apply- 
 ing to other points of the same nature, (though going 
 to far less extent), one line could only be pursued. 
 Every sentiment of duty to your Majesty, and of 
 concern for the public welfare, required that these 
 particulars should not be withheld from your Ma- 
 jesty, to whom more particularly belonged the cog- 
 nizanceof amatter of state, so nearly touchingthe ho- 
 nour of your Majesty's Royal Family, and by possi- 
 bility affecting the su ccession of your Majesty's crown , 
 Your Majesty had been pleased on your part to view 
 the subject in the same light. Considering it as a 
 matter which in every respect demanded the most im- 
 mediate investigation, your Majesty had thought fit 
 to commit into our hands the duty of ascertaining, 
 in the first instance, what degree of credit was due 
 to the informations, and thereby enabling your Ma- 
 jesty to decide what further conduct to adopt concern- 
 ing them. On this review, therefore, of the matters 
 thus alleged, and of the course hitherto pursued 
 upon them, we deemed it proper, in the first place, 
 to examine those persons in whose declarations the 
 
62 LIFE OF THE 
 
 occasion for this inquiry had originated ; because if 
 they, on being examined on oath, had retracted or 
 varied their assertions, all necessity of further in- 
 vestigation might possibly have been precluded. 
 We accordingly first examined on oath the prin- 
 cipal informants, Sir John Douglas and Charlotte 
 his wife, who both positively swore, the former to 
 his having observed the fact of the pregnancy of 
 her Royal Highness, and the latter to all the im- 
 portant particulars contained in her former decla- 
 ration, and above referred to. Their examinations 
 are annexed to this Report, and are circumstan- 
 tial and positive. The most material of those 
 allegations, into the truth of which we have 
 been directed to enquire, being thus far support- 
 ed by the oath of the parties from whom they 
 had proceeded, we then felt it to be our duty to 
 follow up the inquiry, by the examination of such 
 other persons as we judged the best able to afford 
 us information as to the facts in question. We 
 thought it beyond all doubt, that in the course of 
 inquiry many particulars must be learnt which 
 would be necessarily conclusive on the truth or false- 
 hood of these declarations, so many persons must 
 have been witnesses to the appearance of an actual 
 existing pregnancy, also many circumstances must 
 have been attendant upon a real delivery, and diffi- 
 culties so numerous and insurmountable must have 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 63 
 
 been involved in any attempt to account for the in^ 
 fant in question, as the child of another woman, if 
 it had been in fact the child of the Princess, that 
 we entertained a full and confident expectation of 
 arriving at complete proof, either in the affirmative 
 or negative, on this part of the subject. 
 
 This expectation was not disappointed. We are 
 happy to declare our perfect conviction that there 
 is no foundation whatever for believing that the 
 child now with the Princess of Wales is the child 
 of her Royal Highness, or that she was delivered of 
 any child in the year 1802 ; nor has any thing ap- 
 peared to us which would warrant the belief that 
 she was pregnant in that year, or at any period 
 within the compass of our inquiries. The identity 
 of the child now with the Princess, its parents, age, 
 the place of its birth, the time and circumstances of 
 its being taken under her Royal Highness's protec- 
 tion, are all established by such a concurrence both 
 of positive and circumstantial evidence as can in our 
 judgment leave no question on this part of the sub- 
 ject. That child was beyond all doubt born in 
 Brownlow-street Hospital, on the 11th day of July, 
 1802, of the body of Sophia Austin, and was first 
 brought to the Princess's house in the month of 
 November following. Neither should we be more 
 warranted in expressing any doubt respecting the 
 alleged pregnancy of the Princess, as stated in the 
 
64 LIFE OF THE 
 
 original declaration, a fact so fully contradicted, and 
 by so many witnesses, to whom, if true, it must, in 
 various ways be known, that we cannot think it 
 entitled to the smallest credit. The testimonies on 
 these two points are contained in the annexed de- 
 positions and letters. We have not partially ab- 
 stracted them in this report, lest by any uninten- 
 tional omission we might weaken their effect ; but 
 we humbly offer to your Majesty this our clear 
 and unanimous judgment upon them, formed upon 
 full deliberation, and pronounced* without hesitation, 
 on the result of the whole inquiry. We do not, 
 however, feel ourselves at liberty, much as we 
 should wish it, to close our report here. Besides 
 the allegation of the pregnancy and delivery of the 
 Princess, those declarations, on the whole of which 
 your Majesty has been pleased to command us to 
 inquire and report, contain, as we have already re- 
 marked, other particulars respecting her Royal 
 Highness, such as must, especially considering her 
 exalted rank and station, necessarily give occasion 
 to very unfavourable interpretations. From the 
 various depositions and proofs annexed to this 
 Report, particularly from the examinations of 
 Robert Bidgood, William Cole, Francis Lloyd, and 
 Mrs. Lisle, your Majesty will perceive that several 
 strong circumstances of this description have been 
 positively sworn to by witnesses, who cannot, in 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 65 
 
 our judgment, be suspected of any unfavourable 
 bias, and whose veracity in this respect we have 
 seen no ground to question. 
 
 On the precise bearing and effects of the facts 
 thus appearing it is not for us decide ; these we 
 submit to your Majesty's wisdom ; but we conceive 
 it to be our duty to report on this part of the in- 
 quiry, as distinctly as on the former facts, that, as 
 on the one hand the facts of pregnancy and delivery 
 are to our minds satisfactorily disproved ; so, on the 
 other hand, we think that the circumstances to which 
 we now refer, particularly those stated to have 
 passed between her Royal Highness and Captain 
 Manby, must be credited until they shall receive 
 some decisive contradiction ; and, if true, are justly 
 entitled to the most serious consideration. We 
 cannot close this report without humbly assuring 
 your Majesty, that it was on every account our 
 anxious wish to have executed this delicate trust 
 with as little publicity as the nature of the case 
 would possibly allow; and we intreat your Majesty's 
 permission to express our full persuasion, that, if 
 this wish has been disappointed, the failure is not 
 imputable to any thing unnecessaily said or done 
 by us, all which is most humbly submitted to your 
 Majesty 
 
 ERSKI¥E. GREWILLE. 
 
 SPENCER ELLENBOROUGH. 
 
 K 
 
66 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Soon after the report of the commissioners, a 
 communication was presented to the Princess of 
 Wales through the Lord Chancellor, intimating 
 the opinion of his Majesty's confidential servants, 
 that it was not longer required for the conservation 
 of the regal dignity that the Princess of Wales 
 should be excluded from the King's presence, or 
 denied the usual intercourse with her daughter. 
 
 Her Royal Highness, therefore, wrote to her 
 august father, beseeching him, by appointing the 
 earliest day possible, to afford to her an opportu- 
 nity of paying her respects, and expressing her 
 veneration, gratitude, and duty, to the revered 
 monarch. To this application, an answer was made 
 by the King himself, which, although it did not 
 positively fix the day, yet gave grounds for sup- 
 posing that his Majesty would speedily comply 
 with the Princess's request. But the Prince of 
 Wales, being furnished with additional documents, 
 thought it necessary to his honour, to represent 
 circumstances, which drew from the King a note 
 to the Princess, indefinitely postponing to receive 
 her Royal Highness. 
 
 His Majesty's notice was replied to without 
 delay by the Princess of Wales ; but a second let- 
 ter of her Royal Highness was written more fully ; 
 and since it may be regarded as her defence, in 
 some measure, against the accusations brought 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 67 
 
 forward at this time (the latter end of 1806), the 
 principal passages have been extracted, and every 
 reader is left to himself to make his own opinions 
 upon a subject very delicate, and consequently un- 
 accommodated to the decision with which the his- 
 toriographer may think himself competent to pro- 
 nounce his mind on other occasions. 
 
 " Siris, 
 
 " By my short letter to your Majesty of the 
 I2th instant, in answer to your Majesty's commu- 
 nication,* I notified my intention of representing to 
 your Majesty the various grounds on which I felt 
 the hardship of my case ; and a review of which, I 
 confidently hoped, would dispose your Majesty to 
 recal your determination to adjourn, to an indefinite 
 period, my reception into your presence ; a deter- 
 mination which, in addition to all the other pain 
 which it brought along with it, affected me with 
 the disappointment of hopes, which I had fondly 
 cherished with the most perfect confidence, be- 
 cause they rested on your Majesty's gracious as- 
 surance. 
 
 * Independently, how r ever, of that communica- 
 tion from your Majesty, I should have felt myself 
 
 * Her Royal Highness means the note deferring her admission into 
 the company of his Majesty. 
 
68 LIFE OF THE 
 
 bound to have troubled your Majesty with much 
 of the contents of the present letter. 
 
 " Upon the receipt of the paper, which by your 
 Majesty's commands was transmitted to me by the 
 Lord Chancellor, on the 28th of last month, and 
 which communicated to me the joyful intelligence, 
 that your Majesty was advised that it was no longer 
 necessary for you to decline receiving me into 
 your royal presence, I conceived myself necessarily 
 called upon to send an immediate answer to so 
 much of it as respected that intelligence. I could 
 not wait the time which it would have required 
 to state those observations, which it was impossi- 
 ble for me to refrain from making, at some period, 
 upon the other important particulars which that 
 paper contained. Accordingly, I answered it im- 
 mediately: and, as your Majesty's gracious and 
 instant reply of last Thursday fortnight announced 
 to me your pleasure, that I should be received by 
 your Majesty on a day subsequent to the then 
 ensuing week, I was led most confidently to as- 
 sure myself, that the last week would not have 
 passed without my having received that satisfaction. 
 I therefore determined to wait in patience, without 
 further intrusion upon your Majesty, till I might 
 have the opportunity of guarding myself from the 
 possibility of being misunderstood, by personally 
 explaining to your Majesty, that whatever obser- 
 
PXINCESS CKAELOTTE. 69 
 
 vations I had to make upon the paper so commu- 
 nicated to me, on the 28th ultimo, and whatever 
 complaints respecting the delay, and the many 
 cruel circumstances which had attended the whole 
 of the proceedings against me, and the unsatisfac- 
 tory state in which they were at length left by 
 that last communication, they were observations 
 and complaints which affected those only, under 
 whose advice your Majesty had acted, and were 
 not, in any degree, intended to intimate even the 
 most distant insinuation against your Majesty's 
 justice or kindness. 
 
 " That paper established the opinion, which I cer- 
 tainly had ever confidently entertained, but the 
 justness of which I had not before any document 
 to establish, that your Majesty had, from the first, 
 deemed this proceeding a high and important 
 matter of state, in the consideration of w r hich, your 
 Majesty had not felt yourself at liberty to trust to 
 your own generous feelings, and to your own royal 
 and gracious judgment. I never did believe that 
 the cruel state of anxiety in which I had been 
 kept, ever since the delivery of my answer (for at 
 least sixteen w r eeks), could be at all attributable to 
 your Majesty ; it was most unlike every thing 
 •which 1 had ever experienced from your Majesty's 
 condescension, feeling, and justice ; and I found, 
 from that paper, that it w r as to your confidential 
 
70 LIFE OF THE 
 
 servants I was to ascribe the length of banishment 
 from your presence, which they at last advised 
 your Majesty, it was no longer necessary should 
 be continued. I perceive, therefore, what I always 
 believed, that it was to them, and to them only, 
 that I owed the protracted continuance of my 
 sufferings, and of my disgrace; and that your 
 Majesty, considering the whole of this proceeding 
 to have been instituted and conducted, under the 
 grave responsibility of your Majesty's servants, had 
 not thought proper to take any step, or express 
 any opinion, upon any part of it, but such as was 
 recommended by their advice. Influenced by 
 these sentiments, and anxious to have the oppor- 
 tunity of conveying them, with the overflowings 
 of a grateful heart to your Majesty, what were 
 my sensations of surprise, mortification, and disap- 
 pointment, on the receipt of your Majesty s letter, 
 of the 10th instant, your Majesty may conceive, 
 though I am utterly unable to express. 
 
 " That letter announces to me, that his Royal 
 Highness the Prince of Wales, upon receiving the 
 several documents which your Majesty directed 
 your cabinet to transmit to him, made a personal 
 communication to your Majesty of his intention to 
 put them into the hands of his lawyers, accom- 
 panied by a request, that your Majesty would sus- 
 pend any further steps in the business, until the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE, 71 
 
 Prince of Wales should be enabled to submit to 
 your Majesty the statement which he proposed to 
 make ; and it also announces to me that your Ma- 
 jesty therefore considered it incumbent on you, to 
 defer naming a day to me, until the further result 
 of the Prince of Wales's intention should have 
 been made known to your Majesty. 
 
 This determination of your Majesty, on this re- 
 quest, made by his Royal Highness, I humbly 
 trust your Majesty will permit me to intreat you, 
 in your most gracious justice, to reconsider. Your 
 Majesty, I am convinced, must have been surprised 
 at the time, and prevailed upon by the importunity 
 of the Prince of Wales, to think this determination 
 necessary, or your Majesty's generosity and justice 
 would never have adopted it. And if I can satisfy 
 your Majesty of the harshness of this interposition 
 of the Prince of Wales, at such a time, and under 
 such circumstances, I feel the most perfect confi- 
 dence that your Majesty will hasten to recalit, 
 
 " I should basely be wanting to my own in- 
 terest and feelings, if I did not plainly state my 
 sense of injustice and cruelty; and if I did not 
 most loudly complain of it. Your Majesty will 
 better perceive the just grounds of my complaint 
 when I retrace the course of these proceedings from 
 their commencement. 
 
 * The four noble Lords, appointed by your Ma~ 
 
72 LIFE OF THE 
 
 jesty to inquire into the charges brought against me, 
 in their Report of the 14th of July last, after hav- 
 ing stated that his Royal Highness the Prince of 
 Wales had laid the charge before him which was 
 made against me, by Lady Douglas, and the de- 
 clarations in support of it, proceed to say : we learnt 
 that his Royal Highness had adopted the only course 
 which could, in our judgment, with propriety, be 
 followed. When informations such as these, had 
 been thus confidently alleged, and particularly de- 
 tailed, and had been in some degree supported by 
 collateral evidence, applying to other facts of the 
 same nature, (though going to a far less extent,) one 
 line only coul# be pursued. 
 
 " His Royal Highness then pursuing, as the four 
 Lords say, the only course, which could, in their 
 judgment, with propriety, be pursued, submitted 
 the matter to your Majesty. — Your Majesty di- 
 rected the inquiry by the four Lords. — The four 
 Lords, in their Report upon the case, justly acquit- 
 ted me of all crime, and expressed (I will not wait 
 now to say how unjustly) the credit which they 
 gave, and the consequence they ascribed to other 
 matters, which they did not, however, characterize 
 as amounting to any crime.— To this Report I 
 made my answer. — That answer, together with the 
 whole proceedings, was referred by your Majesty, 
 to the same four Lords, and others of your Ma- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 7% 
 
 jest/s confidential servants. They advised your 
 Majesty, amongst much other matter, that there 
 was no longer any reason why you should decline 
 receiving me. 
 
 " Your Majesty will necessarily conceive that I 
 have always looked upon my banishment from 
 your royal presence, as, in fact/ a punishment, and 
 a severe one too. I thought it sufficiently hard, 
 that I should have been suffering that punishment, 
 during the time that this inquiry has been pending, 
 while I was yet only under accusation, and, upon 
 the principles of the just laws of your Majesty's 
 kingdom, entitled to be presumed to be innocent, 
 till I was proved to be guilty. But I find this 
 does not appear to be enough. For now, when after 
 this long inquiry, into matters which required im- 
 mediate investigation, I have been acquitted of 
 every thing which could call for my banishment 
 from your royal presence. After your Majesty's 
 confidential servants have thus expressly advised 
 your Majesty that they see no reason why you 
 should any longer decline to receive me into your 
 presence: — after your Majesty had graciously noti- 
 fied to me, your determination to receive me at an 
 early day. His Royal Highness interposes the de- 
 mand of a new delay ; desires your Majesty not to 
 take any step ; desires you not to act upon the ad- 
 vice which your own confidential servants have given 
 
 L 
 
74 LIFE OF THE 
 
 you, that you need no longer decline seeing me; — 
 because he has laid the documents before his law- 
 yers, and intends to prepare a further statement. 
 And I, though acquitted in the opinion of your 
 Majesty's confidential servants, of all that should 
 induce your Majesty to decline seeing me, am to 
 have that punishment, which had been inflicted 
 upon me, during the inquiry, continued after the 
 acquittal, till a fresh statement is prepared, to be 
 again submitted, for aught I know, to another in- 
 quiry, of as extended a continuance as that which 
 has just terminated. 
 
 *_ Can it be said that the proceedings of the four 
 noble Lords, or of your Majesty's confidential ser- 
 vants, have been so lenient, and considerate towards 
 me and my feelings, as to induce a suspicion that 
 I have been too favourably dealt with by them? and 
 that the advice which has been given to your Ma- 
 jesty, that your Majesty need no longer decline to 
 receive me, was hastily and partially delivered? 
 I am confident, that your Majesty must see the 
 very reverse of this to be the case — that I have 
 every reason to complain of the inexplicable delay 
 which so long withheld that advice. And the 
 whole character of the observations with which 
 they accompanied it, marks the reluctance with 
 which they yielded to the necessity of giving it. 
 •'For your Majesty's confidential servants advise 
 
PHINCESS CHARLOTTE. 75 
 
 your Majesty, that it is no longer necessary for you 
 to decline receiving me into your royal presence 
 If this is their opinion and their advice now, why 
 was it not their opinion and their advice four 
 months ago, from the date of my answer ? Nay, 
 why was it not their opinion and advice from the 
 date even of the original Report itself? For not 
 only had they been in possession of my answer for 
 above sixteen weeks, which at least furnished them 
 with all the materials on which this advice was at 
 length given; but further, your Majesty's confi- 
 dential servants are forward to state, that after hav- 
 ing read my observations, and the affidavits which 
 were annexed to them, they agree in the opinions 
 (not in any single opinion upon any particular 
 branch of the case, but in the opinions generally) 
 which were submitted to your Majesty, in the ori- 
 ginal Report of the four Lords. If therefore, (not- 
 withstanding their concurence in all the opinions 
 contained in the Report) they have nevertheless 
 given to your Majesty their advice, that it is no 
 longer necessary for you to decline receiving me, 
 What could have prevented their offering that ad- 
 vice, even from the 14th of July, the date of the 
 original Report itself? Or what could have war- 
 ranted the withholding of it, even for a single mo- 
 ment? Instead, therefore, of any trace being ob- 
 servable, of hasty, precipitate, and partial determi- 
 
76 LIFE OF THE 
 
 nation in my favour, it is impossible to interpret 
 their conduct and their reasons together in any 
 other sense, than as amounting to an admission of 
 your Majesty's confidential servants themselves, 
 that I have, in consequence of their withholding 
 that advice, been, unnecessarily banished from your 
 royal presence, from the 14th of July till the 28th 
 of January, including a space of above six months; 
 and the effect of the interposition of the Prince is 
 to prolong my sufferings, and my disgrace, under 
 the same banishment, to a period perfectly indefinite. 
 
 "The principle which will admit the effect of 
 such interposition now, may be acted upon again ; 
 and the Prince may require a further prolongation 
 upon fresh statements, and fresh charges, kept 
 back possibly for the purpose of being, from time 
 to time, conveniently interposed, to prevent for 
 ever the arrival of that hour, which, displaying to 
 the world the acknowledgment of my unmerited 
 sufferings and disgrace, may, at the same time, ex- 
 pose the truly malicious and unjust quality of the 
 proceedings which have been so long carried on 
 against me. 
 
 " This interposition of his Royal Highness, has 
 prevailed upon your Majesty to rec?J, to my pre- 
 judice, your gracious purpose of receiving me, in 
 pursuance of the advice of your servants. Do I 
 $hen flatter myself too much, when I feel assured. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 77 
 
 that my intreaty, founded upon the reasons which 
 I urge, and directed to counteract only the effect 
 of that interposition, will induce your Majesty to 
 return to your original determination ? 
 
 " Restored, however, as I should feel myself, to 
 a state of comparative security, as well as credit, by 
 being, at length, permitted, upon your Majesty's 
 gracious reconsideration of your last determination, 
 to have access to your Majesty ; yet under all the 
 circumstances under which I should now receive 
 that mark and confirmation of your Majesty's opi- 
 nion of my innocence, my character would not, I 
 fear, stand cleared in the public opinion, by the 
 mere fact of your Majesty's reception of me. This 
 revocation of your Majesty's gracious purpose has 
 flung an additional cloud about the whole proceed- 
 ing, and the inferences drawn in the public mind, 
 from this circumstance, so mysterious, and so per- 
 fectly inexplicable, upon any grounds which are 
 open to their knowledge, has made, and will leave 
 so deep an impression to my prejudice, as scarce 
 any thing, short of a public exposure of all that 
 has passed, can possibly efface 
 
 " The publication of all these proceedings to the 
 world then seems to me, under the present circum- 
 stances (whatever reluctance I feel against such a 
 measure, and however I regret the hard necessity 
 which drives me to it), to be almost the only re- 
 
78 LIFE OF THE 
 
 maining resource, for the vindication of my honour 
 and character. The falsehood of the accusation 
 is, by no means, all that will, by such publication, 
 appear to the credit and clearness of my character ; 
 but the course in which the whole proceedings 
 have been carried on, or rather delayed, by those to 
 whom your Majesty referred the consideration of 
 them, will shew that whatever measure of justice I 
 may have ultimately received at their hands, it is 
 not to be suspected as arising from any merciful 
 and indulgent consideration of me, of my feelings, 
 or of my case. 
 
 " It will be seen how my feelings have been ha- 
 rassed, and my character and honour exposed, by 
 the delays which have taken place in these pro- 
 ceedings : it will be seen that the existence of the 
 charge against me had avowedly been known to 
 the public, from the 7th of June in the last year. 
 I say known to the public, because it was on that 
 day that the commissioners, acting, as I am to sup- 
 pose (for so they state in their report), under the 
 anxious wish that their trust should be executed 
 with as little publicity as possible, authorised that 
 unnecessary insult and outrage upon me, as I must 
 always consider it, which, however intended, gave 
 the utmost publicity and exposure to the existence 
 of these charges — I mean the sending two attor- 
 neys, armed with their Lordships* warrant, to my 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE, 79 
 
 house, to bring before them at once about one half 
 of my household for examination. The idea of 
 privacy, after an act so much calculated, from the 
 extraordinary nature of it, to excite the greatest 
 attention and surprise, your Majesty must feel to 
 have been impossible and absurd ; for an attempt 
 at secrecy, mystery, and concealment, on my part, 
 could, under such circumstances, only have been 
 construed into the fearfulness of guilt 
 
 " The measure, however, of making these pro- 
 ceedings public, whatever mode I can adopt (con- 
 sidering especially the absolute impossibility of suf- 
 fering any partial production of them, and the ne- 
 cessity that, if for any purpose any part of them 
 should be produced, the whole must be brought 
 before the public) remains surrounded with ob- 
 jections ; and nothing could ever have prevailed 
 upon me, or can now ever prevail upon me to 
 have recourse to it, but an imperious sense of in- 
 despensible duty to my future safety, to my pre- 
 sent character and honour, and to the feelings, the 
 character, and the interests of my child. I had 
 flattered myself, when once this long proceeding 
 should have terminated in my reception into your 
 Majesty's presence, that that circumstance alone 
 would have so strongly implied my innocence of all 
 that had been brought against me, as to have been 
 perfectly sufficient for my honour and my security ; 
 
80 LIFE OF THE 
 
 but accompanied, as it now must be, with the 
 knowledge of the fact that your Majesty has been 
 brought to hesitate upon its propriety, and accom- 
 panied also with tire very unjustifiable observations, 
 as they appear to me, on which I shall presently 
 proceed to remark ; and which were made by your 
 Majesty's servants, at the time when they gave 
 you their advice to receive me ; I feel myself in a 
 situation, in which I deeply regret that I cannot 
 rest in silence, without an immediate reception into 
 your Majesty's presence ; nor indeed with that re- 
 ception,' unless it be attended by other circum- 
 stances, which may mark my satisfactory acquittal 
 of the charges which have been brought against me. 
 " It shall at no time be said, with truth, that I 
 shrunk back from these infamous charges ; that I 
 crouched before my enemies, and courted them, by 
 my submission into moderation ! No, I have ever 
 boldly defied them. I have ever felt and still feel, 
 that if they should think either of pursuing these 
 accusations, or of bringing forward any other which 
 the wickedness of individuals may devise to affect 
 my honour (since my conscience tells me that they 
 must be as base and groundless as those brought 
 by Lady Douglas) ; while the witnesses to the 
 innocence of my conduct are all living, I should be 
 able to disprove them all ; and whoever may be my 
 accusers, to triumph over their wickedness and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 81 
 
 malice. But should these accusations be renewed, 
 or any other be brought forward in any future time, 
 death may, I know not how soon, remove from my 
 innocence its best security, and deprive me of the 
 means of my justification and my defence. 
 
 " There are, therefore, other measures, which I 
 trust your Majesty will think indispensable to be 
 taken, for my honour and for my security. Amongst 
 these, I most humbly submit to your Majesty my 
 most earnest entreaties that the proceedings, includ- 
 ing not only my first answer, and my letter of the 
 8th of December, but this letter also, may be di- 
 rected by your Majesty to be so preserved and 
 deposited, as that they may, all of them, securely 
 remain permanent authentic documents and me- 
 morials of this accusation, and of the manner in 
 w 7 hich I met it ; of my defence, as well as of the 
 charge. That they may remain capable at any 
 time of being resorted to, if the malice which 
 produced the charge originally, shall ever venture 
 to renew it. 
 
 "Beyond this, I am sure your Majesty will think 
 it but proper and just that I should be restored, in 
 eve%: respect, to the same situation from whence 
 the proceedings, under these false charges, have 
 removed me. That, besides being graciously re- 
 ceived again into the bosom of your Majesty's 
 Royal Family, restored to my former respect and 
 
 M 
 
82 LIFE OF THE 
 
 station amongst them, your Majesty will be graci- 
 ously pleased, either to exert your influence with 
 his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, that I 
 may be restored to the use of my apartment in 
 Carlton House, which was reserved for me, except 
 while the apartments were undergoing repair, till 
 the date of these proceedings ; or to assign to me 
 some apartment in one of your Royal Palaces.-— 
 Some apartment in or near to London is indispen- 
 sably necessary for my convenient attendance at the 
 drawing-room : and if I am not restored to that 
 at Carlton House, I trust your Majesty will graci- 
 ously perceive how reasonable it is that I should 
 request that some apartment should be assigned to 
 me, suited to my dignity and situation, which may 
 mark my reception and acknowledgment as one 
 of your Majesty's family, and from which my at- 
 tendance at the drawing-room may be easy and 
 convenient. 
 
 u If these measures are taken, I should hope that 
 they would prove satisfactory to the public mind, 
 and that I may feel myself fully restored, in public 
 estimation, to my former character. And should 
 they prove so satisfactory, I shall indeed be de- 
 lighted to think that no further step may, even 
 now, appear to be necessary to my peace of mind, 
 my security, and my honour. 
 
 " But your Majesty will permit me to say, that if 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 83 
 
 the next week, which will make more than a month 
 from the time of your Majesty's informing me that 
 you would receive me, should pass without my 
 being received into your presence, and without 
 having the assurance that these other requests of 
 mine shall be complied with ; I shall be under the 
 painful necessity of considering them as refused. In 
 which case I shall feel myself compelled, however re- 
 luctantly, to give the whole of these proceedings 
 to the world; unless your Majesty can suggest 
 other adequate means of securing my honour and 
 my life, from the effect of the continuance or re- 
 newal of these proceedings, for the future, as well 
 as the present. For 1 entreat your Majesty to be- 
 lieve, that it is only in the absence of all other ade- 
 quate means, that I can have resort to that measure. 
 That I consider it with deep regret ; that I regard 
 it with serious apprehension,l)y no means so much 
 on account of the effect it may have upon myself, 
 as on account of the pain which it may give to your 
 Majesty, your august family, and your loyal sub- 
 jests. 
 
 "On the letter of his Royal Highness I offer no 
 comment.* I only intreat your Majesty not to 
 understand me to consider it, as affording any 
 supposed justification, or excuse, for the least de- 
 
 * Alluding to the letter in the 21st page. 
 
M LIFE OF THE 
 
 parture from the strictest line of virtue, or the 
 slightest deviation from the most refined delicacy. 
 The crime, which has been insinuated against me, 
 would be equally criminal and detestable ; the in- 
 delicacy inputed to me would be equally odious 
 and abominable, whatever renunciation of conjugal 
 authority and affection the above letter of his 
 Royal Highness might, in any construction of it, 
 be supposed to have conveyed. Such crimes and 
 faults derive not their guilt from the consideration 
 of the conjugal virtues of the individual, who may 
 be the most injured by them, however much such 
 virtues may aggravate their enormity. No such 
 letter, therefore, in any construction of it, no re- 
 nunciation of conjugal affection or duties, could 
 ever palliate them. But whether conduct, free 
 from all crime, free from all indelicacy, (which I main- 
 tain to be the character of the conduct to which 
 Mrs. Lisle's observations apply,) yet possibly not 
 so measured, as a cautious wife, careful to avoid the 
 slightest appearance, of not preferring her husband 
 to all the world, might be studious to observe. 
 Whether conduct of such description, and possibly, 
 in such sense, not becoming a married woman, 
 could be justly deemed, in my situation, an offence 
 in me, I must leave to your Majesty to determine. 
 " In making that determination, however, it will 
 not escape your Majesty to consider, that the con- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 85 
 
 dact which does or does not become a married wo« 
 man materially depends upon what is or is not 
 known by her to be agreeable to her husband. His 
 pleasure and happiness ought unquestionably to be 
 her law ; and his approbation the most favourite 
 object of her pursuit. Different characters of men, 
 require different modes of conduct in their wives ; 
 but when a wife can no longer be capable of per- 
 ceiving, from time to time, what is agreeable or of- 
 fensive to her husband : when her conduct can no 
 longer contribute to his happiness, no longer hope 
 to be rewarded by his approbation, surely to examine 
 that conduct by the standard of what ought, in 
 general, to be the conduct of a married woman, is 
 altogether unreasonable and unjust,. 
 
 " What then is my case ? Your Majesty will do 
 me the justice to remark, that, in the above letter 
 of the Prince of Wales, there is not the most dis- 
 tant surmise, that crime, that vice, that indelicacy 
 of any description, gave occasion to his determin- 
 ation ; and all the tales of infamy and discredit, 
 which the inventive malice of my enemies has 
 brought forward on these charges, have their date, 
 years and years after the period to which I am now- 
 alluding. What then, let me repeat the question, 
 is my case ? After the receipt of the above letter, 
 and in about two years from my arrival in this coun- 
 try, I had the misfortune entirely to lose the sup- 
 
86 LIFE OF THE 
 
 port, the countenance, the protection of my hus- 
 band — I was banished, as it were, into a sort of 
 humble retirement, at a distance from him, and 
 almost estranged from the whole of theRoyal Family. 
 1 had no means of having recourse, either for society 
 or advice, to those, from whom my inexperience 
 could have best received the advantages of the one, 
 and with whom I could, most becomingly, have 
 enjoyed the comforts of the other ; and if in this re- 
 tired, unassisted, unprotected state, without the 
 check of a husband's authority, without the benefit 
 of his advice, without the comfort and support of the 
 society of his family, a stranger to the habits and 
 fashions of this country, I should, in any instance, 
 under the influence of foreign habits, and foreign 
 education, have observed a conduct, in any degree 
 deviating from the reserve and severity of British 
 manners, and partaking of a condescension and 
 familiarity which that reserve and severity w r ould, 
 perhaps, deem beneath the dignity of my exalted 
 rank, I feel confident, (since such deviation will be 
 seen to have been ever consistent with perfect in- 
 nocence), that not only your Majesty's candour 
 and indulgence, but the candour and indulgence 
 which, notwithstanding the reserve and severity of 
 British manners, always belongtothe British Public, 
 will never visit it with severity or censure. 
 
 [' It remains for me now to make some remarks 
 
PRINCESS CHAKLOTTE. 87 
 
 upon the further contents of the paper, which was 
 transmitted to me by the Lord Chancellor on the 
 28th ult. And I cannot, in passing, omit to remark, 
 that that paper has neither title, date, signature, 
 nor attestation; and unless the Lord Chancellor 
 had accompanied it with a note, stating that it was 
 copied in his own hand from the original, which 
 his Lordship had received from your Majesty, I 
 should have been at a loss to have perceived any 
 single mark of authenticity belonging to it : and, 
 as it is, I am wholly unable to discover what is the 
 true character which does belong to it. It contains, 
 indeed, the advice which your Majesty's servants 
 have offered to your Majesty, and the message 
 which, according to that advice, your Majesty di- 
 rected to be delivered to me. 
 
 Considering it, therefore, wholly as their act, 
 your Majesty will excuse and pardon me, if, deeply 
 injured as I feel myself to have been by them, I 
 express myself with freedom upon their conduct. 
 I may speak perhaps with warmth, because I am 
 provoked by a sense of gross injustice, I shall speak 
 certainly with firmness and with courage, because 
 I am emboldened by a sense of conscious innocence. 
 
 " Your Majesty's confidential servants say they 
 agree in the opinions of the four Lords ; and they 
 say this, after the fullest consideration of my ob- 
 servations, and of the affidavits which were annexed 
 
88 LIFE OF THE 
 
 to them. Some of these opinions, your Majesty 
 will recollect, are, that William Cole, Fanny Lloyd, 
 Robert Bidgood, and Mrs. Lisle, are witnesses who 
 cannot, in the judgment of the four Lords, be sus- 
 pected of any unfavourable bias ; and whose vera- 
 city, in this respect, they had seen no ground to 
 question; and that the circumstances to which 
 they speak, particularly as relating to Captain 
 Manby, must be credited until they are decisively 
 contradicted. Am I then to understand your 
 Majesty's confidential servants to mean that they 
 agree with the four noble Lords in these opinions ? 
 Am I to understand, that, after having read, with 
 the fullest consideration, the observations which I 
 have offered to your Majesty; after having seen 
 Williaw Cole there proved to have submitted him- 
 self, five times at least, to private, unauthorised, 
 voluntary examination by Sir John Douglas's soli- 
 citor, for the express purpose of confirming the 
 statement of Lady Douglas, (of that Lady Douglas 
 whose statement and deposition they are convinced 
 to be so malicious and false, that they propose to 
 institute such prosecution against her as your 
 Majesty's law officers may advise, upon a reference 
 now at length, after six months from the detection 
 of that malice and falsehood, intended to be made) 
 —after having seen this William Cole submitting 
 to such repeated voluntary examinations for such 
 
PKINGESS CHARLOTTE. &9 
 
 a purpose, and although he was all that time a 
 servant in my establishment, and eating my bread, 
 yet never once communicating to me that such 
 examinations were going on— am I to understand 
 that your Majesty's confidential servants agree 
 with the four Lords in thinking that he cannot, 
 under such circumstances, be suspected of unfa~ 
 vourable bias ? That after having had pointed out 
 to them the direct, flat contradiction between the 
 same William Cole and Fanny Lloyd, they never- 
 theless agree to think them both (though in direct 
 contradiction to each other, yet both) witnesses, 
 whose veracity they see no ground to question f 
 After having seen Fanny Lloyd directly and posi- 
 tively contradicted, in an assertion most injurious 
 to my honour, by Mr. Mills and Mr, EdmeadeSj 
 do they agree in opinion with the four noble Lords, 
 that they see no grounds to question their veracity? 
 After having read the observations on Mr.Bidgood's 
 evidence — after having seen that he had the hardi- 
 hood to swear that he believed Captain Manby 
 slept in my house at Southend, and to insinuate 
 that he slept in my bed-room ; after having seen 
 that he founded himself on this most false fact, and 
 most foul and wicked insinuation, upon the cir- 
 cumstance of observing a basin and some towels 
 where he thought they ought not to be placed ; 
 after having seen that this fact, and this insinua- 
 N 
 
90 LIFE OF THE 
 
 tion, were disproved before the four noble Lords 
 themselves, by two maid-servants, who at that time 
 lived with me at Southend, and whose duties about 
 my person and my apartments, must have made 
 them acquainted with this fact, as asserted, or as 
 insinuated, if it had happened ; after having ob- 
 served too, in confirmation of their testimony, that 
 one of th©m mentioned the name of another female 
 servant (who was not examined), who had, from 
 her situation, equal means of knowledge with them- 
 selves — I ask whether, after all this decisive weight 
 of contradiction to Robert Bidgood's testimony, I 
 am to understand your Majesty's confidential ser- 
 vants to agree with the four Lords in thinking, 
 that Mr. Bidgood is a witness who cannot be sus- 
 pected of unfavourable bias, and that there is no 
 ground to question Ids veracity? If, Sire, I were 
 to go through all the remarks of this description, 
 which occur to me to make, I should be obliged to 
 repeat nearly all my former observations, and to 
 make this letter as long as my original answer ; 
 but to that answer I confidently appeal, and I will 
 venture to challenge your Majesty's confidential 
 servants to find a single impartial and honourable 
 man, unconnected in feeling and interest with the 
 parties, and unconnected in council with those 
 who .have already pledged themselves to an opinion 
 upoa this subject, who will lay his hand upon his 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 91 
 
 heart, and say that these three witnesses, on whom 
 that Report so mainly relies, are not to be sus- 
 pected of the grossest partiality, and that their 
 veracity is not most fundamentally impeached. 
 
 Was it then noble, was it generous, was it manly* 
 was it just, in your Majesty's confidential servants, 
 instead of fairly admitting the injustice which had 
 been inadvertently and unintentionally, no doubt, 
 done to me, by the four Lords in their report upon 
 the evidence of these witnesses, to state to your 
 Majesty that they agree with these noble Lords in 
 their opinion, though they cannot it seems, go the 
 length of agreeing any longer to withhold the ad- 
 vice which restores me to your Majesty's presence ? 
 And with respect to the particulars to my preju- 
 dice, remarked upon in the report as those which 
 justly deserve the most serious consideration, and 
 which must be credited till decisively contradicted, 
 instead of fairly avowing either that there was 
 originally no pretence for such a remark, or that 
 if there had been originally, yet that my answer 
 had given that decisive contradiction which was 
 sufficient to discredit them ; instead, I say, of act- 
 ing this just, honest, and open part, to take no 
 notice whatsoever of those contradictions, and con- 
 tent themselves with saying, that none of the facts 
 or allegations stated in preliminary examinations, 
 carried on in the absence of the parties interested, 
 
92 LIFE OF THE 
 
 could be considered as legally or conclusively esta- 
 blished, 
 
 " They agree in the opinion that the facts or alle- 
 gations, though stated in preliminary examination, 
 carried on in the absence of the parties interested, 
 must be credited till decisively contradicted, and 
 deserve the most serious consideration. They read, 
 with the fullest consideration, the contradiction 
 which I have tendered to them ; they must have 
 known, that no other sort of contradiction could, 
 by possibility, from the nature of things, have been 
 offered upon such subjects : they do not question 
 the truth, they do not point out the insufficiency, of 
 the contradiction, but in loose, general, indefinite 
 terms, referring to my answer, consisting as it does 
 of above two hundred written pages, and coupling 
 it with those examinations (which they admit esta- 
 blish nothing against an absent party), they advise 
 your Majesty, that there appear many circumstances 
 of conduct, which could not be regarded by your 
 Majesty without serious concern ; and that as to all 
 the other facts and allegations, except those relative 
 to my pregnancy and delivery, they are not to be 
 considered as legally and conclusively established 
 because spoken to in preliminary examinations, not 
 carried on in the presence of the parties concerned. 
 
 " They do not indeed expressly assert that my 
 contradiction was not decisive or satisfactory; they 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 93 
 
 do not expressly state that they think the facts and 
 allegations want nothing towards their legal and 
 conclusive establishment, but a re- examination in 
 the presence of the parties interested, but they go 
 far to imply such opinions. That those opinions are 
 utterly untenable, against the observations I have 
 made, upon the credit and character of those wit- 
 nesses, I shall ever most confidently maintain ; but 
 that those observations leave their credit wholly 
 unaffected, and did not deserve the least notice 
 from your Majesty's servants, it is impossible that 
 any honourable man can assert, or any fair and un- 
 prejudiced mind believe. 
 
 " I now proceed, Sire, to observe, very shortly, 
 upon the advice further given to your Majesty as 
 contained in the remaining part of the paper ; which 
 has represented that, both in the examinations and 
 even in my answer, there have appeared many cir- 
 cumstances of conduct which could not be regarded 
 but with serious concern, and which have suggest- 
 ed the expression of a desire and expectation, that 
 such a conduct may in future be observed by me, 
 as may fully justify these marks of paternal regard 
 and affection, which your Majesty wishes to shew 
 to all your Royal. Family. 
 
 " And here, Sitre, your Majesty will graciously 
 permit me to notice the hardship of the advice, 
 which has suggest ted to your Majesty, to convey to 
 
94 LIFE OF THE 
 
 me this reproof. I complain not so much for what 
 it does, as for what it does not contain ; I mean 
 the absence of all particular mention of what it is, 
 that is the object of their blame. The circum- 
 stances of conduct which appear in these exami- 
 nations, and in my answer to which they allude 
 as those, which may be supposed to justify the 
 advice, which has led to this reproof, since your 
 Majesty's servants have not particularly mentioned 
 them, I cannot be certain that I know. But I 
 will venture confidently to repeat the assertion, 
 which I have already made, that there are no cir- 
 cumstances of conduct spoken to by any witness, 
 (whose infamy and discredit are not unanswerably 
 exposed and established,) nor any where apparent 
 in my answer which have the remotest approach, 
 either to crime or to indelicacy. 
 
 " For my future conduct, Sire, impressed with 
 every sense of gratitude for all former kindness, I 
 shall be bound unquestionably, by sentiment as 
 well as duty, to study your Majesty's pleasure. 
 Any advice which your Majesty may wish to give 
 to me in respect of any particulars, in my conduct, 
 I shall be bound, and be anxious to obey as my 
 law. But I must trust that your Majesty will 
 point out to me the particulars, which may happen 
 to displease you, and which you may wish to have 
 altered. I shall be as happy, in thus feeling myself 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 95 
 
 safe from blame under the benefit of your Majesty's 
 advice, as I am now in finding myself secured from 
 danger, under the protection of your justice. 
 
 Your Majesty will permit me to add one word 
 more. 
 
 Your Majesty has seen what detriment my 
 character has, for a time, sustained, by the false and 
 malicious statement of Lady Douglas, and by the 
 depositions of the witnesses who were examined in 
 support of her statement. Your Majesty has seen 
 how many enemies I have, and how little their 
 malice has been restrained by any regard to truth 
 in the pursuit of my ruin. Few, as it may be 
 hoped, may be the instances of such determined 
 and unprovoked malignity ; yet, I cannot flatter 
 myself that the world does not produce other per- 
 sons who may be swayed by similar motives to 
 similar wickedness, Whether the statement to be 
 prepared by the Prince of Wales is to be confined 
 to the old charges, or is intended to bring forward 
 new circumstances, I cannot tell ; but if any fresh 
 attempts of the same nature shall be made by my 
 accusers, instructed, as they will have been, by their 
 miscarriage in this instance, I can hardly hope that 
 they will not renew their charge, with an improved 
 artifice, more skilfully directed, and with a malice, 
 inflamed rather than abated, by their previous dis- 
 appointment. I therefore can only appeal to your 
 
96 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Majesty's justice, in which I confidently trust, that 
 whether these charges are to be renewed against 
 me either on the old or on fresh evidence ; or 
 whether new accusations, as well as new witnesses, 
 are to be brought forward, your Majesty, after the 
 experience of these proceedings, will not suffer your 
 royal mind to l>e prejudiced by ex parte, secret ex- 
 aminations, nor my character to be whispered away 
 by insinuations, • or suggestions, which I have no 
 opportunity of meeting. If any charge, which the 
 law will recogniize, should be brought against me 
 in an open and legal manner, I should have no 
 right to complain, nor any apprehension to meet it. 
 But till I may have a full opportunity of so meet- 
 ing it, I trust your Majesty will not suffer it to ex- 
 cite even a suspicion to my prejudice. I must 
 claim the benefit of the presumption of inno- 
 cence till I am proved to be guilty; for, with- 
 out that presumption, against the effects of secret 
 insinuation and ex 'parte examinations, the purest 
 innocence can rmake no defence, and can have no 
 security. " 
 
 In the foregoing extracts from the letter of 
 the Princess of Wales, certain phrases have been 
 omitted in the very body of a sentence occasionally, 
 because the expressions had no immediate connec- 
 tion with the 'business, and might have a tendency 
 to prejudice her cause, since they conveyed the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 97 
 
 tokens of a mind ill at ease with itself; but the 
 omission is justifiable by that tenderness which 
 ought always to be shown to human weakness, and 
 especially where the circumstances are calculated 
 to excite irritated feelings, and however pitiable 
 and worthy of excuse the symptoms of such feelings 
 are in the party concerned, the cold weigher of the 
 case is apt to be offended and biassed without ne- 
 cessity. 
 
 It will strike a considerate mind that silent grief 
 and seclusion had been the wisest course for her 
 Royal Highness to pursue. She was no doubt ad- 
 vised to appeal to the public tribunal ; but lawyers 
 are not always the best counsellors in matters which 
 rest the opinion of their justice with the world not 
 in the legal proof only* but also in the human 
 heart. A barrister may dress up his cause in such 
 a manner as to satisfy the mind of a j udge of the 
 land, and extort a favourable verdict from the jury, 
 yet may the merits of it remain very questionable 
 in the opinions of those who take their private 
 feelings for the direction of their belief; especially 
 in an affair of so delicate a kind as that in which 
 the Princess of Wales was unhappily involved. 
 Her advisers may have been men of great honesty, 
 and talents too, but long used to methods of inge- 
 nuity, they could not unshackle themselves of all 
 art, and make an open declaration. The greatest 
 o 
 
93 LIFE OF THE 
 
 members of every profession (but particularly of 
 the. law,) not upfrequently exhibit a wretched por- 
 traiture of vanity resembling the nimble dancer 
 who satisfied with his own consciousness of deserv- 
 ing well, and eager to display his agility, cares not 
 to kick the shins of his nearest friends. 
 
 Had the Princess modestly retired and wept in 
 silent anguish, yet would her moans have reached 
 the ears of the people, and Britons, alive to the ge- 
 nerous sentiments which attend upon female sorrow, 
 would have reverenced and pitied the sufferer. The 
 plan that was followed was best adapted, to be sure, 
 for impressing the common herd with compassion 
 and sympathy, but the rabble does not constitute 
 the people of England. The machinations of Sir 
 John and Lady Douglas were fully exposed* and 
 set at nought, as they justly merited." It is easy to 
 conjecture that her Ladyship expected a rich har- 
 vest of honours from the course she pursued with 
 such merciless severity and ingratitude, but, to the 
 credit of all her former friends, they left her to ru- 
 minate in solitude the atrocities which, if all be 
 true that has been advanced, she was willing to ex- 
 ecute, and was well known to feel little remorse for 
 the designs she had formed ; so little indeed was 
 she touched by sensibility and shame, that after 
 scouring the country for a time, she returned to her 
 residence at Blackheath, and grew outrageously 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 99 
 
 angry with her early friends for not treating her 
 with their accustomed familiarity and politeness. 
 The poor man, (he is dead now,) who enjoyed the 
 rights of the husband over her, was always towed 
 along by his consort, and when she plunged into 
 the abyss of public odium, he sunk in her company. 
 
 But whatever might have been the motives and 
 character of those who impeached the Princess of 
 Wales, she did not receive at court the customary 
 marks of favour and regard for a- king's daughter, 
 even when she was introduced into royal society, 
 which did not take place till the ministry then in 
 office were succeeded by her Royal Highness's de- 
 clared friends. They acquainted his Majesty that 
 it was not only fit and proper, and consistent with 
 his kingly dignity, to admit the Princess into his 
 presence, but an act of common justice actually due 
 to her innocence and late affliction. Her Royal 
 Highness was accordingly acknowledged, but still 
 kept at a mortifying distance. Whilst the object 
 of her maternal solicitude and affection was not 
 permitted to be in her society, unless at certain 
 stated periods, and very probably before the eyes 
 of appointed guardians. 
 
 The Princess Charlotte, although so very young, 
 was sensibly affected by the sufferings of her royal 
 mother, and would have been disposed to follow 
 her directions and embrace her principles from 
 
100 LIFE OF THE 
 
 filial piety, which she possessed in an eminent de- 
 gree. And her parent made it known that such 
 sentiments' would tally with the spirit of the British 
 constitution. When the citizens of London con- 
 gratulated her Royal Highness upon her liberation 
 from the weighty charges brought forward, affecting 
 both her reputation and her life, the Princess of 
 Wales expressed herself in these terms : 
 
 " I thank you for your loyal and affectionate ad- 
 dress : it is to me the greatest consolation to learn, 
 that during so many years of unmerited persecution, 
 notwithstanding the active and persevering disse- 
 mination of the most deliberate calumnies against 
 me, the kind and favourable sentiments, with which 
 they did me the honor to approach me on my 
 arrival in this country, have undergone neither di- 
 minution nor change in the hearts of the citizens 
 of JLondon. The sense of indignation and abhor- 
 rence you express against the foul and detestable 
 conspiracy which, by perjured and suborned tra- 
 ducers, has been carried on against my life and ho- 
 nour, is worthy of you, and most gratifying to me. 
 It must be duly appreciated by every branch of 
 that illustrious house, with which I am so closely 
 connected by blood and marriage, the personal wel- 
 fare of every one of whom must have been affected 
 by the success of such atrocious machinations. The 
 consciousness of my innocence has supported me 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 101 
 
 through my long, severe, and unmerited trials; your 
 approbation of my conduct under them is a reward 
 for all my sufferings. I shall not lose any oppor- 
 tunity I may be permitted to enjoy of encouraging 
 the talents and virtues of my dear daughter, the 
 Princess Charlotte ; and I shall impress upon her 
 mind my full sense of the obligation conferred upon 
 me by the spontaneous act of your justice and ge- 
 nerosity. She will therein clearly perceive the 
 value of that constitution, which, in the natural 
 course of events, it will be her high destiny to pre- 
 side over, and her sacred duty to maintain, which 
 allows no one to sink under oppression ; and she 
 will ever be bound to the City of London, in ties 
 proportioned to the strength of that filial attach- 
 ment I have had the happiness uniformly to ex- 
 perience from her. Be assured, that the cordial 
 and convincing proof you have thus given of your 
 solicitude for my prosperity and happiness will be 
 cherished in grateful remembrance by me to the 
 latest moment of my life ; and the distinguished 
 proceeding, adopted by the first city in this great 
 empire, will be considered by posterity as a proud 
 memorial of my vindicated honour." 
 
 The character of the Princess being fully excul- 
 pated from all legal blame, the separation notwith- 
 standing between her Royal Highness and the 
 Prince, occasioned the continuance of the restraints 
 
102 LIFE OF THE 
 
 imposed upon her Royal Highness's visits to the 
 Princess Charlotte, who was kept at Windsor ; and 
 there it is said she pursued her studies with un- 
 common diligence and ardour. The young Prin- 
 cess still followed the practices of charity which 
 she had entered upon at her earliest time of life, 
 and were now grown habitual to her. About this 
 period her notions of religion assumed a more 
 thoughtful and serious cast. She frequently de- 
 sired strange clergymen to acquaint her which was 
 the way most likely to render a death-bed com- 
 fortable; and this was a question which she per- 
 sisted to ask till the lamented close of her earthly 
 course. 
 
 The change from vivacity to occasional thought- 
 fulness must in a great measure be attributed to 
 her mother's condition, for although no child could 
 possess greater reverence and respect for her fa- 
 ther than her Royal Highness showed upon all op- 
 portunities towards the Prince, her regret at the 
 unhappy circumstances in which the Princess of 
 Wales was involved made a deep impression upon 
 her tender mind, and her vexation was increased 
 by the absence of any prospect of reconciliation be- 
 tween her royal parents. Every year passed away 
 without any thing occurring to promise the re- 
 establishment of the Princess of Wales to her proper 
 footing with the Royal Family. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 103 
 
 To dseide upon the fairness or injustice of part- 
 ing the Princess from her mother, unless at stated 
 times, and under certain restraints, were, perhaps, 
 too forward ; since, although by law the father 
 possesses the right of controul over the management 
 of his daughter, and in the present instance, the 
 Prince, who represented the Monarch, had an espe- 
 cial power to direct the heiress of the throne, still 
 the natural feelings of people impelled them to de- 
 plore the necessity of subjecting so amiable a 
 creature to a limited indulgence of her filial duties. 
 
 Although the Princess Charlotte remained at 
 Windsor, she was suffered to receive the visits of 
 the Princess of Wales, and accordingly she was 
 seen there by her royal mother. But in the be- 
 ginning of 1812, when this intercourse was sup^ 
 posed more frequent or longer than it was deemed 
 fit, a notice was given one day to the Princess of 
 W ales, that the Princess Charlotte was not at home. 
 An interview was thereupon requested with the 
 Queen ; but no happy result occurring, things re- 
 mained in an unpleasant state, till at last the fol- 
 lowing letter was addressed to the Prince Regent 
 by the Princess of Wales : — 
 
 •' Sir, 
 " It is with great reluctance that I presume to 
 obtrude myself upon your Royal Highness, and to 
 
104 LIFE OF THE 
 
 solicit your attention to matters which may, at 
 first, appear rather of a personal than a public nature. 
 If I could think them so — if they related merely 
 to myself, I should abstain from a proceeding 
 which might give uneasiness, or interrupt the more 
 weighty occupations of your Royal Highness's 
 time ; I should continue, in silence and retirement, 
 to lead the life which has been prescribed to me, 
 and console myself for the loss of that society, and 
 those domestic comforts, to which I have so long 
 been a stranger, by the reflection that it has been 
 deemed proper I should be afflicted without any 
 f^ult of my own — and that your Royal Highness 
 knows it. 
 
 " But, Sir, there are considerations of a higher 
 nature than any regard to my own happiness, 
 which render this address a duty both to myself 
 and my daughter. May I venture to say — a duty 
 also to my husband and the people committed to 
 his care ? There is a point beyond which guiltless 
 woman cannot with safety carry her forbearance. 
 If her honour is invaded, the defence of her repu- 
 tation is no longer a matter of choice ; and it sig- 
 nifies not whether the attack be made openly, 
 manfully, and directly — or by secret insinuation, and 
 by holding such conduct towards her as counte- 
 nances all the suspicions that malice can suggest. 
 If these ought to be the feelings of every woman 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 105 
 
 in England, who is conscious that she deserves no 
 reproach, your Royal Highness has too sound a 
 judgment, and too nice a sense of honour, not to 
 perceive how much more justly they belong to the 
 mother of your daughter — the mother of her who 
 is destined, I trust, at a very distant period, to reign 
 over the British empire. 
 
 " It may be known to your Royal Highness, 
 that, during the continuance of the restrictions 
 upon your royal authority, 1 purposely refrained 
 from making any representations which might then 
 augment the painful difficulties of your exalted 
 station. At the expiration of the restrictions I 
 still was inclined to delay taking this step, in the 
 hope that I might owe the redress I sought to 
 your gracious and unsolicited condescension. I 
 have waited in the fond indulgence of this expec- 
 tation until, to my inexpressible mortification, I 
 find that my unwillingness to complain has only 
 produced fresh grounds of complaint ; and I am at 
 length compelled either to abandon all regard for 
 the two dearest objects which I possess on earth — 
 mine own honour, and my beloved child — or to 
 throw myself at the feet of your Royal Highness, 
 the natural protector of both. 
 
 " I presume, Sir, to represent to your Royal 
 Highness, that the separation, which every suc- 
 ceeding month is making wider, of the mother and 
 P 
 
106 LIFE OF THE 
 
 daughter, is equally injurious to my character and 
 to her education : I say nothing of the deep wounds 
 which so cruel an arrangement inflicts upon my 
 feelings, although I would fain hope that few per- 
 sons will be found of a disposition to think lightly 
 of these. To see myself cut off from one of the very 
 few domestic enjoyments left me, certainly the only 
 one upon which I set any value — the society of my 
 child, involves me in such misery, as I well know 
 your Royal Highness could never inflict upon me, 
 if you were aware of its bitterness. Our inter- 
 course has been gradually diminished. A single 
 interview weekly seemed sufficiently hard allow- 
 ance for a mother's affection ; that, however, was 
 reduced to our meeting once a fortnight ; and I 
 now learn that even this most rigorous interdiction 
 is to be still more rigidly enforced. 
 
 " But while I do not venture to intrude my 
 feelings as a mother upon your Royal Highness's 
 notice, I must be allowed to say, that in the eyes 
 of an observing and jealous world, this separation 
 of a daughter from her mother will only admit of 
 one construction — a construction fatal to the mo- 
 ther's reputation. Your Royal Highness will also 
 pardon me for adding, that there is no less incon- 
 sistency than injustice in this treatment. He who 
 dares advise your Royal Highness to overlook the 
 evidence of mv innocence, and disregard the sen- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 107 
 
 tence of complete acquittal which it produced — or 
 is wicked and false enough still to whisper suspi- 
 cions in your ear, betrays his duty to you, Sir, to 
 your daughter, and to your people, if he counsels 
 you to permit a day to pass without a farther in- 
 vestigation of my conduct. I know that no such 
 calumniator will venture to recommend a measure 
 which must speedily end in his utter confusion, — 
 Then let me implore you to reflect on the situa- 
 tion in which I am placed ; without the shadow of 
 a charge against me — without even an accuser — 
 after an inquiry that led to my ample vindication 
 — yet treated as if I were still more culpable than 
 the perjuries of my suborned traducers repre- 
 sented me, and held up to the world as a mother 
 who may not enjoy the society of her only child. 
 
 " The feelings, Sir, which are natural to my un- 
 exampled situation, might justify me in the gracious 
 judgment of your Royal Highness, had I no other 
 motives for addressing you but such as relate to 
 myself. But I will not disguise from your Royal 
 Highness what I cannot for a moment conceal from 
 myself, that the serious, and it soon may be, the 
 irreparable injury which my daughter sustains from 
 the plan at present pursued, has done more in over- 
 coming my reluctance to intrude upon your Royal 
 Highness than any sufferings of my own could 
 accomplish ; and if, for her sake, I presume to call 
 
108 LIFE OF THE 
 
 away your Royal Highness's attention from the 
 other cares of your exalted station, I feel confident 
 I am not claiming it for a matter of inferior im- 
 portance either to yourself or your people. 
 
 " The powers with which the constitution of these 
 realms vests your Royal Highness, in the regulation 
 of the Royal Family, I know, because I am so ad- 
 vised, are ample and unquestionable. My appeal, 
 Sir, is made to your excellent sense and liberality x 
 of mind in the exercise of those powers ; and I 
 willingly hope that your own paternal feelings will 
 lead you to excuse the anxiety of mine, for impel- 
 ling me to represent the unhappy consequences 
 which the present system must entail upon our be- 
 loved child. 
 
 " Is it possible, Sir, that any one can have at- 
 tempted to persuade your Royal Highness, that 
 her character will not be injured by the perpetual 
 violence offered to her strongest affections — the 
 studied care taken to estrange her from my society, 
 and even to interrupt all communication between 
 us? That her love for me, with whom, by his Ma- 
 jesty's wise and gracious arrangements, she passed 
 the years of her childhood, never can be extinguish- 
 ed, I well know ; and the knowledge of it forms 
 the greatest blessing of my existence. But let me 
 implore your Royal Highness to reflect how in- 
 evitably all attempts to abate this attachment, by 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 109 
 
 forcibly separating us, if they succeed, must injure 
 my child's principles — if they fail, must destroy her 
 happiness. 
 
 " The plan of excluding my daughter from all 
 intercourse with the world, appears to my humble 
 judgment peculiarly unfortunate. She, who is 
 destined to be the sovereign of this great country, 
 enjoys none of those advantages of society which 
 are deemed necessary for imparting a knowledge of 
 mankind to persons who have infinitely less oc- 
 casion to learn that important lesson ; and it may 
 so happen, by a chance, which I trust, is very re- 
 mote, that she should be called upon to exercise the 
 powers of the crown, with an experience of the 
 world more confined than that of the most private 
 individual. To the extraordinary talents with which 
 she is blessed, and which accompany a disposition 
 as singularly amiable, frank, and decided, I willing- 
 ly trust much ; but beyond a certain point the 
 greatest natural endowments cannot struggle against 
 the disadvantages of circumstances and situation. 
 It is my earnest prayer, for her own sake as well as 
 her country's, that your Royal Highness may be in- 
 duced to pause before this point be reached. 
 
 " Those who have advised you, Sir, to delay so 
 long the period of my daughter's commencing her 
 intercourse with the world, and for that purpose to 
 make Windsor her residence, appear not to have 
 
110 LIFE OF THE 
 
 regarded the interruptions to her education which 
 this arrangement occasions ; both by the impossi- 
 bility of obtaining the attendance of proper teachers, 
 and the time unavoidably consumed in the frequent 
 journeys to town, which she must make, unless she 
 is to be secluded from all intercourse, even with 
 your Royal Highness and the rest of the Royal 
 Family. To the same unfortunate counsels I as- 
 cribe a circumstance, in every way so distressing 
 both to my parental and religious feelings, that my 
 daughter has never yet enjoyed the benefit of con- 
 firmation, although above a year older than the age 
 
 which all the other branches of the Royal Family 
 e partaken of that solemnity. May I earnestly 
 Cv. Ajure you, Sir, to hear my entreaties upon this 
 sei ous matter, even if you should listen to other 
 advisers on things of less near concernment to the 
 welfare of our child ? 
 
 " The pain with which I have at length formed 
 the resolution of addressing myself to your Royal 
 Highness is such as I should in vain attempt to ex- 
 press. If I could adequately describe it, you might 
 be enabled, Sir, to estimate the strength of the 
 motives which have made me to submit to it. They 
 are the most powerful feelings of affection, and the 
 deepest impressions of duty towards your Royal 
 Highness, my beloved child, and the country, which 
 I devoutly hope she may be preserved to govern, 
 
PRINCESS CHAItLOTTE 111 
 
 and to shew by a new example the liberal affection 
 of a free and generous people to a virtuous and 
 constitutional monarch. 
 
 " I am, Sir, with profound respect, and an attach- 
 ment which nothing can alter, 
 
 " Your Royal Highness's 
 '•'Most devoted and most affectionate 
 
 " Consort, cousin, and subject, 
 "CAROLINE LOUISA." 
 
 %< Montague-House, 14/7* Jan. 1813." 
 
 This letter was forwarded the very day upon 
 which it was written to the Earl of Liverpool ar 
 Lord Eldon (the Lord Chancellor), under a v 
 per from the Lady Charlotte Campbell. I. 
 Ladyship requested that the enclosure might be 
 presented to the Prince, according to the desire of 
 the Princess of Wales, and that no objection 
 should rest with their Lordships, a copy of the 
 letter accompanied the original. But on the day 
 following, the letter of her Royal Highness was 
 sent back unopened through her Ladyship. Three 
 days after it was again inclosed to their Lordships, 
 and again it was returned to her Ladyship. 
 
 But the Princess of Wales was induced by her 
 advisers to give notoriety to her application. The 
 issue of resorting to the public journals could not 
 be wanting in effect. The Secretary of State for 
 
112 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Home Affairs was directed to take the sense of the 
 council upon it forthwith. He accordingly sum- 
 moned a meeting, which agreed upon the following 
 report : 
 
 Having been summoned by command of your 
 Royal Highness, on the 19th of February, to meet 
 at the office of Viscount Sidmouth, Secretary of 
 State for the Home Department, a communication 
 was made by his Lordship to the Lords then pre- 
 sent, in the following terms : 
 
 "My Lords, 
 " I have it in command, from his Royal Highness 
 the Prince Regent, to acquaint your Lordships, 
 that a copy of a letter from the Princess of Wales 
 to the Prince Regent having appeared in a public 
 paper, which letter refers to the proceedings that 
 took place in an inquiry instituted by command of 
 his Majesty, in the year 1806, and contains, among 
 other matters, certain animadversions upon the 
 manner in which the Prince Regent has exercised 
 his undoubted right of regulating the conduct and 
 education of his daughter the Princess Charlotte ; 
 and his Royal Highness having taken into his con- 
 sideration the said letter so published, and advert- 
 ing to the directions heretofore given by his Ma- 
 jesty, that the documents relating to the said in- 
 quiry should be sealed up, and deposited in the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. US 
 
 office of his Majesty's principal secretary of state, 
 in order that his Majesty's government should pos- 
 sess the means of resorting to them if necessary '; 
 his Royal Highness has been pleased to direct, that 
 the said letter of the Princess of Wales, and the 
 whole of the said documents, together with the 
 copies of other letters and papers, of which a schedule 
 is annexed, should be referred to your Lordships, 
 being members of his Majesty's most honorable 
 Privy Council, for your consideration ; and that you 
 should report to his Royal Highness your opinion, 
 whether, under'all the circumstances of the c^se, it 
 be fit and proper that the intercourse between the 
 Princess of Wales, and her daughter the Princess 
 Charlotte, should continue to be subject to regula- 
 tions and restrictions." 
 
 Their Lordships adjourned their meetings to 
 Tuesday the 23d of February ; and the intermediate 
 days having been employed in perusing the docu- 
 ments referred to them, by command of your R£>yal 
 Highness, they proceeded on that and the fallowing 
 day to the further consideration of the said docu- 
 ments, and have agreed to report to your Royal 
 Highness as follows : — 
 
 In obedience to the commands of your Royal 
 
 Highness, we have taken into our most serious 
 
 consideration the letter from her Royal Highness 
 
 the Princess of Wales to your Royal Highness, 
 
 Q 
 
114 LIFE OF THE 
 
 which has appeared in the public papers, and has 
 been referred to us by your Royal Highness ; in 
 which letter the Princess of Wales, amongst other 
 matters, complains that the intercourse between her 
 Roy al Highness and her Royal Highness the Prin- 
 cess Charlotte, has been subjected to certain re- 
 strictions. 
 
 We have also taken into our most serious con- 
 sideration, together with the other papers referred 
 to us by your Royal Highness, all the documents 
 relative to the inquiry instituted in 1806, by com- 
 mand of his Majesty, into the truth of certain re- 
 presentations, respecting the conduct of her Royal 
 Highness the Princess of Wales, which appear to 
 have been pressed upon the attention of your Royal 
 Highness, in consequence of the advice of Lord 
 Thurlow, and upon grounds of public duty ; by 
 whom they were transmitted to his Majesty's con- 
 sideration ; and your Royal Highness having been 
 graciously pleased to command us to report our 
 opinions to your Royal Highness, whether, under 
 all the circumstances of the case, it be fit and proper, 
 that the intercourse between the Princess of Wales 
 and her daughter, the Princess Charlotte, should 
 continue to be subject to regulation and restraint : 
 
 We beg leave humbly to report to your Royal 
 Highness, that, after a full examination of all the 
 documents before us, we are of opinion that, under 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 115 
 
 all the circumstances of the case, it is highly fit 
 and proper, with a view to the welfare of her Royal 
 Highness the Princess Charlotte, in which are 
 equally involved the happiness of your Royal 
 Highness, in your parental and royal character, and 
 the most important interests of the state, — that the 
 intercourse between her Royal Highness the Prin- 
 cess of Wales, and her Royal Highness the Prin- 
 cess Charlotte, should continue to be subject to re- 
 gulation and restraint. 
 
 We humbly trust that we may be permitted, 
 without being thought to exceed the limits of the 
 duty imposed on us, respectfully to express the just 
 sense we entertain of the motives by which your 
 Royal Highness has been actuated in the postpone- 
 ment of the confirmation of Her Royal Highness 
 the Princess Charlotte ; as it appears, by a state- 
 ment under the hand of her Majesty the Queen, 
 that your Royal Highness has conformed in this 
 respect to the declared will of his Majesty ; who 
 had been pleased to direct, that such ceremony 
 should not take place till her Royal Highness should 
 have completed her eighteenth year. 
 
 We also humbly trust that we may be further 
 permitted to notice some expressions in the letter 
 of her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, 
 which may possibly be construed as implying a 
 charge of too serious a nature to be passed over 
 
116 LIFE OF THE 
 
 without observation. We refer to the words — 
 * suborned traducers/ As this expression, from the 
 manner it is introduced, may, perhaps, be liable to 
 misconstruction (however impossible it may be to 
 suppose that it can have been so intended) to have 
 reference to some part of the conduct of your Royai 
 Higfcness ; we feel it our bounden duty not to omit 
 this opportunity of declaring, that the documents 
 laid before us, afford the most ample proof, that 
 there is not the slightest foundation for such an 
 aspersion. 
 C. Cantuar, Sid-mouth, 
 
 Eldon, J. London, 
 
 E. Ebor, Ellenborough, 
 
 W. Armagh, Chas. Abbot, 
 
 Harrowby, P. C, N. Vansittart, 
 
 Westmoreland, C.P.S.C. Bathurst, 
 Buckinghamshire, E. W. Grant, 
 Bathurst, A. Macdonald, 
 
 Liverpool, W. Scott, 
 
 MULGRAVE, J. NlCHOLL, 
 
 Melville, 
 
 SIDMOUTH. 
 
 Thus was the unhappy mother no farther ad- 
 vanced in her progress towards a free and unlimit- 
 ed intercourse with her daughter. Upon a busi- 
 ness fraught with so much nicety, and so closely 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 117 
 
 affecting the subject of our story, it were most 
 prudent, no doubt, to give a copious supply of 
 documents, and abstain from an expression of feel- 
 ings wbich that supply will render useless to be 
 stated or improper, since different turns of thinking 
 will produce a bias inconsistent with the imparti- 
 ality of the biographer. # 
 
 When the report was made known to her Royal 
 Highness, which resulted from the publication of 
 her letter, she sent a message to the Speaker of the 
 House of Commons. This was it : 
 
 " Montague- House, March L 
 " The Princess of Wales informs Mr. Speaker, 
 that she has received from Lord Viscount Sidmouth 
 a copy of a report, made to his Royal Highness the 
 Prince Regent by certain members of his Majesty's 
 Privy Council, to whom it appears that his Royal 
 Highness was advised to refer certain documents, 
 and evidence, regarding the character and conduct 
 of the Princess of Wales. This report is of such 
 a nature that her Royal Highness is persuaded, 
 that no person can read it without considering it 
 to contain aspersions on her character, though its 
 vagueness renders it impossible to be precisely 
 understood, or to know exactly with what she is 
 charged. 
 
 " The Princess of Wales feels conscious of her 
 
118 LIFE OF THE 
 
 innocence; and considers it due to herself, to the 
 two illustrious houses with which she is connected 
 by blood and marriage, and to the people of this 
 country, in which she holds such a distinguished 
 rank, not to acquiesce for a moment in the reflec- 
 tions which have been cast upon her honour. The 
 Princess of Wales has not been permitted to know 
 on what evidence this report has been founded, 
 nor has she had any opportunity of being heard in 
 her own defence. What she knew on the subject 
 was only from common rumour, until she received 
 the report ; nor does she know whether it proceed- 
 ed from persons acting together as a body, to whom 
 she could make her appeal, or only as individuals. 
 Her Royal Highness throws herself upon the wis- 
 dom and justice of parliament, and desires the 
 fullest investigation of her conduct during the time 
 that she has resided in this country. She fears no 
 scrutiny, provided she be tried by impartial judges, 
 in a fair and open manner, consistent with the 
 laws of the land. Her Royal Highness wishes to 
 be treated as innoceent, or to be proved guilty. 
 She desires Mr. Speaker to communicate this letter 
 to the honourable the House of Commons." 
 
 On the 2d of March, the Speaker informed the 
 house that the preceding day, a letter was put into 
 his hands purporting to come from the Princess of 
 Wales, and which she desired to have read to the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 119 
 
 house, but that conceiving its authenticity" not 
 sufficiently established by the manner it was de- 
 livered to him in, he had awaited an inquiry of the 
 Princess of Wales herself, and having now received 
 her acknowledgment of the paper, he wished to 
 read it. When he had done, a long conversation 
 ensued, in which Mr. Whitbread bore the chief 
 part ; and the consideration of the affair being post- 
 poned for several days, he, after a most energetic 
 speech, moved for an address to the Prince, praying 
 that a copy of the report should be laid before 
 them. He vehemently condemned the recourse 
 that was had to the proceedings of 1806, and show- 
 ed very powerfully how unreasonable it was, to 
 bring the evidences of that year into operation 
 against the Princess to prevent her holding a corre- 
 spondence with her child, after the witnesses had 
 been pronounced unworthy of credit, and their testi- 
 monies insufficient to strip her Royal Highness of 
 her honours, or debar her access to his Majesty and 
 his daughters. He read minutes drawn up by the 
 Lord Chancellor and Lord Castlereagh, acquitting 
 her of all the criminal charges, and even of the le- 
 vity which was attributed to her by the commis- 
 sioners of 1806, whose legality these two Lords had 
 even questioned. The reply of Lord Castlereagh 
 was guarded, he declined to enter into the details, 
 but said that it was unjust to infer from the restric- 
 
120 LIFE OF THE 
 
 tions, under which her Royal Highness was placed 
 with respect to the Princess Charlotte, any impu- 
 tation of actual guilt,for that the separation of itself 
 justified the restraints, and ought to be esteemed 
 as a mere regulation arising from that unfortunate 
 circumstance. No one can censure the zeal of Mr. 
 Whitbread upon this occasion, nor be dissatisfied 
 with the soft and discreet answer of the minister. 
 Thus for the present ended the business. 
 
 In pity to the wounded sensibility of the young 
 Princess, attempts were made to reconcile her to 
 the modifications of her mother's visiting, that her 
 mind might be gradually subdued to the necessity 
 of the arrangements, and so reconciled to them in 
 the course of time. What we know to be una- 
 voidable we for a while regret and are vexed at it, 
 but the troubled soul, like agitated water, has a 
 tendency to settle, and the similitude will farther 
 hold with her Royal Highness the Princess Char- 
 lotte, if it be added, not till the storm blows past, 
 for such was the strength and stoutness of her affec- 
 tion, that as long as the object of it laboured under 
 persecution, she could not sit down easy in tame 
 submission. Some things may be bended though 
 they cannot be broken, and very possibly upon 
 these principles it was that the Lord Chancellor 
 endeavoured to soothe the harassed thoughts of the 
 young Princess, and effect a melancholy acquies* 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 121 
 
 cence in the dispensations of fate. The remon- 
 strances of his Lordship were followed up by those of 
 other exalted characters, amongst whom Lord 
 Liverpool did not deserve the lowest place as a 
 persuasive orator, who, gentle in manners, sweet in 
 countenance, and soft in words, has always been a 
 mild, and consequently a powerful master of the 
 heart : Nee abest facundis gratia dictis. It does 
 not, however, appear from any accounts we have, 
 that the Princess Charlotte was ever thoroughly 
 reconciled to the measure, nor indeed at all pleased 
 with it. 
 
 Her health, which had been rather delicate for 
 several months, was now still more doubtful. Health 
 hangs so much upon the animal spirits, that it is 
 not improbable but the unhappy disagreement be- 
 twixt her royal parents contributed in a great de- 
 gree to her indisposition. 
 
 Many conjecture that she never, even at the 
 very first, relished the proposals of the Prince of 
 Orange, who might have been about this period 
 recommended to her good opinion, though not yet 
 introduced in the formal way of suitor. The young 
 Prince was nearly of equal years, and his religion 
 coinciding with the doctrines of the established 
 church, as well as the political considerations de- 
 sirable on both sides, marked him out to be an 
 eligible match for the heiress of the British throne. 
 R 
 
122 LIFE OF THE 
 
 His person was not disagreeable, but his counte- 
 nance was heavy, and betokened little reflection, and 
 although, generally speaking, the last mentioned 
 circumstance is of slight consequence with the fair, 
 it formed, in her Royal Highness's opinion, a ma- 
 terial drawback upon the other inducements with 
 which he came furnished to make the conquest of 
 her favour. Sober discretion and plain sense are 
 the aptest means to bring a man up in the world, 
 because they are generally esteemed the concomi- 
 tants of honesty, and, to say the truth, the idea of a 
 rogue embraces very opposite qualities, and the 
 usual choice of females in this respect is to be com- 
 mended. Parents, indeed, are prone to rejoice in 
 the capacity and quickness of their children, be- 
 cause they take such qualifications to be needful to 
 attain the highest eminence, but the examples of 
 ingenious men acquiring wealth and happiness in 
 this world, bear no proportion whatever to the 
 number of those whom patient industry, saving, 
 and a good name only have led to independence 
 and respectability : industry is the offspring of a 
 conscious inability to effect much with little pains ; 
 he that gets with difficulty will be anxious to pre- 
 serve his acquisitions, and a good name is oftener 
 gained by the absence of viciousness than by the 
 possession of absolute merit, for we, poor mortals, 
 are pleased with the encomiums of our inferiors, as 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE 123 
 
 fine looking women are more ready to find out the 
 blemishes of approximating beauties, than to dis- 
 cover deformity in those who have no pretensions 
 to rival them. Still the highest conditions of life 
 being in need of great talents, great talents are de- 
 sired for our little ones, in the same way as for 
 centuries past we may suppose the fathers of Welsh 
 curates dreamt of mitres the night before their sons 
 were sent off to the college. In the common walks 
 of animated nature, the Prince of Orange might 
 therefore have succeeded in his devoirs to any par- 
 ticular object which might be worth his attention, 
 but the royal maid had a liveliness of imagination 
 and a sensibility of soul not to be gratified without 
 some corresponding qualities in the companion of her 
 time. To laugh and be witty, and above all to shew 
 a quickness of feeling and a tenderness of heart, 
 seem to have been the attractions best calculated to 
 draw the kindly regards of the Princess Charlotte. 
 Notwithstanding the sedateness and energy which 
 sat upon the face of his Serene Highness, he had 
 no inconsiderable portion of good sense, and even 
 of sagacity. His parts were nurtured with the ut- 
 most care by the Rev. Dr. Howley, who was Divi- 
 nity Professor of Oxford, where an honorary de- 
 gree was conferred upon the Prince, and by all 
 accounts well deserved, both by the intenseness of 
 his application and the knowledge he acquired from 
 
124 LIFE OF THE 
 
 his reverend preceptor, whose labours were reward- 
 ed by a nomination to the see of London, a prefer- 
 ment thought by some in the church to be too 
 hastily bestowed; but what wretches must they be, 
 who grudge to see real piety splendid, or repine 
 that dignity is added to superior learning. From 
 the year 1809 he continued under the Doctor's tu- 
 ition till his breast was inflamed with ambition to 
 seek reputation in the field of battle, and he was 
 then sent to Spain, and remained there under the 
 auspices of Lord Wellington, and conducted him- 
 self with exemplary discretion and propriety, 
 whilst his valour made him a favourite with the 
 soldiers and all his brother officers. . 
 
 When the Princess was beginning to regain her 
 wonted vigour and spirit, the Lady de Clifford, 
 whether from infirmity or not, is unknown, inti- 
 mated her intention to resign the situation which 
 she had so long kept with credit to herself, and 
 advantage to her illustrious pupil. With a view 
 to the attainment of an end dear to the heart 
 of the affectionate and dutiful daughter, the 
 Princess was eager to embrace this opportunity of 
 freeing herself from restraint, and becoming the 
 mistress of her own actions. She wrote an epistle 
 to the Prince, setting forth the strong wish she had 
 ©f being permitted to direct herself after the retire- 
 ment of Lady de C. and sent it to his Royal High- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 125 
 
 ness by one of her servants. At the Same time her 
 Majesty acquainted him with the desire of the Prin- 
 cess, and advised him to come and reason her out 
 of the project." Accordingly the Prince, on the 
 evening these letters arrived, apprized the Lord 
 Chancellor of the matter, and ordered his Lordship 
 to attend the next morning and accompany him to 
 Windsor. About eleven o'clock, they set off, and 
 reaching Windsor, they held a long conversation 
 with the Princess, at which the Queen was present. 
 Her Royal Highness finding how the business pro- 
 mised to terminate, and that her principal point was 
 not to be compassed, retreated a little without quit- 
 ting the field. She implored, that if it should be con- 
 sidered necessary to keep a guardian over her, the 
 guardian would only be in the capacity of a Lady 
 of the Bed-chamber, and not invested with the 
 full authority of a governess ; that she was now 
 possessed of discretion sufficient to be safely in- 
 trusted herself with some freedom of agency, and 
 hoped that no cause had been given by her to 
 think differently. There was no low cunning in 
 the plea of the Princess, it was the noblest instance 
 of policy exerted for the sake of gratifying her 
 filial inclinations; she did not believe that her 
 royal mother was deserving of the load of accusa- 
 tion which weighed down her character, and know- 
 ing how ready the world is to side with the strong- 
 
126 LIFE OF THE 
 
 est party, she regarded herself as a protector and 
 support to her unhappy parent, and whether pro- 
 perly or no, the conduct and designs to succour 
 and comfort the Princess of Wales, are highly to 
 be extolled in her Royal Highness. But her efforts 
 to assume the open friend proved abortive ; the 
 Prince declared it proper and becoming that she 
 should still be under the guidance of an experienced 
 and intelligent female, that, however correct her 
 principles might be, or extensive her acquaintance 
 with the ways of life, there remained much for the 
 advice and precepts of a governess to accomplish ; 
 and then referring to the Queen, her Majesty ex- 
 pressed her mind to the same purport, and the 
 opinions of both were approved and enforced by 
 the Lord Chancellor. The young independent 
 was not so persevering in her plans as to oppose 
 the evident desires and authority of her father, 
 whom she was loth to offend, and still more un- 
 willing to disobey. She therefore consented to 
 acquiesce in their measures, and the Dowager 
 Duchess of Leeds was appointed to take the place 
 vacated by the Lady de Clifford, whom her Royal 
 Highness always esteemed and venerated, and be- 
 tween the two the regard was mutual '. nor is it 
 impossible but her Ladyship might have continued 
 her charge longer, had she not foreseen certain 
 matters about to be agitated in which she supposed 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 127 
 
 a call would be made upon her to take an active 
 part, disagreeable to her valued pupil, and likewise 
 indicating no prospect of the issue sought. Among 
 other conjectures, this was one. 
 
 The seclusion hitherto allotted to the Princess 
 being thought conducive tothe delicacy of her health, 
 Warwick House was assigned to her Royal High- 
 ness for a town residence. As the indisposition 
 continued beyond the time that was appointed for 
 her Royal Highness's visit to her mother, maternal 
 anxiety was put to a trial, and the Princess of 
 Wales determined to repair to Warwick House ; 
 but conceiving it due to her own dignity to act 
 an open part, she intimated her intentions to Lord 
 Liverpool, who, in reply, acquainted the Princess of 
 Wales with the improved state of her royal 
 daughter's health, and that she would pay a visit 
 at Kensington palace, at an early day, which his 
 lordship specified. Instead, however, of the Prin- 
 cess Charlotte coming, a letter reached her mother, 
 which stated the young Princess unable to fulfil 
 the engagement, but no reason was given for the 
 inability. Her Royal Highness therefore inquired 
 of Lord Liverpool the cause, and thus his Lordship 
 answered : 
 
 "Fife-House, February 14. 
 " Lord Liverpool has the honor to inform your 
 
128 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Royal Highness, that, in consequence of the pub- 
 lication in the Morning Chronicle of the 10th, of a 
 letter addressed by your Royal Highness to the 
 Prince Regent, his Royal Highness thought fit, by 
 the advice of his confidential servants, to signify 
 his commands, that the intended visit of the Prin- 
 cess Charlotte to your Royal Highness, on the fol- 
 lowing day, should not take place. 
 
 Lord Liverpool is not enabled to make any 
 further communication to your Royal Highness, on 
 the subject of your Royal Highnesses note." 
 
 Lady Anne Hamilton was directed to send the 
 following letter in return : 
 
 " Montague-House, Blackheath, February 15, 1813. 
 
 " Lady Anne Hamilton is commanded by her 
 Royal Highness the Princess of Wales to represent 
 to Lord Liverpool, that the insidious insinuation 
 respecting the publication of the letter, addressed 
 by the Princess of Wales, on the 14th January, to 
 the Prince Regent, conveyed in his lordship's reply 
 to her Royal Highness, is as void of foundation, 
 and as false, as all the former accusations of the 
 traducers of her Royal Highnesses honor in the 
 year 1806. 
 
 " Lady Anne Hamilton is further commanded to 
 say, that dignified silence would have been preserv- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 129 
 
 ed upon sudh insinuation, (more than unbecoming 
 Lord Liverpool,) did not the effect arising from 
 it operate to deprive her Royal Highness of the 
 sole real happiness she can possess in this world, 
 that of seeing her only child. And the confidential 
 servants of the Prince Regent ought to feel asham- 
 ed of their conduct towards the Princess, in avow- 
 ing to her Royal Highness their advice to the 
 Prince Regent, that, upon unauthorized and un- 
 founded suppositions, a mother and daughter should 
 be prevented from meeting ; — a prohibition posi- 
 tively against the laws of nature. Lady Anne 
 Hamilton is commanded further to desire Lord 
 Liverpool to lay this paper before the Prince Regent, 
 that his Royal Highness may be aware into what 
 error his confidential servants are leading him, by 
 counselling and signifying such commands." 
 
 That besides the miserable diversity of private 
 inclinations which rent asunder the conjugal ties 
 that ought to have united in love and concord the 
 parents of the Princess Charlotte, there were also 
 political causes for keeping her apart from the Prin- 
 cess of Wales, is by no means improbable. It was 
 pretty confidently whispered about that the Prince 
 of Orange was the man destined to be made happy 
 by the fairy prize of a young, beautiful, and potent 
 Princess ; for the Dutch had begun to take their 
 measures upon it, and hints were thrown from the 
 s 
 
130 LIFE OF THE 
 
 most creditable quarters that the matter was serf- 
 ously intended. Now the growing affair was more 
 likely to be set aside, the less of maturity it was to 
 acquire ; the earliest moment therefore was to be 
 seized by the mother to expel any thoughts of the 
 connection which might enter the mind of the 
 Princess Charlotte, and it could not be wondered 
 at that she could exert her utmost influence to that 
 end, since the absence of the bride from this 
 country must have followed, and then, the Prineess 
 of Wales left destitute of her only protector, could 
 indulge faint hopes of a restoration to her original 
 consequence. 
 
 It was conjectured, that in consideration of some 
 antecedent scruples, supposed to have been infused 
 into her Royal Highness, the Prince of Orange was 
 fitted out for Spain to make a name for himself for 
 bravery, as he had already gained praise for his apti- 
 tude to learning ; and during his stay abroad, the 
 interval seemed friendly to the purposes of the 
 Princess of Wales to estrange her daughter's mind 
 from the contemplated union, and on this account 
 additional vigilance was deemed expedient. But 
 this was a wrong course. When people of un- 
 common eminence are exposed to the influence of 
 meaner persons, they hardly ever attempt to con- 
 ciliate, but aim at disarming, and although this 
 plan, in several cases, answers the end, yet is it in- 
 
PRINCESS CHAltLOTTE. 131 
 
 applicable to those of resolute and determined spirit; 
 and such was the temper of the Princess Charlotte. 
 Thus in the year 1813, a drawing-room was held 
 for the introduction of her Royal Highness into life, 
 at which she was to have been for the first time 
 publicly presented to the Queen. Every thing 
 was in readiness for the occasion : the Princess was 
 adorned in the highest style of magnificence, and 
 was going to be led into her Majesty's presence. 
 Who is to present me ? The Duchess of York. 
 What, not my mother ? No. — Then T cannot think 
 of being presented. All were accordingly disap- 
 pointed who came in the expectation of seeing the 
 the entrance of the Princess Charlotte into public 
 circles ; but it is to be hoped that they were not 
 more chagrined by the failure of their anticipations 
 than edified by this noble instance of steadfast duty 
 and inextinguishable affection which her Royal 
 Highness showed to her suffering parent. 
 
 The Princess of Wales was attending upon this 
 occasion, but a similar assembly being denied her 
 to make a part, was the cause of renewing, in the 
 journals, the calamitous condition of her Royal 
 Highness. Drawing-rooms produce a bustle in 
 different branches of trade, and their recurrence is 
 consequently highly beneficial to people in business; 
 nor are they altogether useless in the higher spheres, 
 where gain is not sought after, because the imagi- 
 
132 LIFE OF THE 
 
 nation is kept from sinking into apathy by them, 
 and when satiety in the pleasures of the table has 
 clogged the appetites of the great, a new relish is 
 imparted, by adding the fondness of splendour to 
 the desire of good living. The deplored state of 
 his Majesty's understanding long overspread a 
 gloom through the court, incompatible with the 
 vivacity of such public meetings ; and this was a 
 reason of their unfrequency ; the Queen's growing 
 infirmities was another perhaps. But when the 
 British people were visited by foreign potentates 
 and heroes, m 1814, it became necessary to resort 
 to them, were nothing else to be attained than 
 only to convey to the great ones of other countries 
 some idea of our national beauty and magnificence. 
 Two drawing-rooms were therefore advertised to 
 take place in the month of June. Previously this 
 communication was made by her Majesty to the 
 Princess of "W ales : 
 
 "Windsor Castle, May 23, 1814. 
 
 " The Queen considers it to be her duty to lose 
 no time in acquainting the Princess of Wales, that 
 she has received a communication from her son, the 
 Prince Regent, in which he states, that her 31a- 
 jesty's intention of holding two drawing-rooms in 
 the ensuing month having been notified to the 
 public, he must declare, that he considers that his 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 133 
 
 own presence at her court cannot be dispensed with; 
 and that he desires it to be understood, for reasons 
 of which he alone can be the judge, to be his fixed 
 and unalterable determination, not to meet the 
 Princess of Wales upon any occasion, either in 
 public or private. 
 
 " The Queen is thus placed under the painful ne- 
 cessity of intimating to the Princess of Wales, the 
 impossibility of her Majesty's receiving her Royal 
 Highness at the drawing-rooms. 
 
 Charlotte IL" 
 
 The answer : 
 
 " Madam, 
 
 " I have received the letter which your Majesty 
 has done me the honor to address to me, prohibit- 
 ing my appearance at the public drawing-rooms, 
 which will be held by your Majesty in the ensuing 
 month, with great surprise and regret. 
 
 " I will not presume to discuss with your Majesty, 
 topics which must be as painful to your Majesty, 
 as to myself. 
 
 " Your Majesty is well acquainted with the affec- 
 tionate regard, with which the King was so kind 
 as to honor me up to the period of his Majesty's 
 indisposition ; which no one of his Majesty's sub- 
 jects has so much cause to lament as myself; — and 
 that his Majesty was graciously pleased to bestow 
 
134 LIFE OF THE 
 
 upon me the most unequivocal and gratifying proof 
 of his attachment and approbation, by his public 
 reception of me at his court, at a season of severe 
 and unmerited affliction, when his protection was 
 most necessary to me. There I have since, unin- 
 terruptedly, paid my respects to your Majesty. I 
 am now without appeal, or protector ; but I can- 
 not so far forget my duty to the King, and to my- 
 self, as to surrender my right to appear at any 
 public drawing-room, to be held by your Majesty. 
 
 "That I may not, however, add to the difficulty 
 and uneasiness of your Majesty's situation, I yield, 
 in the present instance, to the will of his Royal 
 Highness the Prince Regent, announced to me by 
 your Majesty, and shall not present myself.at the 
 drawing-rooms of next month. 
 
 " It would be presumptuous in me to attempt to 
 inquire of your Majesty, the reasons of his Royal 
 Highness the Prince Regent, for this harsh pro- 
 ceeding, of which his Royal Highness can alone be 
 the judge. I am unconscious of offence ; and in 
 that reflection, I must endeavour to find consolation 
 for all the mortifications I experience; even for this, 
 the last, the most unexpected, and the most 
 severe ; — the prohibition given to me alone to ap- 
 pear before your Majesty, to offer my congratu- 
 lations upon the happy termination of those cala- 
 mities with which Europe has been so long afflict- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 135 
 
 ed, in the presence of the illustrious personages, 
 who will, in all probability, be assembled at your 
 Majesty's court, with whom I am so closely con- 
 nected by birth and marriage. 
 
 "I beseech your Majesty to do me an act of justice, 
 to which, in the present circumstances, your Ma- 
 jesty is the only person competent,— by acquaint- 
 ing those illustrious strangers with the motives of 
 personal consideration towards your Majesty, which 
 alone induce me to abstain from the exercise of my 
 right to appear before your Majesty: and that I 
 do now, as I have done at all times, defy the malice 
 of my enemies to fix upon me the shadow of any 
 one imputation, which could render me unworthy 
 of their society and regard. 
 
 ? Your Majesty will, I am sure, not be displeased 
 that I should relieve myself from a suspicion of 
 disrespect towards your Majesty, by making public 
 the cause of my absence from court, at a time when 
 the duties of my station would otherwise peculiarly 
 demand my attendance. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, your Majesty's 
 Most obedient daughter-in-law and servant, 
 
 Caroline P.** 
 
 Connaught-House, May 24, 1814. 
 
136 LIFE OT THE 
 
 The Queen, in return : 
 
 ''Windsor Castle, May 25, 1814. 
 
 "The Queen has received, this afternoon, the 
 Princess of Wales's letter of yesterday, in reply to 
 the communication which she was desired by the 
 Prince Regent to make to her ; and she is sensible 
 of the disposition expressed by her Royal Highness, 
 not to discuss with her topics which must be pain- 
 ful to both. 
 
 " The Queen considers it incumbent upon her to 
 send a copy of the Princess of Wales's letter to the 
 Prince Regent ; and her Majesty could have felt 
 no hesitation in communicating to the illustrious 
 strangers, who may possibly be present at her 
 court, the circumstances which will prevent the 
 Princess of Wales from appearing there, if her 
 Royal Highness had not rendered a compliance 
 with her wish, to this effect, unnecessary, by intim- 
 ating her intention of making public the cause of 
 her absence. 
 
 Charlotte R." 
 
 The Princess of Wales returned : 
 
 "The Princess of Wales has the honor to ac- 
 knowledge the receipt of a note from the Queen, 
 dated yesterday; and begs permission to return 
 her best thanks to her Majesty, for her gracious 
 condescension, in the willingness expressed by her 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE 137 
 
 Majesty, to have communicated to the illustrious 
 strangers, who will, in all probability, be present 
 at her Majesty's court, the reasons which have in- 
 duced her Royal Highness not to be present. 
 
 " Such communication, as it appears to her Royal 
 Highness, cannot be less necessary, on account of 
 any publicity which it may be in the power of her 
 Royal Highness to give to her motives ; and the 
 Princess of Wales, therefore, entreats the active 
 good offices of her Majesty, upon an occasion which 
 the Princess of Wales feels it so essential to her, 
 that she should not be misunderstood. 
 
 Caroline P." 
 Connaught-Place, May 26, 1814. 
 
 The Queen's answer : 
 
 "Windsor Castle, May 27, 1814. 
 
 " The Queen cannot omit to acknowledge the 
 receipt of the Princess of Wales's note of yesterday, 
 although it does not appear to her Majesty to re- 
 quire any other reply than that conveyed to her 
 Royal Highness's preceding letter. 
 
 Chauxqtte R." 
 
 This correspondence led to the following letter 
 to the Prince : 
 
 " I am once more reluctantly compelled to address 
 T 
 
138 « LIFE OF THE 
 
 your Royal Highness ; and I enclose, for your in- 
 spection, copies of a note which I have had the 
 honor to receive from the Queen, and of the answer 
 which I have thought it my duty to return to her 
 Majesty. It would be in vain for me to inquire 
 into the reasons of the alarming declaration made 
 by your Royal Highness, that you have taken the 
 fixed and unalterable determination .never to meet 
 me upon any occasion, either in public or private. 
 Of these your Royal Highness is pleased to state 
 yourself to be the only judge. You will perceive, 
 by my answer to her Majesty, that I have only 
 been restrained, by motives of personal consideration 
 towards her Majesty, from exercising my right of 
 appearing before her Majesty at the public draw- 
 ing-rooms, to be held in the ensuing month. 
 
 (t But, Sir, lest it should be, by possibility, suppos- 
 ed that the words -of your Royal Highness can con- 
 vey any insinuation from which I shrink, I am 
 bound to demand of your Royal Highness, what 
 circumstances can justify the proceedings you have 
 thus thought fit to adopt. 
 
 " I owe it to myself, to my daughter, and to the 
 nation, to which I am deeply indebted for the vin- 
 dication of my honor, to remind your Royal High- 
 ness, of what you know, — that, after open persecu- 
 tion, and mysterious inquiries upon undefined 
 charges, the malice of my enemies fell entirely upon 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE 139 
 
 themselves ; and that I was restored by the King, 
 with the advice of his ministers, to the full enjoy- 
 ment of my rank in his court, upon my complete 
 acquittal. Since his Majesty's lamented illness, I 
 have demanded, in the face of Parliament and the 
 country, to be proved guilty, or to be treated as 
 innocent. I have been declared innocent. T will 
 not submit to be treated as guilty. 
 
 • Sir, your Royal Highness may possibly refuse 
 to read this letter ; but the world must know that 
 I have written it, and they will see my real motives 
 for foregoing, in this instance, the rights of my rank. 
 Occasions, however, may arise, (one, I trust, is far 
 distant) when I must appear in public, and your 
 Royal Highness must be present also. Can your 
 Royal Highness, have contemplated the full extent 
 of your declaration? Has your Royal Highness 
 forgotten the approaching marriage of our daughter, 
 and the possibility of our coronation ? I wave my 
 rights in a case where I am not absolutely bound 
 to assert them ; in order to relieve the Queen, as 
 far as I can, from the painful situation in which she 
 is placed by your Royal Highness, not from any 
 consciousness of blame, not from any doubt of the 
 existence of those rights, or of my own worthiness 
 to enjoy them. 
 
 " Sir, the time you have selected for this proceed- 
 ing is calculated to make it peculiarly galling. 
 
140 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Many illustrious strangers are already arrived in 
 England ; amongst whom, as I am informed, the 
 illustrious heir of the house of Orange, who has an- 
 nounced himself to me as my future son-in-law ; 
 from their society I am unjustly excluded. Others 
 are expected, of equal rank to your own, to rejoice 
 with your Royal Highness on the peace of Europe. 
 My daughter will, for the first time, appear in the 
 splendour and publicity becoming the approaching 
 nuptials of the presumptive heiress of this empire. 
 This season your Royal Highness has chosen for 
 treating me with fresh and unprovoked indignity ; 
 and, of all his Majesty's subjects, I alone am pre- 
 vented by your Royal Highness from appearing in 
 my place, to partake of the general joy ; and am 
 deprived of the indulgence in those feelings of 
 pride and affection, permitted to every mother but 
 me. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your Royal Highness's faithful wife, 
 Caroline P." 
 Connaught-House, May 26, 1814. 
 
 On the 3d of June, the Speaker stated to the House 
 of Commons that he had received a letter from the 
 Princess of Aty ales, containing the correspondence 
 that had passed between her Majesty and her 
 Royal Highness, and a copy of the address which 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 141 
 
 she had sent to the Regent; desiring that the 
 Speaker should communicate tbem to the parlia- 
 ment, and also those sentiments of indignation ex- 
 pressed in her letter to the chairman, which im- 
 pelled her to lay the whole affair before the as- 
 sembly of the nation. 
 
 After the letters were read, one of the opposition 
 members entered into the grievances of her Royal 
 Highness, and referring to her justification, declar- 
 ed the treatment of the Princess far different from 
 what she deserved. He thought her appeal to the 
 public sufficiently excused by the want she labour- 
 ed under of any other means of redress for hardships 
 which bore so heavily upon her, particularly at a 
 time when her connections, and those in the eyes 
 of whom she naturally wished to appear respectable, 
 were to witness her degrading circumstances. Was 
 she to be excluded from the common privilege of 
 all British subjects, and to be regarded as guilty 
 before her innocence was disproved ? The conclu- 
 sion of the speech was a proposal, " That an humble 
 address be presented to his Royal Highness the 
 Prince Regent, to pray his Royal Highness that 
 he will be graciously pleased to acquaint the House, 
 by whose advice his Royal Highness was induced 
 to form the fixed and unalterable determination 
 never to meet her Royal Highness the Princess of 
 Wales upon any occasion, either in private or 
 
142 LIFE OF THE 
 
 public, as communicated by his Royal Highness 
 to her Majesty ; together with the reasons submit- 
 ted to his Royal Highness, upon which such ad- 
 vice was founded. " 
 
 It was denied, on the other side, that any neces- 
 sity called for parliamentary interference, since no 
 actual prohibition was offered to the Princess, nor 
 other hindrance, except that the Prince signified 
 his intention of not meeting her there. The mo- 
 tion was at length withdrawn ; but the member 
 who made it, notified his design of resuming the 
 subject at a future period; and, agreeably to his in- 
 timation, he rose on the 23d of June, and in defer- 
 ence to the judgment of the House, avoided a dis- 
 cussion of the tender points which he had broached 
 on the former occasion. 
 
 The object of his application merely related to 
 the Princess's revenue ; and the mover expressed 
 his determination to confine himself wholly to that 
 topic. He could not, however, forbear to express 
 his regret and astonishment that no measures had 
 been adopted to alleviate the distressing circum- 
 stances in which he before introduced her Royal 
 Highness to their notice. He reported the income 
 of the Princess, as it was, independent of the plea- 
 sure of her Royal consort, at five thousand a year, 
 a sum inadequate to enable her Royal Highness to 
 hold the splendour of such an exalted station, and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 143 
 
 although the Prince's grant might be both liberal 
 and ready, the obligation was itself a grievance, 
 when coming with all its relative circumstances ; 
 and he therefore proposed, that the House should 
 take into consideration the correspondence com- 
 municated to the Speaker. 
 
 It was hereupon observed by Lord Castlereagh, 
 that the friends of her Royal Highness had now 
 for the first time explained their wishes to have an 
 addition made to her income, and that conceiving 
 the purport of the motion to go no farther, and 
 that it was not contemplated to ground the cause 
 upon matters of a secret description and unpleasant 
 in their nature, he felt rejoiced ; but that taking 
 occasion from the present introduction of the Prin- 
 cess, he would leave the dry and bare consideration 
 of the case, and touch upon those subjects, which, 
 roughly handled already, bad been productive of 
 uneasiness and distraction in the mind of the peo^ 
 pie. His Lordship, in a very long discourse, ex- 
 patiated upon the letter of the Princess to her Ma- 
 jesty, and denied any right being inherent in her 
 Royal Highness to demand admission into drawing- 
 rooms held by the Queen. The cause of her 
 Royal Highness, he said, had been turned into an 
 engine for aspersing the character of the Prince 
 Hegent; but let any man come forward and testify 
 
144 LIFE OF THE 
 
 to those actions of &is Royal Highness which oould 
 be construed into vindictive malice. 
 
 His Lordship then entered into the pecuniary 
 settlements which had been made betwixt the 
 parties, and showed the stipend granted by the 
 Princess as fully commensurate to the income of 
 the Prince. He strongly deprecated that spirit of 
 keen hostility with which some persons were actu- 
 ated, and sought to bring into contempt the mem- 
 bers of a family whose accession to the British 
 throne produced freedom to the British people. 
 With respect to the desire of encreasing the Prin- 
 cess's allowance, he had no difficulty in declaring 
 the forwardness of ministers to meet the inclinations 
 of the mover; but his Lordship nevertheless looked 
 upon his methods of procedure as ill calculated to 
 effect the object which he seemed to have in view. 
 His Lordship noticed a fact worthy of consideration, 
 and that w r as an instrument, dated in 1809, signed 
 by the Prince and Princess, and approved by 
 his Majesty (to whom it was submitted,) whose 
 signature it bore, and also the signatures of the men 
 at that time in office. This paper provides for a 
 distinct pension to her Royal Highness, and sets 
 forth the irreconcilable state of mind wherein the 
 parents of the Princess Charlotte were affected to- 
 wards each other. 
 
 Then Mr. Whitbread began. (The intelligent 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 145 
 
 reader will perceive the drift for giving parliamen- 
 tary disquisitions at all to be an observance of the 
 most strict impartiality, nor will he think it any 
 deviation from that principle, when he is told that 
 the person now going to speak, was an honest 
 man.) Mr. Whitbread disclaimed on his own part 
 and for his friends, any objects which they would not 
 venture to avow, and particularly the intention of 
 merely getting money ; nor, as far as he had oppor- 
 tunities of collecting the sentiments of her Royal 
 Highness, was it the scope of herself. He compli- 
 mented Lord Castlereagh upon the honourable and 
 manly interposition which he used the foregoing 
 year to rescue the Princess from the dangers which 
 threatened both her honor and her life ; that his 
 Lordship did not discover a vindictive disposition 
 to impel those who urged the charges against royal 
 fidelity, was a source of pleasurable reflection to 
 every individual of worth in the empire. But with 
 respect to himself, a sense of the indignities and 
 marks of indifference, or something worse, which 
 were shown to the Princess, alone induced him to 
 become an active agent in her concernments. If, 
 he continued, the House will think proper to make 
 to her Royal Highness a grant of money, I shall 
 rejoice in it as a testimony of its approbation, but 
 the grant shall not silence me, if upon any future 
 occasion I shall think the Princess aggrieved. 
 V 
 
146 LIFE OF THE 
 
 It appeared to be the wish of the House that 
 the proposal of an augmented income to her Royal 
 Highness should come from the crown, and when 
 the minister hinted as much as that such a step 
 was contemplated, the motion was withdrawn. 
 And on the 4th of July, the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer moved the order of the day for going into 
 a committee to deliberate upon the documents laid 
 before the House respecting the Princess of Wales; 
 and in a disputation upon a matter of form, it was 
 asserted by Mr. Whitbread that the motion did 
 not originate with her Royal Highness, who had 
 made her arrangements with such economy, that 
 she was not indebted a single shilling, and that no 
 application for an increase of fortune was necessary 
 to her, or authorized by her Royal Highness. When 
 the committee was formed, and the business of it 
 entered into, Lord Castlereagh expressed himself 
 anxious to clear up some doubts and misapprehen- 
 sions which had arisen respecting the revenue of 
 the Princess of Wales, and in the course of his 
 speech proved the liberality of the Prince, who was 
 solicitous to provide for her Royal Highness's com- 
 fort ; and moreover well pleased that her pension 
 was about to be made adequate to the maintenance 
 of rank accordant to the elevated station which she 
 held in the country. He thought the most eligi- 
 ble measure would be to raise it to that point to 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 147 
 
 which it must reach upon the demise of the Prince. 
 His Lordship suggested therefore a net annual al- 
 lowance of £50,000 and that the £5,000 and the 
 £17,000 then enjoyed by the Princess should be 
 deducted from the income of the Regent. 
 
 When the report of the committee was brought 
 up, Lord Castlereagh called the attention of the 
 House to a letter which he had received from her 
 Royal Highness, stating her inclination to accept a 
 smaller sum from the country than had been so 
 liberally offered, and that the vote would be more 
 satisfactory if, instead of fifty thousand pounds, it 
 were reduced to thirty-five thousand. The honour- 
 able views expressed by her Royal Highness were 
 accomplished, and the diminution accordingly 
 made; but the minister hoped that no occasion 
 would be thenceforward taken to revive the discus- 
 sion of her Royal Highnesses affairs ; to this Mr. 
 Whitbread repHed, that the enlargement of her 
 income did not place her above the reach of injury, 
 and that if she ever felt aggrieved again, the House, 
 he expected, would not decline to give her protec- 
 tion. 
 
 Now since we have settled the condition of the 
 Princess of Wales in as agreeable a way as it could 
 be in, by leave of unhappy circumstances incapable 
 of removal or mitigation, let the attention be turned 
 to the employments of her interesting daughter. 
 
148 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Her years were attended with proportional pro- 
 gress in the several things to which her mind was 
 directed, and the closeness of her application to 
 books excluded, in a great measure, the harassing 
 reflections which might have otherwise preyed 
 upon her feelings, and by consequence upon her 
 health, although her Royal Highness, as we have 
 noticed her, was not dead to the afflicting regret with 
 which the separation between her beloved parents 
 was calculated to inspire her. The beauties of 
 classic authors grew more entertaining and striking 
 to her as she advanced in age; and that sort of relish 
 for them, and nicety in finding them out, called 
 taste, was in her Royal Highness uncommonly 
 early, though not premature. The first productions 
 of Greece and Italy were the chief objects which 
 engaged her care, nor was any continental tongue 
 neglected, but pursued with ardour and precision, 
 especially the German, which was communicated 
 to her Royal Highness by the Rev. Mr. Kuper, a 
 Lutheran clergyman from one of the Hanseatic 
 towns, whose only recommendation was the repute 
 in which his talents and learning were held ; nor 
 is this an ordinary occurrence, for although it may 
 seem a thing to be expected, a mere matter of 
 course that the masters selected for an exalted pu- 
 pil should possess a perfect knowledge of the art 
 or science over which he was to preside, yet little 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 149 
 
 examination that way is minded in general, but a 
 good address, and the looks of gentility, furnish the 
 best means of coming into notice and favour, 
 
 It had been the desire of his Majesty that the 
 Princess was not to be confirmed until she had 
 entered into her eighteenth year, and on this ac- 
 count she did not partake of that sacrament at the 
 time when all the other members of the Royal 
 Family took upon themselves the awful responsi- 
 bility of directing their own wills and actions. 
 But on the 24th of October, 1813, she was con- 
 firmed at Windsor, in the chapel there, by the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and befo e the Quee.n, 
 the Prince Regent ; and it is supposed the Prin- 
 cess of Wales being present by the invincible wish 
 of the Princess Charlotte was the reason why the 
 confirmation was not made a subject of public 
 solemnity. The Archbishop of York, the Bishop 
 of Salisbury (her tutor), and two or three more 
 dignitaries, witnessed the ceremonial. 
 
 From the time of her Royal Highness's confir- 
 mation, she was regarded more than formerly mis- 
 tress of her own place, in all respects, except the 
 uncontrouled intercourse with her mother. War- 
 wick House was fitted up in a style of moderate 
 elegance, and a regular establishment was attached 
 to her person. She had often met the Prince of 
 Orange, but he had not been before this time in- 
 
150 LIEE OF THE 
 
 troduced to her Royal Highness formally. On the 
 14th of December, the Regent saw the young 
 Prince to Warwick House, and presented his Se- 
 rene Highness to the accomplished young female 
 intended for his bride. The conversation is of 
 course unknown, and probably did not embrace 
 any thing beyond the common place subjects of 
 talk, but this may easily be imagined that the 
 Prince expressed little of the fervid lover. Had tie 
 attended less to prudent preliminaries, he might 
 have stood a better chance for ultimate success — 
 the utmost wisdom in these cases often proves to 
 be consummate folly. The day before, her Royal 
 Highness was permitted to pay a visit to her mo- 
 ther at Con naught House, a journey not very fa- 
 vourable to the suitor, who had never treated the 
 Princess of Wales with that degree of respect and 
 reverence fitted to make her a party in his cause, 
 but the slights he manifested towards her, the fear 
 shown lest she should retain her maternal authority 
 over the Princess Charlotte, added considerably to 
 the alienation of her mother from the match, 
 which, as already hinted, was likely to bereave her 
 of her daughter's company and consequent protec- 
 tion in this country. 
 
 The Prince of Orange having now received the 
 countenance of the Regent, was at liberty to go 
 frequently to see the Princess Charlotte. But the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE 151 
 
 repetition of his overtures, containing no mark of 
 indulgence towards the Princess of Wales, nor 
 rendered captivating by those sweetnesses and little 
 attentions which imperceptibly gain over the af- 
 fections, did not promote the great point he 
 aimed at. When the Duchess of Brunswick paid 
 the debt of nature, the Princess was allowed to 
 spend some part of a day in solacing the afflictions 
 ox uer mother, who seemed to be stripped of all re- 
 sources to maintain her rights and honors, and was 
 therefore a claimant for her daughter's care and 
 support in a greater measure than before, and is 
 said, by the expression of her sorrows upon that oc- 
 casion, to have made the deepest impression on the 
 sensible mind of her beloved and dutiful child. It 
 is not extraordinary, therefore, that when his Serene 
 Highness went to work artfully, his only plan was 
 a sympathy declared for the condition of the Prin- 
 cess of Wales, but in place of doing so, he seldom 
 hesitated to insinuate his contempt for her character, 
 and the reluctance with which he would suffer his 
 consort to hold correspondence with the unhappy 
 Princess. Besides the want of judgment exhibited 
 in this instance, he laboured under the misfortune 
 and disadvantage of all supplicants for favour, who 
 make a too early declaration of their wishes. The 
 very helps that are used upon such occasions have 
 the contrary effect from the one intended. There 
 
152 LIFE OF THE 
 
 was indeed a personage who bad great interest 
 with the Princess Charlotte ; this was the Duchess 
 of Oldenburgh ; she had come into this country 
 merely for the sake of seeing whatever curious it 
 contained, and becoming acquainted with the inha- 
 bitants, whose character she was prepared to ad- 
 mire. Her personal graces, embellished by a re- 
 fined understanding, gained her admission into the 
 hearts of all who had the happiness of her acquaint- 
 ance, and in a special degree won the confidence and 
 attachment of her Hoyal Highness. How far she 
 urged the claims of the Prince of Orange is uncer- 
 tain, but it does not comport with our ideas of her 
 moral principles, to suppose that she interfered 
 further than discretion suggested. The exalted 
 opinion entertained of her brother, the Emperor of 
 Russia, gave much interest to every thing the 
 Duchess did, and established the reputation for 
 wisdom and accomplishments which she herself 
 most fully deserved. 
 
 While the Duchess of Oldenburgh lodged at the 
 Pultney Hotel in Piccadilly, it was resorted to by 
 all of great rank and eminence in the kingdom, 
 who vied with one another in courting her esteem 
 and intimacy, and the Princess Charlotte went 
 often there to see her respected friend. Upon one 
 of these occasions she found Prince Leopold at the 
 tavern, and was apparently much gratified by the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 153 
 
 openness of his manners, and the unassuming dig- 
 nity of his deportment. 
 
 In the meantime she delighted to unbend her 
 mind by drawing and sculpture, arts which her 
 Royal Highness showed early indications of being 
 a proficient in. 
 
 Upon the confirmation of her Royal Highness 
 more attention was paid to the state and splendour 
 of her household than before it; and suitable ar- 
 rangements were made to correspond with the 
 step towards womanly independence which the 
 ceremony was destined to form. And when her 
 birthday arrived, the 7th of January 1814, great 
 marks of regard and general estimation were ex- 
 hibited. The principal nobility and gentry called 
 at Warwick House, and offered their respectful 
 felicitations. All the persons ever concerned in 
 her education attended, and were introduced to 
 her, while she, standing beside the Rev. Doctor 
 Short, her classical instructor, received them with 
 looks of kindness and love, and presented a proud 
 fulfilment of their hopes in her person, and each, 
 very probably, pleased himself by the contemplation 
 of some attainment which she owed to his assiduity 
 and pains. 
 
 The drawing-rooms came on ; and her Royal 
 Highness made her appearance. The Duchess of 
 Leeds arrived at her Majesty's house first, to put 
 x 
 
154 LIFE OF THE 
 
 all things in readiness for dressing the Princess. 
 Her shoes were beautifully studded with sparkling 
 crescents, or half moons, (the decoration worn upon 
 the short boots of the Roman Senators), her petti- 
 coat was of white sattin, of the finest texture and 
 richest quality, it was bordered with laurel leaves 
 interspersed with roses done in silver; the body 
 was in a like degree tasteful and elegant. Bracelets 
 and armlets, necklace and fancy earrings were pro- 
 perly disposed. Ostrich feathers were of course 
 the chief part of the Princess's head-dress, and dia- 
 monds shed their brilliant powers between them, 
 illustrating the ornament which had the royal hero 
 seen disposed as now it was, he scarcely could have 
 grudged the toils he won it with, upon the field of 
 Cressy. 
 
 The whole company were struck, with admiration 
 of the dignity and ease appearing in her Royal 
 Highness. She passed through the croud saluting 
 her friends with the most engaging affability and 
 condescension. When she was going to her car- 
 riage the Prince of Orange followed, and attending 
 her to the carriage door gave his hand as the Prin- 
 cess was entering it. 
 
 The Prince had been paying his compliments to 
 her Royal Highness, and upon his departure looked 
 with more than usual complacency, more than usual, 
 for his Serene Highness was always steady and col- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 155 
 
 lected, and seldom overcome by the momentary eb- 
 - ullitions of feelings which young men in such cir- 
 cumstances frequently disclose; but one of the under 
 governesses, better acquainted perhaps, than himself, 
 with the real posture of his affairs, cast a very 
 serious eye upon him as he was taking leave. This 
 Lady was naturally sedate, but her Royal Highness 
 thought her countenance more grave than at other 
 times, and determined not to let it pass unnoticed ; 
 Why, said she, do you appear so pensive, I hope 
 you are not in love, indeed I don't think you ever 
 were — God help you ! come now, tell me were you 
 ever teazed with suitors dangling after you ; but 
 you are too modest to say you were, and I suppose 
 you are too proud to say you were not, so I'll not 
 press the subject, though it does not seem to be a 
 very disagreeable one neither. 
 
 Matters, however, were advanced so far that the 
 measures consequent to the nuptials began to be 
 determined, and among other things it was fixed 
 that the married couple should take up their resi- 
 dence at the Hague. The fondness of the royal 
 native for the place of her birth furnished a decent 
 excuse for refraining to enter into so serious a com- 
 pact of intimacy and devotion with a man not en- 
 tirely approved of in her heart. That an absence 
 from Britain must have injured - the Princess of 
 Wales, was an aggravation of the objection the Priii- 
 
156 LIFE OF THE 
 
 cess had against leaving home. Her aversion was 
 certainly real; every act and expression of her Royal 
 Highness relative to the country, incontrovertibly 
 established it, and surely there was no sin in using 
 for a pretext what was a real cover, one that had 
 an actual existence, for her conduct; and if any im- 
 propriety there was, the occasion for its use fully 
 justified the adoption of the assignment of such a 
 reason. She might have esteemed the man very 
 highly, but that was not sufficient to authorise the 
 gift of her hand. Yet it does not follow, that be- 
 cause her Royal Highness did not love the Prince, 
 he should be devoid of merit in her eyes ; for al- 
 though esteem leads often to love, still when an af- 
 fair of this kind is too importunately urged, scruples 
 may arise in the mind which cannot consistently 
 with true delicacy, (and with all her sprightliness 
 the Princess Charlotte was truly delicate,) which 
 scruples cannot be categorically defined. 
 
 Non amo te, Sabidi, nee possum dicere quare; 
 Hoc tantum possum dicere ; non amo te. 
 
 They who understand not the tongue in which 
 this distich is written, will not be excluded from 
 the conception of its force, by the following para- 
 phrase which very closely renders it English : 
 
 I cannot like thee, Doctor Fell, 
 The reason why I may not tell; 
 
c : It 
 
 * 
 
 . 
 
 if^lpip 
 
 Jli 
 
 |4_;; 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 157 
 
 But this indeed I know full well, 
 / do not like thee, Doctor Fell. 
 
 But over and above this indiscribable something 
 which wrought upon the feelings of the Princess, 
 besides the objection of forsaking her native land, 
 besides the magnet which attracted her, formed by 
 the condition of her parent ; she had now gained, 
 unknown, may be to herself, a cause more positive 
 to withhold her from consenting to the proposed 
 connection. 
 
 The allied sovereigns of the continent, whose 
 exertions in freeing Europe, indeed all the world, 
 from the intrusions of the French Emperor, had 
 been so powerfully aided and forwarded by the 
 liberality of the British government, accepted an 
 invitation sent them to come and live awhile 
 among their benefactors. The foremost in public opi- 
 nion, the Emperor of Russia, put up at the same 
 hotel with his sister, whom the Princess Charlotte, 
 we have seen, used often to visit, and had the hap- 
 piness to meet at her apartments the Prince Leo- 
 pold, who was united by marriage with the house 
 of Russia, for his sister was espoused to the Arch- 
 duke Constantine. This Archduke Constantine, 
 unlike the Emperor, was a perfect boor, insensible 
 to all the softer emotions of the human kind, a 
 beast that long used to revel in sensuality and gross 
 voluptuousness, knew not to appreciate the worth 
 
158 LIFE OF THE 
 
 of a virtuous wife, or to cherish the delicacies of a 
 refined woman. The result of his brutality was an 
 appeal for other protection by his consort, and she 
 was accordingly received again into the bosom of 
 her kindred. But the misunderstanding did not 
 affect the rest of the two families, who still con- 
 tinued their mutual attachment for each other, and 
 the promising virtues of the amiable young Prince 
 Leopold acquired for him the friendly regard of the 
 Russian Monarch, and of his accomplished sister. 
 Since every body, from her residence here, took an 
 interest in the concerns of the Duchess, as creditable 
 to their own feelings as it was honourable to the 
 person distinguished, for to approve merit is almost 
 akin to having it ; and because some may not have 
 heard of her exaltation, the reader is informed that 
 a short time after she left England, she became the 
 Queen of the sovereign of Wirtemburg. The Prince 
 was so much esteemed by the Duchess of Olden- 
 burgh that his character did not sustain any loss from 
 her conversation respecting him, and the liking of 
 the Princess Charlotte towards his Serene High- 
 ness was countenanced by the high notion formed 
 of him by a judge so competent to do it wisely. 
 
 But this was not the only way in which the 
 Prince Leopold came recommended to the notice 
 of her Royal Highness. The Duke of Brunswick 
 was well acquainted with him, and entertained 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 159 
 
 such respect for his character, that understanding 
 the Prince's purpose to repair to England, he com- 
 missioned him to carry a letter to his niece the 
 Princess Charlotte. This furnished the Prince 
 with an occasion of doing what was an act of civility, 
 and modestly called for a genteel return, and nothing 
 of this kind could be more handsome than an in- 
 vitation to drink tea. His Serene Highness was 
 therefore requested to attend the small evening 
 parties at Warwick House ; and his company was 
 pleasing to all the ladies of the establishment, and 
 so met with their unqualified approbation. 
 
 In broad day-light, the spirits are supposed to be 
 the most clear and lively, and under this idea we 
 are advised to transact our business while the sun 
 keeps up ; now although in the ordinary pursuits 
 of life, the advice is judicious and proper, because 
 much consideration ought to be intermixed with 
 the briskness of dispatch, nevertheless the heart is 
 oftener opened when evening has come on, when 
 the day's bustle is over, when the tea things are 
 laid, and the person is attired with a view to neat- 
 ness as well as comfort, the dress fitted rather to 
 adorn and grace the wearer, than put on to ex- 
 clude the cold ; — such moments must be the pliant 
 ones of the female mind, especially when music im- 
 proves the soft disposition of the bosom, and attunes 
 all the soul to melody and social love. Thus the 
 
160 LIFE OF THE 
 
 very time of his visits appears to have been a lucky 
 adjunct to the many propitious circumstances 
 which attended the Prince in his progress to engage 
 the favour of her Royal Highness. 
 
 TV ith regard to dominion and family greatness, 
 the Prince of Orange had far the advantage of 
 Prince Leopold, not but that the Coburg race can 
 run their genealogical tablet very distant, but the 
 house of Nassau has been esteemed much more 
 considerable, because the people under its guidance 
 were numerous and powerful, and exalted by com- 
 mercial industry and spirit beyond any common 
 state of Germany ; and this difference in the respec- 
 tability of families, more than the power of tracing 
 back till the view is sunk in the gulf of antiquity, 
 ought to decide the question. A knowledge of 
 ancestry is good presumption in favour of the illus- 
 trious line that has it, but it only tends to raise 
 their consequence, so far as it implies that the pro- 
 genitors were worth remembering, but no farther ; 
 for as to the fact of ancestors having existed, that 
 might be claimed for himself, by the meanest 
 wretch of human shape, whose assurance of descent 
 from Noah may be equal to his who holds the 
 highest station in the world : the grandeur of the 
 immediate precursors is the criterion. 
 
 The Nassau house have, many of them, figured 
 with great reputation and eclat, upon the page of 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE 161 
 
 history ; neither did the Coburg house pass on to 
 the* present generation undistinguished. The 
 Prince of Coburg, who was eminent in the revolu- 
 tionary wars, was the great-uncle of our Leopold. 
 Amongst his forefathers was Charles Duke of Lor- 
 raine, the last claimant of the Carlovingian line to 
 the throne of France, at the time it was mounted 
 by Hugh Capet, the founder of the Bourbons. 
 From Charles of Lorraine descended the Count of 
 Thuringuen, a celebrated warrior and politician* 
 and whose fame was maintained by his sons. Ca- 
 tharine, a daughter of Henry Duke of Brunswick, 
 was married into the Thuringuen family in the 
 beginning of the thirteenth century, but the Prin- 
 cess Charlotte and Prince Leopold did not unite 
 their lineage in the house of Brunswick from this 
 connection, for Leopold is sprung from a brother 
 of him who married Catharine of Brunswick. 
 
 When the heroes fired with religious ardour 
 had entered into the combination to expatriate the 
 settlers Of the Holy Land, the Saxon Princes 
 eagerly embraced that opportunity to display their 
 prowess, and attest their faith, and joining the 
 league performed prodigies of valour that made all 
 the ballads of the times ring with their renown. 
 But after they had bled and exhausted themselves 
 in the fruitless expedition, and had returned to 
 their native land, they found their possessions 
 
 y 
 
162 LIFE OF THE 
 
 seized by the neighbouring grandees, and their 
 swords were drawn again. Various were the bat- 
 tles fought on these occasions, victory inclining 
 sometimes to one side then to another, till by the 
 individual exertions of Frederic the Swarthy, (so 
 called from the tanned complexion he had contract- 
 ed in Palestine,) the invaders were finally expelled 
 and the family restored to their original dominions, 
 which decreasing more or less, have been reduced to 
 their present limits. 
 
 The territory of Coburg, as it stands at this day, 
 may be thus described ; it extends on either side 
 the river Saal, in Franconia, forming an irregular 
 figure in the very heart of Germany. The capital 
 is rendered famous by the residence of Martin 
 Luther in it during all the troubles of the incipient 
 reformation, and while the diet of Augsburg sat, he 
 kept a close resident in the town. The Duke of 
 Coburg was one of the most strenuous supporters 
 of the protestant cause, and on his account, I sup- 
 pose, the chief town in his territory was selected 
 for the protection of the reformist. Before the 
 last arrangements made at Vienna, the Coburg 
 estate contained eight towns, and two hundred and 
 eighty hamlets, and was peopled by about sixty 
 thousand souls, the whole yielding an annual re- 
 venue not exceeding £50,000. 
 
 Not long before the families of Coburg and Brans- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 163 
 
 wick intermarried, the Coburg family was elevated 
 to the electoral rank. Two princes of conspicuous 
 merit, both dying without heirs, the electorate was 
 passed over to Harbec, a stripling, belonging to a 
 younger branch ; he had given early prognostics of 
 future greatness, but the sudden transition from 
 precarious dependence to grandeur and dignity, 
 overcame his virtuous disposition, and he gave a 
 loose to licentiousness and dissipation, smothering 
 the rising talents, which promised to cut a name 
 for himself on the records of German story. He, 
 however, left a son, that in a great measure atoned 
 for the father's delinquency, and being a man of 
 excellent principles, was regarded as a mediator, 
 when two potentates disagreed; and upon these oc- 
 casions he acted with so much decision, that the 
 party dissatisfied was afraid to murmur, knowing 
 the determination and firmness of the umpire's 
 spirit, and obedience was the more readily yielded, 
 for the common opinion held of his strict justice 
 and sagacity to discover the merits of a disputed 
 case, and of this a very interesting example has 
 been related. 
 
 A certain family under the Coburg jurisdiction, 
 had by great industry and thrift, for two or three 
 generations, acquired considerable wealth. Their 
 substance was universally known to be great, and 
 they who in imitation of their example, had en- 
 
164 LIFE OF THE 
 
 deavoured to collect a store, thought their property 
 always secure, when intrusted to the care of such 
 a responsible house. Now, two men, who had vast 
 possessions in the beginning of life, squandered 
 away the principal part, and, as too often happens 
 with men in their condition, freed themselves from 
 all moral sanctions. They agreed together, to leave 
 all they had between both in the bands of the 
 worthy people, with the mischievous intent which 
 the sequel will disclose. A bond for the repayment 
 of the treasure was given, according to the laws of 
 the country, stipulating, that since neither had a 
 right to what belonged to them conjointly, the 
 amount should be given to the depositers together. 
 Not long after, one of them, representing the other 
 to be dead, claimed the liquidation of his bond. 
 But the Prince, pleased with the prosperity of his 
 dependents, and delighting in their honest exer- 
 tions to get forward in the world, used among 
 others to visit this family, and while he was with 
 them, the business now alluded to was going on. 
 It reached the Prince's ears, who suspecting what 
 was intended to be done, ordered things to rest as 
 they were for a little, till further inquiry took place, 
 and thereupon, he dispatched one of his followers 
 to the man's lodgings to learn the truth of the re- 
 port, where the person represented as dead, was 
 found, expecting his friend's coming. The Prince, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 165 
 
 uncertain whether the claimant intended to play his 
 fellow false, or that it was only a concerted scheme, 
 by means of which the other might exact his sum 
 too in his turn ; although uncertain of this, he knew 
 at least, that some villany was contemplated, and 
 that neither was unconcerned ; ordering, therefore, 
 the bond to be immediately discharged in conform- 
 ity with the stipulations of it he banished both the 
 persons who left the money, for ever from his ter- 
 ritories. 
 
 Two sons, Ernest and Albert, equally enjoying 
 the paternal love, were left in possession of the 
 divided estate, and lived in the greatest harmony 
 with each other. Their descendants were distin- 
 guished respectively by these two patriarchs' names, 
 the issue of the one was called the Ernestine, that 
 of the other, the Albertine. In the former, the 
 protestants found cordial and resolute supporters, 
 and their religion was rendered the more engaging 
 by the amiable qualities of many of them, for they 
 did not adopt it through motives of mere vanity, 
 or for the sake of singularizing themselves, but 
 under the conviction of its tendency to make men 
 pass through things temporal, so as to stand a good 
 chance for gaining the things that are eternal. 
 Luther is copious in his acknowledgments of 
 patronage and support from the family of Ernest, 
 with respect to their own benevolent intentions ; 
 
166 LIFE OF THE 
 
 but even that is no deduction from their praise, if it 
 be considered, that it came not from a parasite, 
 from a man fond of his ease, and eager to obtain 
 the comforts of this life, but from Martin Luther ; 
 it was Martin Luther, who paid the encomium, a 
 man who had the courage to defy the Pope in all 
 his power, and was the most regardless being in 
 the world of whatever administered to terrestrial 
 enjoyments alone, and consequently, he could never 
 be in such circumstances as to oblige himself to 
 receive the good offices of others beyond what the 
 furtherance of the cause he undertook seemed to 
 require. When Martin Luther, therefore, used 
 the word intentions, he must be understood to say, 
 that he owed a favour to the Ernest family, which 
 he did not seek, nor cared much whether he obtain- 
 ed or no. 
 
 Guellum, one of the members of the house of 
 Eriiest, is said to have gone into the woods, and 
 associating with men of great hardihood, and law- 
 less mind, to have long carried on a predatory war- 
 fare upon all whom necessity compelled to pass 
 that way. Strange stories are told of this wonder- 
 ful man, but they are so far removed from the 
 course of human actions and events, that the most 
 credulous reader in modern times would only be 
 disgusted by their absurdity. 
 
 Indeed, the whole Ernestine family have suffered 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 167 
 
 very much in the records of historians, who belong- 
 ing in general to the Roman Catholic Church, Je- 
 suits or other orders, have treated with little re- 
 gard a house which proved so bold in its efforts to 
 counteract the promulgation of their doctrines. 
 But the Albertine branch is better known, either 
 because the faith was changed from the protestant, 
 or because in the year 1697, Frederic Augustus, 
 one of the members of it, having succeeded to the 
 throne of Poland, attached greater interest to his 
 genealogy. It was for the purpose of becoming 
 eligible to the Polish crown that Frederic Augus- 
 tus renounced the religion of his fathers, and ad- 
 hered to the doctrines of Catholicism. His mind, 
 however, was occupied in the affairs of this world 
 rather than concerned about futurity ; and it must 
 be owned that nature had qualified him to shine as 
 a conqueror. In all his engagements with the 
 Turks, he performed prodigies of courage and dar- 
 ing, and was always victorious, and seldom sustained 
 any serious loss, for the soldiers who fought under 
 his standard were roused to energy and vigour by 
 the example before their eyes of him whom they 
 served, and were of themselves persevering and 
 used to toil, while the Turks long accustomed to 
 the gratification of luxury and ease, wanted the 
 firmness and resolution that fit men to undergo the 
 hardships of warfare. The powers of his mind 
 
168 LIFE OF THE 
 
 only corresponded with the strength of his body, 
 which he often exhibited to the surprise of every 
 beholder. A sheet of copper he could twist round 
 his finger, and the largest oak stick he could snap 
 across his knee ; and he has frequently pulled up a 
 tree by the root which a beast of burthen was un- 
 able to move. When a soldier was disorderly, his 
 punishment, and a very severe one it was, did not 
 require any infliction more terrible than to be taken 
 by the hand and squeezed by the offended king. 
 But notwithstanding his successes against the Turks, 
 he found a dreadful opponent in Charles XII, by 
 whom he was finally subdued, but his throne was 
 not taken away from him ; the defeat, however, 
 made such a deep impression upon his haughty 
 spirit, that he grew melancholy and despondent, 
 which brought on, or precipitated at least, his dis- 
 solution. Whatever may have been his barbarities 
 to other people, his own was most probably used 
 with liberality and kindness, for his death seems to 
 have been very sincerely deplored by his subjects, 
 who elected his son, Frederic Augustus II. to suc- 
 ceed him in the government of Poland. The cha- 
 racter of Frederic Augustus was rather pacific, but 
 intestine broils made his situation very uncomfort- 
 able, and being either prevented by domestic 
 troubles, Avhich required all his time and force to 
 quell them, or naturally a lover of ease, and slow 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 169 
 
 to make reprisals, he suffered his territories to 
 dwindle considerably, and his authority to sink, 
 till after a yawning reign of thirty years, he was 
 taken off from all his earthly cares, and succeeded 
 by his son Frederic Christian. Frederic Christian 
 did not live many months, and his son, Frederic 
 Augustus III. came into his room. This Frederic 
 Augustus, the Bonapartean king of Saxony, enter- 
 tained either an uncommon fear of the French 
 Emperor, or the most exalted admiration of him, 
 for he cleaved to his fortunes with such desperate 
 pertinacity that it was accounted unsafe for the 
 repose of Europe to leave him undisputed master 
 of his entire dominions. As to this suggestion, it 
 is only a conjecture, but it is by no means impro- 
 bable, since some cause of that kind must account 
 for the treatment he met with from the other po- 
 tentates of Europe assembled at the congress of 
 Vienna, or there represented by their delegated 
 ministers. 
 
 Of those who boast their foundation in Ernest, 
 there are now several distinct branches, but the most 
 eminent appears to be the house of Saalfeld, to 
 which Prince Leopold pertains. 
 
 The Coburg territory was nearly forty years a bone 
 of contention to several brothers' children ; and 
 each was furnished with strong pretensions to 
 ,z 
 
170 LIFE OF THE 
 
 gain its possession. The house of Saalfeld succeed- 
 ed, and the others quietly withdrew their claims. 
 
 The grandfather of Prince Leopold was anxious 
 to aggrandize his family by high matrimonial con- 
 nections, and was much averse to the growing at- 
 tachment of his son towards the accomplished 
 daughter of the Heuss d'Ebersdorf, Count Henry. 
 Her name was Augusta Carolina Sophia, and that 
 of her lover, Francis. Their regard advanced apace, 
 and consent was at length given to the match. 
 They lived together in mutual happiness and com- 
 fort, and had a numerous offspring ; these are their 
 names and their state in society : 
 
 Ernest Frederic Anthony, now Duke of Saxe- 
 Coburg Saalfeld, who was born on the 2d of Janu- 
 ary 1784. 
 
 Sophia Frederica Carolina Louisa, married to 
 Emanuel, Count de Mansdorf and Foully, a colonel 
 in the service of Austria; she was born on the 
 iOthof August 1778. 
 
 Antoinetta Ernes tina Emelia, married to Duke 
 Charles Alexander Frederic, brother to the king of 
 Wirtemburg, a general in the Russian service, 
 Governor of Livonia, Esthonia and Courland ; she 
 was born on the 28th of August 1779. 
 
 Juliana Henrietta Ulrica, married in 1796, and 
 soon after obliged to leave, the Grand Duke Con- 
 stantine of "Russia, and upon occasion of her mar- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 171 
 
 riage, (conformably to the rules of the imperial 
 family, and the ordinances of the Greek church, 
 becoming now a member of it,) she took the name 
 of Anne Feodoroffna in place of her own ; she was 
 born on the 23d of September, 1781. 
 
 Ferdinand George Augustus ; he was born on 
 the 28th of March, 1785. 
 
 Maria Louisa Victoria, married to Ernest Charles 
 Louis, Prince of Leinengen, and has been left by 
 him a widow ; she was born on the 1 7th of August, 
 1786. 
 
 Leopold George Christian Frederic, married to 
 Charlotte Augusta of Britain, on the 2d of May, 
 1816, who was snatched away from him by the 
 grasp of mortality on the 6th of November, 1817 ; 
 he was born on the 16th of December, 1790. 
 
 All the individuals of this family are endowed 
 with the best dispositions, and distinguished for 
 urbanity of manners, steadiness of principles, and 
 decision of character, The attracting graces of 
 Carolina, which won the affections of Duke Francis, 
 were accompanied by a sound understanding that 
 directed the management of her consort discreetly , 
 and she was highly accomplished, moreover, in the 
 different parts of female education, which could 
 render her an agreeable companion and an useful 
 parent. To her Serene Highness therefore is to 
 be attributed some portion of applause for the 
 
172 LIFE OF THE 
 
 finished and admirable qualities that adorn her 
 sons and daughters. Duke Francis, being of a 
 mild and gentle cast, and his mind unfit to bear 
 calamity, had a sweet comforter in his amiable wife, 
 and when his own spirits failed him, and a sense of 
 disappointments threw a gloom over his soul, he 
 was often relieved by the endearments of conjugal 
 love, and taught by the example of his cheerful 
 and pious consort to fix his attention upon the hap- 
 piness in store, and look with humble resignation 
 and thankfulness on whatever Heaven was pleased 
 to bring about. 
 
 The kings of France were mightily fond of gain- 
 ing not merely a preponderating influence over the 
 affairs of the continent, but also an arbitrary power 
 of dictating to the councils of the different states 
 which composed it, and of making such divisions 
 and arrangements among the German Princes as 
 forwarded their national interests ; nay the grati- 
 fication of their fancies and pride was often deemed 
 a sufficient motive for bringing the firebrand of 
 war upon the humble habitation of the continental 
 peasant, witness the open avowal of Lewis XIV, 
 by whom a singular reason was found for the inva- 
 sion of Holland, and indeed the only one assigned, 
 to wit, The King's glory. 
 
 It was hereditary in the Coburg race to meet 
 with indignation, this grasping and intemperate 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 173 
 
 ambition of the French kings. The historical 
 student has often had his attention engaged by 
 the splendid services which the Duke of Saxe- 
 Coburg rendered to the German endeavours to re- 
 sist encroachment and subdue the tyrannical pride 
 and national arrogance of the French. He in the 
 most straitened circumstances held his mind un- 
 bridled and never gave way to the influence of ca- 
 lamitous attempts, but nobly persevered in the cause 
 which he had undertaken, and gained at once the 
 love of his men, and the perfect approbation of 
 those who entrusted him with command. The 
 same spirit which animated the French cabinets in 
 former times, was in the more recent, equally active 
 to blow down the continental greatness, or ingulf 
 it in its own vortex. 
 
 The government of the Germanic territories was 
 subdivided amongst a number of petty rulers, each 
 possessing an extensive power and authority over 
 the tract which owed him obedience, but they 
 were all subject to the jurisdiction of the empire. 
 So that in order to crush the imperial power, it 
 was needful first to annihilate all the little states 
 which depended upon it, or were ready to take up 
 arms in its defence. To accomplish the overthrow 
 of these, the annexation of one to another seemed 
 to be the most likely means, because the jealousy 
 of several would be apt to rise at the aggrandize- 
 
174 LIFE OF THE 
 
 ment of any in particular, and discord being intro- 
 duced, reciprocal injuries would expose all of them 
 to the grasp of a powerful invader. The augmen- 
 tation besides, by lessening the numbers, tended to 
 make the machinery of the thing less complicated. 
 When therefore the emperor of France expanded 
 his views, and embraced in idea the subjugation of 
 Europe, he proceeded by apparent acts of kindness 
 and friendship to a few, to bring upon them the 
 hatred and antipathy of their neighbours, who 
 were themselves either despoiled or apprehended 
 that they should. The overtures of amity and re- 
 gard which Bonaparte made, were always worded 
 with exceeding pathos and seeming sincerity. His 
 style was brief and pithy, and by its hurried cha- 
 racter conveyed a sort of assurance; for every period 
 of his was not only full of meaning, but much was 
 apparently left to be understood, as if it were need- 
 less to employ parade, and therefore his honesty- 
 was seldom doubted by whomever he addressed 
 himself to, such showy benevolence was well suited 
 to entrap the implicit belief and engage the friend- 
 ship of the German grandees, and with that ingre- 
 dient he fitted his cordial to their palate, an opiate 
 administered with the appearance of a soothing and 
 sweet beverage, but it turned out a mortal poison, 
 when their faculties of caution destroyed, he found 
 himself at liberty to execute his purposes. Bonaparte 
 
P1UNCESS CHAIiLOTTE. 175 
 
 was a subtle and captivating politician as well as a 
 very fine general, and had the art to make the per- 
 sons whom he duped, prove themselves more in- 
 fatuated than he was crafty. Now against men of 
 his stamp it is always dangerous to struggle, as to 
 hold connection and commerce is calculated to 
 make victims of those who do, or at all events 
 leaves them at the mercy of the wily friend ; for if 
 the designs of such an one prosper, then there is an 
 end of it, and mercy and favour are dealt out in place 
 of gratitude and requital to them who assist ; but 
 if success attend the designs, they who made the 
 opposition have good cause to be alarmed, since 
 nothing can more provoke an adept in any art, 
 than to be crossed in it, when doing so was but 
 an act of Virtue. Consequently the house of Co- 
 burg, which never yielded to the allurements of 
 this intriguing and wonderful man, except when 
 dire necessity compelled them to submission, had 
 no forbearance to expect on the part of the victor. 
 The Princes of Germany in general were afraid to 
 express their private sentiments, and approved of 
 the measures for diminishing the number of the 
 duchies, and increasing the power of those that re- 
 mained ; but the members of the Coburg race, true 
 to the temper of their forefathers, cried out against 
 the innovations, declaring, that whereas now the 
 different principalities being too small for warlike 
 
176 LIFE OF THE 
 
 operations to infest each other with, could, by unit- 
 ing their strength, give security to the great body, 
 but if the contemplated system were carried into 
 effect, the consequence must be, that insolence 
 on the one part, and independence on the other, 
 would involve the states in reciprocal hostilities, or 
 if a foreign power should introduce itself among 
 them, one of the governments might be reduced, 
 while the remainder kept an alliance with the in- 
 truder, sacrificing safety for the bauble of a nomi- 
 nal relationship to greatness. That these opinions 
 boldly advanced, had weight with the contiguous 
 sovereigns, is not to be doubted ; nor can any question 
 be made that indignation and resentment were foster- 
 ed towards the Coburgs for this cause in the bosom 
 of him, whom such conduct did injury to. Their 
 possessions were of course then treated unceremoni- 
 ously, and even upon one occasion overrun with de- 
 predators, and all opportunities were eagerly 
 caught up to do them individual disservice or in- 
 dignity. 
 
 According to the plans of partition devised by 
 the Emperor of France, the duchy of Brunswick 
 was made over to Prussia, and every petty state 
 began to tremble for its integrity, warned by so 
 Striking a specimen of what they might expect to 
 happen to themselves. The whole therefore of the 
 north of Germany was thrown into the greatest 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 177 
 
 consternation and alarm at the close of 1806 ; and 
 among the other objects of arbitrary despoliation, 
 it was with good reason that the house of Coburg 
 considered itself to make a part. The sentiments 
 of the whole line had been always in opposition to 
 the projects of altering the mode of government 
 throughout the empire, and this aversion was at- 
 tended now with gloomy apprehensions of what was 
 about to be done when the changes were made. 
 Little hopes of indulgence could be entertained, 
 when the triumphant arms of Bonaparte reached 
 the confines of their district. As the French drew 
 nearer and nearer, Duke Francis, for greater safety, 
 quited Coburg, and repaired to Saalfeld, with thos© 
 of his family that were not engaged in active service. 
 Ernest, the heir of his domain, was busily employ- 
 ed under the Prussian government, which,, through 
 fear, resentment and pride, knew not how to direct 
 itself, and so following no steady course of conduct, 
 but vacillating and fickle, was unable by its exer- 
 tions to do much harm to the invaders, but rather 
 indeed hurt the cause of the neighbouring circles, 
 since an instance of tergiversation, after the solemn 
 promises entered into, set a bad example, and it 
 was accordingly natural to expect that Bona- 
 parte would use his best endeavours to see that no 
 need would be for placing confidence in any, but 
 to save that necessity by clipping their power, 
 
 A A 
 
178 LIFE OF THE 
 
 preventing the breach of their word, by not requir- 
 ing it to be given — such was his thoughtfulness for a 
 tender conscience. The man has cost this country 
 so much happiness and money, to reduce him, that 
 a Briton is loth to admire any of his qualities, or 
 he might find room to think highly of his skill 
 and penetration, the art of his arrangements, the 
 vastness of his propositions, and the consummate 
 fortitude, with which he strode forward to their 
 execution. Thus the eldest son was occupied ; the 
 second Ferdinand bore arms in the service of Aus- 
 tria, a general of respectable abilities, and unsullied 
 honour. 
 
 Meantime the Prince Leopold, who was scarcely 
 fifteen years old, was kept by his father's side, and 
 there endeavoured by all the means which filial 
 piety suggested, to soothe his sorrowing parents. 
 Sitting at the hearth stone of his beloved sire, he 
 performed every little office of kindness, which is 
 so very acceptable to the feeling bosom of a distres- 
 sed father. The horrors of war spread in all direc- 
 tions, and the French, irritated by the oppug- 
 nation of some, from whom tame submission and 
 good service were expected, and enraged at the 
 perfidious desertion of friends, vented their full 
 rage against their professed enemies, confounded 
 all things in general ruin, and indiscriminate 
 slaughter. At length reaching Saalfeld, a battle 
 
 I 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 179 
 
 was fought, terminating in favour of the French, 
 but they did not gain an easy or bloodless victory ; 
 the success was for a time wavering, each party 
 contending with fierceness and ardour, the one was 
 fired with native fury, and prompted by the hope 
 of plunder, the other side animated with indignation, 
 sustained themselves with firm resolution, as men 
 do when they know their cause to be good, and 
 that it is for their wives, their children, and their 
 properties they fight. When the action was over, 
 possession was taken of the Duke's territories ;' he 
 was himself and his family unmolested in person, 
 but the ailings which attack us in the happiest 
 conditions of life, gathering poignancy and force 
 from outward disorders, brought Duke Francis to 
 his end, and he expired in the ensuing winter, 
 lamented by his kindred, subjects, and acquaintance. 
 When Ernest succeeded to the title and rights 
 of his father, he was engaged in forwarding the 
 cause of opposition, and could not therefore expect 
 to have his dominions restored; nor was he in this 
 mistaken. All the possessions of the late Duke 
 were seized on, and an oppressive contribution 
 laid upon the country. Under the load of evils 
 which bore down upon that distinguished house, 
 it were only vain to struggle with the character 
 and quality of an ally to any of the other powers 
 resisting Bonaparte. Ernest was obliged to re- 
 
180 LIFE OF THE 
 
 main in the employment of Prussia, Ferdinand, 
 who had been in the employment of Austria, still 
 held his rank in it, after the peace, and Leopold, 
 who was connected, by his sister's marriage, with 
 the imperial house of Russia, was received into the 
 Russian army, where he had an opportunity of 
 making himself well known to the emperor, and 
 the good fortune and merit to win his favour and 
 esteem. To Alexander's friendship and interfer- 
 ence, the Coburgs were indebted for the restoration 
 of their territory. 
 
 As soon as the quarrel broke out between France 
 and Russia, the magnanimous autocrat very consi- 
 derately advised the Prince Leopold to withdraw 
 himself from his service, and remain inactive, lest 
 the French Emperor, provoked by his bearing a 
 command, would punish him in the possessions of 
 his brother, who was then permitted to enjoy them 
 undisturbed, and recognized by Napoleon as right- 
 ful owner of them, According to this very discreet 
 counsel, and in consideration of his family's good, 
 the young Prince put up his sword ; but that he 
 might not remain a peaceful spectator of troubles 
 which he was fain to do his best to suppress, hap- 
 pily, he determined to travel southward, and im- 
 prove his mind by an acquaintance with the cus- 
 toms and modes of life that existed among a foreign 
 people. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE 181 
 
 Full of this laudable scheme, he cast his eyes 
 about him for a suitable companion, and meeting 
 with an intelligent and enlivening friend in the 
 person of Baron Hardenbrock, he began his journey. 
 By the experience and information of his attendant, 
 he was enabled to familiarize himself with the 
 nations he visited, entering at once into their pas- 
 times and pursuits, and thereby he acquired it 
 greater insight into their manners and dispositions 
 than otherwise he could have attained. Indeed 
 the chief means of improvement are commonly 
 sacrificed by travellers to the indulgence of pride 
 and vain glory, eager as they are to be thought 
 great ones, they miss the opportunities of unfolding 
 the plaits of the human heart, which, although in 
 the main universal and alike, are diversified accor- 
 ding to the country, no less than the apparel, and 
 the tongue that is used ; how much then must the 
 despicable ambition of shining for a time to the 
 extent of the sojourner's rank and wealth, prevent 
 the knowledge which might be gained by minute 
 attention to the various occupations of the people 
 visited ? Besides this hindrance, a notice of strange 
 habits is impeded by the rapidity of passing the 
 country through, not suffering the mind to dwell 
 a sufficient length of time for fixing the impres- 
 sions in the memory, if some observations will 
 obtrude themselves upon us, which is seldom the 
 
182 LIFE OF THE 
 
 ease where men are in a hurry, and seem afraid of 
 catching the wisdom which they profess to pursue, 
 no otherwise than dexterous persons move their 
 palms over a red hot bar without being at all sensi- 
 ble of the heat it is adapted to convey, because of 
 the quickness with which the motion is performed. 
 But it was not so with Prince Leopold and his 
 fellow traveller. 
 
 Every other consideration was however postpon- 
 ed to the calls of his country ; and in 1813 he re- 
 sumed his usual place in the Russian army, when 
 no motives of his relative's welfare interposed be- 
 tween his inclinations and the indulgence of them. 
 The Emperor received him now with open arms. 
 He continued in that service until the termination 
 of the contest, and discharged his duties with the 
 promptness and sagacity which might be looked 
 for in a Prince of his accomplishments, spirit, and 
 good parts. The leisure hours of his military 
 career were devoted to the conversation of the 
 Baron Hardenbrock, who was well qualified to im- 
 part at once entertainment and instruction; he 
 knew the world well, he had been for a consider- 
 able period of his life a general merchant, and his 
 character for integrity and discretion was never 
 called into doubt, but his exertions were not 
 crowned with the success of his speculations ; or 
 all his acquisitions were sunk in the common de- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 183 
 
 struction, and in these forlorn circumstances he be- 
 came a soldier ; but his superior merit and respecta- 
 bility of carriage did not escape recognition in the 
 quarters where rested the power of requiting them, 
 and he was promoted accordingly. From his first 
 intimacy with the Prince, the greatest cordiality and 
 most unbounded confidence took place. To him 
 therefore much commendation must always be im- 
 plied in the Prince's praises, since he had so effec- 
 tual a hand in directing his conduct, and forming 
 him to the practices of virtue and honour, at a time 
 of existence when the passions are warm, and the 
 affections lie exposed to mischievous contortion 
 from natural appetite, and a foul dye from the 
 tincture of bad company, for who sits over the fire 
 all day and measles not his shins? — He very early 
 discovered talents for negotiation and the manage- 
 ment of state affairs; for when in the year 1808, his 
 brother Ernest had occasion to go to Russia to con- 
 cert with Alexander, the likeliest means of estab- 
 lishing himself in the full possession of his duchy, 
 which was by this time restored but partially, he 
 held so high an opinion of his brother's good sense 
 and prudence, that he committed to his hands the 
 management of things in his absence. Nor had 
 the Duke Ernest any reason to repent him of his 
 choice, for at his return he found his concerns at- 
 tended to with assiduity, and the interests of his 
 
184 LIFE OF THE 
 
 subjects farthered with astonishing discernment 
 for so young a statesman. The situation of the 
 people was then truly deplorable; war had 
 raged with violence, and ruined all the little con- 
 veniences of the tenements they held, whilst the 
 pinching contributions laid upon them, had swal- 
 lowed up the only wherewithal mortals have now of 
 repairing any thing, that is to say, their money. 
 Under this severe pressure, both public and private, 
 the considerate care of the Prince went far to re- 
 lieve ; and they who were not substantially bene- 
 fited, had their sufferings in a great measure light- 
 ened by the kind inquiries and sympathetic expres- 
 sions of him who was set over them, and was him- 
 self injured as well as they. And afterwards at 
 the congress of Vienna he devoted himself to the 
 service of his brother, and was perhaps instrumental 
 to the generous treatment which Duke Ernest 
 experienced at the hands of the distributive con- 
 vention assembled there. Not but that the claims 
 of Duke Ernest were strong enough intrinsically 
 to merit attention, but his principality was a small 
 one, and he might be considered in the light of a 
 petitioner rather than an independent ruler ; and 
 it was very wisely done to send his brother, whose 
 personal acquaintance with the Hussian Emperor 
 quickened those friendly dispositions of that sove- 
 reign towards the Duke, which affinity had already 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 185 
 
 produced, and he advanced by his own general in- 
 fluence the cause of his brother most 'materially. 
 His circumstances were now exceedingly happy. 
 
 He had enjoyed during his stay in England all 
 the pleasures which a mortal being can propose to 
 himself; he stood high in the good graces of the 
 Emperor Alexander; he was gaining the full esteem 
 and favour of the Regent, and all whom he associ- 
 ated with found happiness in his company, but 
 more to him than all, an amiable, polite and mighty 
 Princess. 
 
 When the Prince perceived the progress he had 
 made in the regards of her Royal Highness, he did 
 not attempt to take any unfair advantage of his 
 good fortune, but considering that the attachment 
 was only in its beginning, and the flame blazed not 
 yet so high but it might be got under ; he in the 
 most noble and spirited manner, sought an interview 
 with the august parent, and disclosed to him the 
 foundation he had for building his hopes upon of 
 engaging his illustrious daughter to encourage his 
 pretensions to her favour, and trusting to merit by 
 his future conduct, the distinction he aspired to, 
 humbly craved the permission of the Regent to 
 carry on his suit ; or that, however distressing the 
 alternative, he would forego his fond expectations, 
 and take himself out of the country. The Prince 
 Regent was surprized at the extraordinary candour 
 B B 
 
186 LIFE OF THE 
 
 and liberality of his Serene Highness ; he admired 
 him for it, and confirmed in the opinion which he 
 had at the first formed of his principles, did not 
 hesitate to assure him, that although he would not 
 interfere in his behalf, nor press the measure upon 
 his child, notwithstanding he could have no objec- 
 tion to the proposal of a man who was so very 
 deserving. But this did not occur till the definitive 
 answer of her Royal Highness to the overtures 
 made to her by William of Orange. 
 
 The Prince of Orange, although frequently 
 bafrled in his efforts to draw matters to a complete 
 decision, did not think the many rejections he had 
 encountered a sufficient warrant for despairing al- 
 together. 
 
 The great point of difference was at first the 
 delicate case of her mother, whose happiness she 
 could not think to give up, in composition for a 
 husband. The Prince had several estimable quali- 
 ties, and his bravery and spirit shown upon the 
 peninsula, had given him an exalted place in the 
 esteem of the Regent, who therefore endeavoured 
 to promote his interests with all his weight and 
 power; the more readily no doubt, because the 
 Prince of Orange did not seem born to make love, 
 but from the integrity of his life, the steadiness of 
 his conduct* bid fair, whatever he might be in 
 courtship, to discharge his married duties with 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 187 
 
 constancy and a willing mind. It was not there- 
 fore a strange thing that his Royal Highness should 
 interest himself in the matter with anxious impor- 
 tunity, his daughter too young as she was to form 
 a discreet judgment for herself, her suitor unfit to 
 inspire tenderness though deserving of it ; and to 
 these private motives as a father, were superadded 
 his Royal Highness's concern to bind by a com- 
 munion of interests the presiding family of Britain 
 with the house of Nassau, a connection that pro- 
 mised most confidently reciprocal benefit to both. 
 His wish on these accounts to forward the addresses 
 of William of Orange was not very possibly so strong 
 an incentive to the exercise of paternal authority 
 that he would have persevered against the mani- 
 fest inclination of her Royal Highness, had he not 
 thought the influence of the Princess of Wales 
 Would be employed to the utmost for the retarda- 
 tion of the affair, and the final disappointment of 
 it; and for this conjecture he had strong inducements, 
 the apparent interest of the Princess of Wales her- 
 self, and her declared wishes. 
 
 Although the intended marriage had been ru- 
 moured about in general conversation and the 
 Public Papers, yet no authentic character was sup- 
 posed to have been given to the report, and there- 
 fore on the 21st of April 1814, a member of the 
 House of Commons, asked, in his place, whether 
 
188 LIFE OF THE 
 
 the advisers of the Prince Regent were empowered 
 to make any communications upon the subject; 
 for it could not fail to interest the minds of the 
 people, and was well deserving of the attention and 
 consideration of parliament, involving as it did the 
 essential concerns of the whole country. But the 
 matter was not either denied or confirmed ; so the 
 uncertainty still continued till it was formally and 
 publicly announced by the king of the Netherlands 
 to his subjects, and then of course it was laid down 
 as a determined thing. The nation was in conse- 
 quence much surprized to learn, that good found- 
 ation existed for supposing that after all it would 
 not take place, and was, far from advancing success- 
 fully, in a state that promised its renewal to be an* 
 impossible event. 
 
 The anxiety of every individual was awakened 
 to be fully acquainted with the causes of the rupture, 
 whether the union was ever likely to happen, 
 under what circumstances it was begun, why it was 
 broken off, and so forth. A fair opening seemed 
 now to be for some parliamentary man to elicit in- 
 formation respecting the affair from the ministers, 
 and as opportunities of this kind are seldom passed 
 over, the hope was entertained that questions 
 would be put, nor was that hope unanswered. 
 
 On the 20th of June 1814, Sir Matthew White 
 RMley began ; Seeing the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 189 
 
 chequer in the House, he expected to learn whether 
 or not there was a negotiation afoot to unite the 
 two families of Britain and Holland. That the 
 importance of such a measure justified the notice 
 he took of it, and called upon the ministers to give 
 a satisfactory answer to the question ; detailing the 
 commencement of the suit, its progress and attend- 
 ing circumstances. A record being entered on the 
 Journal book, a sort of claim was laid upon the di- 
 rectors of the state to impart a knowledge of it to 
 the House, and allay the ferment of doubt and 
 speculation which it was natural for every man 
 who had the good of his country at heart to feel 
 with lively sensibility. Whenever the discussion 
 came before them, it would be necessary to sift the 
 matter, and decide upon it with discretion and care, 
 and since the sitting of parliament was drawing to 
 a close, he thought an intimation should now be 
 given, if it was contemplated to do so at all, and to 
 take the sense of the House upon it. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer begged to say, 
 that to communicate what they were not authorized 
 to state, would be reprehensible in his Majesty's 
 ministers, all then that he could answer was, that 
 no command had been delivered of notifying the 
 business alluded to in any manner. 
 
 It was commonly thought by the people out of 
 doors that more complaisance and satisfactoriness 
 
190 LIFE OF THE 
 
 might have been evinced by the ministers upon 
 this important subject, but considering the extreme 
 delicacy of it, the dissensions which it might per- 
 maturely excite, and above all the great uncertainty 
 of the event itself, they are not so very much to be 
 censured, as is suggested upon the first survey of the 
 matter. It was urged, however, with considerable 
 pertinacity by the members of the opposition, and 
 both sides grew warm in the contest. Mr. Whit- 
 bread, after the Chancellor of the Exchequer had 
 declined giving any hints that could set public 
 anxiety at rest, arose and declared ; 
 
 It ought not to be expected that the answer 
 given to the Baronet's interrogatory could be ac- 
 ceptable to the representatives, or those who were 
 represented by them. In the first place, (he said,) 
 it was publicly and solemnly announced by the 
 King of the Netherlands to his subjects, that a 
 marriage was about to take place between the 
 Prince of Orange and the Princess Charlotte ; a 
 report of the alliance was stated in the house some 
 time back, and the statement was standing on the 
 Journal book ; and the Princess of Wales in her 
 communication to the House had acquainted them, 
 that the Prince of Orange declared himself to her 
 as a suitor for her daughter's hand, and her Royal 
 Highness had intimated, moreover, that it was no 
 unlikely thing but the match would be made. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 191 
 
 Questions had frequently been put to ministers, 
 but they were uniformly evaded, he thought such 
 evasions should be indulged no longer, and that 
 the time was arrived for the House to look with 
 confidence for information upon the subject. 
 
 Mr. B. Bathurst called hirn here loudly to order ; 
 for he conceived it improper to force a discussion 
 upon the House respecting a matter in which the 
 servants of the crown had represented themselves 
 unauthorized to give any satisfaction, and unable to 
 indeed to give it. Such conduct was in his opinion 
 very irregular, as much so as it was inconvenient. 
 
 Mr. Whitbread believed that no irregularity 
 would be found in his proceedings; for he intended 
 to conclude his observations with a motion, and ac- 
 cording to the usages of parliament, a motion would 
 would render his appeal to the good sense of the 
 House altogether regular, and he hoped that the 
 servants and advisers of the executive would then 
 find it convenient also to treat the inquisitive dis- 
 positions of himself and his honourable friends, 
 with attention and courtesy. If, after so long a 
 time, when the business must have made some 
 progress or retrocession of a decided nature, if no 
 manner of notice should be taken about questions 
 of such importance, then it became the duty of the 
 House to use their interference, and address the 
 Prince Regent, to pray that his Royal Highness 
 
192 LIFE OF THE 
 
 would commission a reply to be given to the anxious 
 and commendable inquiries of the House. He had 
 mentioned the information imparted by the Prin- 
 cess of Wales, and hereby occasion was afforded 
 for a refutation or assent to the belief warranted 
 from such an authentic source, but of these neither 
 was signified ; now it was circulated that the affair 
 was totally at an end ; and even the very grounds 
 and particulars of the rupture were distinctly stated; 
 and notwithstanding all this, no parliamentary 
 light was thrown upon the case, but they were left 
 to form varying conjectures, whereas a certainty 
 with respect to some of the reported objections on 
 the side of the Princess Charlotte was absolutely 
 required to be fully known and understood, in order 
 to make a question then before the House, or pro- 
 posed to be brought before it, thoroughly and duly 
 comprehended and determined. It was not per- 
 mitted the members on a recent affair coming on, 
 to enter into its merits, as being too delicate and 
 nice a point for public debate to be exerted upon, 
 and yet it was appearing that considerations of the 
 kind were about to render abortive the marriage 
 projected and so very desirable and full of national 
 benefit and advantage: since the rumour had it 
 that the situation of the Princess of Wales, was 
 the grand cause operating an aversion in the mind 
 of the Princess Charlotte towards the alliance. And 
 
PE1NCESS CHARLOTTE. 193 
 
 if that was really the cause, how much must the 
 young Princess add to her popularity, and establish 
 the good opinion of the people which they had 
 already formed of the excellent qualities with which 
 her Royal Highness was adorned ; her generosity 
 in foregoing selfish views for the purpose of for- 
 warding the happiness and tranquillity of another, 
 and her filial piety and devotion, since that other 
 was her mother. (Hear Hear.) 
 
 In order to gather information of such importance, 
 and which it concerned them to have, his honour- 
 able friend^ the Baronet, had put his question to 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who evaded it, 
 or rather refused to answer : but he expected that 
 the consequence attached to it, would induce a 
 reply before the session drew towards a close, as it 
 might be considered after the week ensuing, for 
 after that week it was rare to have a full attendance. 
 
 Under the impression that he was doing an act 
 of public duty, and that the utmost should be used 
 by him of his endeavours, he proposed " That an 
 humble address be presented to his Royal Highness 
 the Prince Regent, praying that he would be 
 graciously pleased to acquaint the House, if there 
 be a treaty of marriage on foot between her Royal 
 Highness the Princess Charlotte of Wales, and the 
 Hereditary Prince of Orange." 
 
 Sir M. W. Ridley seconded Mr. Whitbread's 
 c c 
 
194 LIFE OF THE 
 
 motion. He felicitated himself and those who 
 heard him, that the subject was taken up by a 
 gentleman of such good parts, and so far abler to 
 do it justice than he could himself have done. He 
 hoped that Mr. Wbitbread's reasons would not 
 fall ineffective to the ground, and that the satis- 
 faction would be yielded to his arguments and 
 eloquence, whicli he had humbly anticipated to 
 have been granted to his own first simple inquiry. 
 Added to the reasons given by his honourable friend, 
 another might be found in the important consider- 
 ation of the propriety of the Princess Charlotte 
 quitting the country, it having been confidently 
 stated, that should the intended nuptials take place, 
 the first consequence from it would be her Royal 
 Highness's departure for Holland, and the stay of her 
 Hoyal Highness there ; and surely a circumstance 
 which involved, as it did, so many serious consider- 
 ations, ought not to be slightly passed over, or re- 
 garded as undeserving the notice of parliament. 
 
 A ministerial member; The honourable gentle- 
 man who seconded and pressed the questions of the 
 Baronet had been detected in a breach of order. 
 From this he had set himself free, by turning his 
 speech into the form of a motion. If whatever 
 was not calculated to transgress the regulations of 
 the House, could be put forth consistently with 
 decorum, delicacy and decency, the expressions 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 195 
 
 made use of, and urged forward by him, might be 
 irreprehensible ; but this was a case exposed to in- 
 decorum, indelicacy, and indecency, and the ho- 
 nourable member seemed desirous to give a loose 
 play to their influence over his mind. (Order, 
 Order.) He would be understood to advert to the 
 honourable gentleman's proposition, and not to 
 make any personal allusions. Not only the motion 
 was itself unfit to be entertained, but the very cir- 
 cumstances adduced in support of it, were fraught 
 with impropriety and indiscretion ; for as to the 
 transaction existing at all or not, it was only as- 
 sumed, and that assumption by no means would 
 bear out the House in debating it, nor was it sup- 
 ported by arguments of any weight, or in unison 
 with the sentiments of respect which ought to ac- 
 company the consideration of the female character, 
 exalted by rank and individual merit, he himself 
 admitting that the affair was improbable, nay about 
 to be entirely dissolved. Would it be acceptable 
 to his own feelings, if such treatment were given 
 to his sister or daughter, or would he regard its 
 public canvassings, upon the intended nuptials of 
 a female friend of his, compatible with the tender- 
 ness which subjects of that description most justly 
 required to have extended to them. 
 
 Mr. Whitbread's viewing the matter with concern, 
 both on account of the distinguished personage her- 
 
196 LIFE OF THE 
 
 self, and as it nearly affected the highest interests 
 of the state, was perfectly agreeable to the late Mr. 
 Horner's opinions also; but he nevertheless coin- 
 cided with the advice given to postpone for a while 
 his intentions, in order that a reasonable time should 
 be allowed, in which the marriage would exhibit 
 a decided aspect of one sort or other, and so minis- 
 ters might be enabled to give the information to 
 the Bouse, which they at the present time professed 
 themselves unqualified to do. He had said of one 
 sort ; or other, because when such a period had 
 transpired, if the alliance was to take place with 
 the free consent of her Royal Highness's private 
 inclinations, these inclinations must have disclosed 
 themselves; but otherwise, he should think a par- 
 liamentary notice called for, and he doubted not, 
 but on that occasion, he would feel himself disposed 
 to enter wholly into the views of his honourable 
 and respected friend. 
 
 Mr. Whitbread, convinced that no ulterior benefit 
 could immediately attend the motion introduced by 
 him, however consistent with propriety that motion 
 might be, and swayed by the judgment of Mr. 
 Horner, he would, with permission of the House, 
 withdraw the motion. 
 
 All parties were earnest in assigning causes for 
 the procrastinating behaviour of the Princess Char- 
 lotte, if it ought to be deemed procrastinating, when 
 
PJtINCESS CHARLOTTE, 197 
 
 in truth her Royal Highness never encouraged the 
 advances made to her upon that head. According 
 to the respective politics followed, were the various 
 opinions stated and substantiated in the Journals ; 
 and with so much confidence did they think that 
 their conjectures were right and properly grounded, 
 that the remotest consequences were pursued, and 
 particularized and diversified, as chance directed 
 the several results which might attend the decision 
 of the thing either way. 
 
 The private influence of the Princess of Wales 
 was rendered needless, by the substitution of other 
 adequate causes, in the dissertations of those who 
 strenuously maintained her rights. The principal 
 objection assigned by such, was, the disinclination 
 of the Princess Charlotte to leave the kingdom, 
 and their arguments were strengthened by the 
 letter written by her to the Earl of Liverpool, in 
 which that point is made a very material difficulty, 
 but this letter betrays in its general complexion; 
 no regret that obstacles stood against the contem- 
 plated alliance. It was suggested by the writers 
 on this side of the question, that to go to Holland 
 would be derogatory to the exalted condition of 
 her Royal Highness ; born to the inheritance of 
 the British empire, was it suitable to her own dig- 
 nity, and the glory of the realm, that she should 
 fly from among us, and run after the company of a 
 
198 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Prince of secondary consideration. His Serene 
 Highness was admitted to be brave, but he had 
 certainly, though that may have been for want of 
 opportunities, never shown the magnanimity and 
 height of spirit which Englishmen expect to be 
 found in persons distined to rule over others ; he 
 fought with intrepidity, but fighting characters do 
 not always possess the noble attributes which are 
 heaped upon them, especially in modern times, 
 warfare having been reduced to a mere system, the 
 physical strength and firmness of the soldiery in 
 general determining the issue of the day, and now 
 there is a glaring absurdity in laying down every 
 man to be good and generous who comes out of 
 the field of battle with unsullied reputation. The 
 very tinsel with which a person is decorated who 
 has got any command at all, is frequently a suf- 
 ficient motive for entering into the military service 
 In former years indeed, when the country was 
 just emerging from savage wildness, and the in- 
 habitants began to glow with the heat of noble and 
 warm emotions, they who were readiest to stand 
 forth in defence of the injured were highly thought 
 of, and they deserved the good opinions of mankind 
 in many signal instances ; but then the arm was 
 extended unadorned with lace, and the conscious- 
 ness of achieving a noble exploit, of rescuing feeble 
 innocents from the brutal embrace of lawless 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 199 
 
 vagabonds, in other terms, the deeds of chivalry, 
 formed a worthy object of the people's admiration, 
 and the tribe of bards and ballad makers, men of 
 soaring but unschooled fancies, delighted to cele- 
 brate their gallant actions. Thence the champion 
 and the man of honour grew sinonymous. But mere 
 courage, unassociated with gentleness and high 
 sentiment, was not in those ages the constituent 
 of heroic virtue ; had it been, the free-booters, the 
 savage ruffians who hurried away the defenceless 
 virgins, would in such case have had equal 
 claims to praise with him who adventured his life 
 to set them at liberty. No. It was the union of 
 ardent and dauntless mental prowess with the feel- 
 ings of humanity and a sense of justice, that formed 
 the character of the hero, and forbade his name to 
 sink into forgetfulness. Nor while Britons boast 
 their emblem in a Lion, will they be prone to 
 sever generosity and courage, or think that he 
 must be gentle and good, who bad resolution 
 enough to stand his ground while dangers threaten- 
 ed and admonished him to fly ; for although nothing 
 impedes the soldiers more than other persons, 
 from having principles of greatness about them, yet 
 they may be devoid of these principles, as articles 
 of commerce may not be good at the same time 
 that they are dear ; and nothing more is intended 
 to be sought ; certainly therefore no aspersion can 
 
200 LIFE OF THE 
 
 deservedly be cast upon the Princess Charlotte for 
 not finding out in her wooer the amiable qualities 
 which his bravery had only made suppositional. 
 Of his discretion he had given as many proofs as 
 any lover need ever give, but something was re- 
 quired more captivating still to induce the Princess 
 to overlook the inconvenience that was hinged to 
 the match, the de*erfeion of her country, and very 
 possibly the augmentation of her beloved 'mother's 
 sorrow, the widening of the breach in her married 
 happiness, which some lamentable cause or other 
 hindered from being ever repaired again. Rash 
 must be the judge who, under such considerations, 
 can pronounce her Hoyal Highness guilty of indis- 
 cretion, and a total disregard to national interests, 
 in her eagerness to gratify her private choice. 
 
 But the Princess of Wales was reckoned the 
 §b\e bar in opposition to the wished-for occurrence, 
 by the writers who liked not Mr. Whitbread nor 
 any of his friends. They insinuated the pains 
 which the mother was at to estrange her daughter's 
 affections from a deserving young Prince to whom 
 no rational objection could be made. But it was 
 going too far to hint an alienation of attachment, 
 when none was demonstrated to have been formed; 
 unless they supposed the Princess Charlotte to be 
 of a constitution not so incapacitated for the recep- 
 tion of pleasing ideas but that she might cherish 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 201 
 
 some tenderness towards a suitor whom she was 
 engaged in contemplating a long time, and was 
 permitted to love him if she could. 
 
 But whatever the motives may have been, is 
 questionable; nor is it improbable that all said on 
 both sides by different political men, was perfectly 
 true, and if any error rests with either, it is in giv- 
 ing one reason an only weight, while none in the 
 scale was without its power, although some grounds 
 of objection may have furnished a superstructure 
 with wider space for extending the disinclination of 
 the Princess. This, however, is past* a doubt, that 
 her Royal Highness's heart was not fixed upon the 
 transaction, and with a firmness commendable both 
 as a Christian, a rational being, and a person of 
 dignity, she would not consent to it. 
 
 The Prince of Orange having renewed his ap- 
 plications, she held it most advisable to give sucli 
 a positive assurance of never encouraging his ad- 
 dresses, and put him so far out of suspense, by 
 writing to him a letter, that the subject would not 
 be pressed any more upon her. In this definitive 
 and determined statement to his Serene Highness, 
 she thanks him, it is said, with great feeling and 
 strength of manner, (for she had an expressiveness 
 peculiar to herself,) for the distinction he had ho- 
 noured her with ; but sincerely advised him to 
 direct his good intentions to another object, as it 
 
 DD 
 
W2 LIFE OF THE 
 
 was not in her gift to make him the expected re- 
 turn. And that the matter might be set at rest 
 for ever, she forwarded transcripts of what she had 
 written, to her royal father, and the Queen. 
 
 The Prince of Orange, therefore, seeing no pro- 
 spect of attaining the end of his stay in England, 
 set off soon after to his own country, deeply affec- 
 ted with the unsuccessful issue of the affair he 
 had so long pursued. But the Prince of Orange 
 was not left without a consort, and the praise- 
 worthy properties that he possessed, deserved he 
 should not ; a negociation was entered into between 
 the Stadtholdery and the Imperial house of Russia, 
 and the treaty was favourably concluded. A sister 
 of the Emperor Alexander, a young Princess of 
 fine accomplishments, and of great personal beauty, 
 granted her hand to his Serene Highness, and neither, 
 as far as accounts have reached us, has had occasion 
 to regret the alliance. 
 
 When the absolute and final rejection of the 
 Prince of Orange was confirmed to the Prince 
 Regent, he very naturally supposed that sentiments 
 taken up inconsiderately from some of her female 
 friends and confidants, had influenced the mind of 
 the Princess Charlotte, and in consequence, he 
 wished above all things to work a change in the 
 persons who waited upon her, and place in their 
 room ladies of wider survey and more extensive 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 203 
 
 knowledge of the world. An intimation to this 
 effect is reported to have given great pain to her 
 Royal Highness, and to have aggravated the un- 
 easiness which perplexed her mind. Strongly at- 
 tached to ladies with whom she had long associated, 
 she was loth to part from them, and on her own 
 account she entertained apprehensions that she could 
 not be so much her own mistress with strangers to 
 her, and she greatly feared that being appointed 
 for the direction of her conduct, they might be 
 readier to controul her views than comported with 
 the openness and candour of her disposition. 
 
 Being at a public party in Carlton House, the 
 Princess caught a severe cold, and this produced a 
 general derangement of the system, added to which 
 the little crosses and troubles she met with, rendered 
 her Royal Highness altogether indiposed, and it 
 was deemed necessary to inquire of the physicians 
 about the properest mode to be followed for the 
 restoration of her health, and the composure of her 
 spirits. A slight complaint in the knee had al- 
 ready visited the Princess ; but that did not con- 
 tinue long, nor appeared at any time of serious 
 moment. On the 6th of July a consultation was 
 held between Doctor Baillie and two eminent 
 surgeons ; and they agreed upon the following pre- 
 scription : 
 
 "Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte, not 
 
204 LIFE OF THE 
 
 yet entirely rid of the attack in the right knee, and 
 the general health of her Royal Highness needing 
 refection, we are of opinion that her Royal High- 
 ness ought to repair for two or three months to 
 the sea-side ; the means most likely to renovate the 
 general health of her Royal Highness, and to expel 
 whatever may remain of the disorder in the knee." 
 
 It was in pursuance of this direction that the 
 Princess went to Weymouth in the beginning of 
 September. While in town, the ceremonies and 
 intercourse necessary to be maintained by her, 
 were thought sufficient to employ all the moments 
 she could spare from her studies, which she was still 
 prosecuting with earnestness and voluntary assidu- 
 ity, and had now added deep researches into Greek 
 literature to the other attainments which she had 
 made. Little time was left upon her hands for 
 the indulgence of her native thoughts, and these, 
 as just hinted, were supposed to be fully occupied 
 in paying and receiving visits, in attending parties, 
 and making preparations for them ; but before she 
 went to Weymouth, where more leisure was to be 
 allowed her, the Regent conceived the intended 
 alteration in her establishment ought to be made, 
 if it were to be made at all. 
 
 On the 12th day of July, his Royal Highness 
 drove to Warwick House, wished to see, and was 
 shown the Princess Charlotte. He without preface 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 205 
 
 or dubious hesitation, acquainted her frankly that 
 the time was now come for carrying into effect the 
 change he had long proposed in the attendants of 
 her Royal Highness ; that Miss Knight and her 
 whole family were to be immediately dismissed, 
 that she herself was forthwith to gotoCarlton House, 
 and abide in it until she departed for Cranbourne 
 Lodge ; that the Countess Dowager of Rosslyn, 
 the Countess of Ilchester, the two Miss Coteses, 
 and Mrs. Campbell were in the adjoining apartment 
 ready to wait upon her. The Princess endeavoured 
 most strenuously to counter-persuade her revered 
 father upon the step he was taking, and made the 
 most devout supplications to him for a suspension 
 of his purpose, hoping that the conduct of her pre- 
 sent companions would be found upon strict inves- 
 tigation as conformable to rigid propriety and 
 prudence as to the kindness they had always treat- 
 ed her with. But these remonstrances were un- 
 availing ; the Prince, conscious of the wisdom and 
 fitness of the change, positively refused to comply 
 with her Royal Highness's entreaty, and expected 
 dutiful submission to the measures he wanted to 
 accomplish. The Prince offering to introduce the 
 ladies, the Princess requested to be suffered to 
 withdraw for a little, and accordingly left the room. 
 The Regent stopped, and long waited for her 
 entrance again; but no Princess was forthcoming — 
 
206 LIFE OF THE 
 
 every thing grew now into hurry and bustle ; the 
 Princess was not any where to be found. At 
 length, it was laid down for matter of fact that 
 she was really gone, fled away, absolutely gone off, 
 escaped. A message was dispatched by the Prince 
 to her uncle, the Duke of York ; the Duke of York 
 was her favourite uncle. 
 
 It appears the Princess in her agitation, not know- 
 ing what to do, stole away from Warwick House; 
 and getting into Charing Cross, took a coach for 
 Connaught House, the residence of the Princess of 
 Wales. She desired the coachman to drive with 
 all the speed possible, and she should readily make 
 up to him for his trouble. The driver went on 
 most rapidly, and soon reached Connaught House; 
 but the Princess Charlotte did not find her mother 
 there. She then resolved to seek her at Black- 
 heath ; and addressing the coachman, asked if she 
 could rely upon his protection : "Madam," cried the 
 fellow, " I'll protect you to the last drop of my 
 blood." Changing her mind, however, she sent off 
 a messenger to her mother's house at Blackheath, 
 to acquaint her with the journey she had taken. 
 The intelligence met the Princess of Wales upon 
 the road to town ; and after receiving it, she desir- 
 ed the carriage to be drawn with the utmost haste 
 to the parliament house, and arriving at it, enquired 
 with great anxiety for Mr. Whitbread, who was 
 
PKINCESS CHARLOTTE. 207 
 
 not attending that day ; then she asked to see Earl 
 Grey, who was also absent, having left London a 
 a few days before. She instantly, hearing this, 
 hurried to Connaught House, where she received 
 the affectionate embraces of her dear child, and 
 divided for a time her own sorrows with the winds; 
 for the filial attachment of the Princess Charlotte 
 could not have proved itself with equal force, had 
 the Princess of Wales enjoyed the favour of the 
 great ; but to fly to her mother's arms under dis- 
 tress, was in the Princess Charlotte a testimony of 
 her regard and fondness than which nothing could 
 be more strong, nor coincident with the mind of 
 human beings in misery, who betake themselves 
 not where they can find relief, but where compassion 
 for their sufferings is always to be found. 
 
 Mr. Brougham was already with the Princegs 
 Charlotte, and her Royal Highness had unfolded 
 the whole matter to him. He advised her to obey 
 the summons of her royal parent, and return to his 
 protection as soon as he should send after her; that 
 this was incumbent upon her as the case stood in 
 the law of the land, and as a duty she owed to an 
 indulgent father, who, although harsh it might be 
 in her opinion, could have no other motive for his 
 conduct than love and attention to her interests. 
 
 The Duke of York arrived. He behaved to her 
 Royal Highness with his wonted marks of attach- 
 
£08 LIFE OF THE 
 
 ment and true affection. He begged her to look 
 upon him as her real friend ; and in the most posi- 
 tive manner assured her that she might expect from 
 her father the tenderest reception, that he was 
 amazed at the step she had taken, but not in the 
 least offended, that he loved with sincerity and 
 longed to see her — his only child and the fair ex- 
 pectancy of all his hopes. She delivered herself 
 up into the hands of her uncle, and repaired along 
 with him to Carlton House, accompanied also by 
 Mrs. Lewis, who had come after her Royal High- 
 ness with night clothes, where she was kindly 
 met by her fond parent, and in the evening of the 
 day, had a special interview with him. 
 
 In an affair of this sort, there are constantly 
 persons busying themselves to make their inquiries, 
 and to shew the deep concern they feel for the fa~ 
 mily's happiness. This in private conditions is 
 often seen ; much more then was it to be expected 
 that intermeddlers would not be wanting in the 
 present instance. The dutiful inquiries of many 
 were treated upon this account, perhaps, with less 
 attention than their disinterested anxiety warrant- 
 ed, and in consequence, various rumours were 
 afloat respecting the way the Princess was used in, 
 at Garlton House ; although even her being there 
 was not a certain thing, there was only conjecture 
 for it ; and surmises of all kinds began to spread 
 
PRINCESS CHAIILOTTE. 209 
 
 about. They who neglecting their private business, 
 went to satisfy their disturbed minds, had the 
 mortification to receive commonplace answers to 
 the questions they put, and from the presence of 
 her Royal Highness they were totally excluded. 
 Public solicitude was wrought up to its highest 
 pitch; and the people turned their eyes to the 
 patriotic Dukeof Sussex,for obtaining an eclaircisse- 
 ment of the mysterious transaction. He, in con- 
 formity with what was expected from him, got up 
 in the House of Lords upon the 19th of July, and 
 thus addressed that assembly : 
 
 My Lords, I rise under a considerable degree of 
 embarrassment, and hope to have on this account 
 your Lordships' indulgence, nor am I capable of 
 describing to you the anxiety which presses on my 
 mind. I shall think it sufficient relief to my agi- 
 tated feelings to state certain queries to the noble 
 Lord at the head of the treasury, unaccompanied 
 with collateral notices, and 1 trust that his Lord- 
 ship will consider a satisfactory answer to be his 
 official duty, and an act of becoming deference to the 
 House; as to me, it is enough to have the painful 
 necessity of proposing them to him. His Lordship 
 will easily perceive, that in seeking the present in- 
 formation, I carry myself altogether separately from 
 party feeling, and he may rest assured that no in- 
 dividual has influenced my conduct, that the situ- 
 
 E E 
 
210 LIFE OF THE 
 
 ation in which 1 stand, calls upon me to make a 
 sacrifice of my private sentiments which have usual- 
 ly directed my parliamentary proceedings, that a 
 sense of rectitude alone has induced me, unauthor- 
 ized by the advice of any. My questions relate to 
 what has recently occurred, and are well known to 
 the public, but the persons consulted upon the oc- 
 casion must doubtless be still more intimately ac- 
 quainted with them. As to other persons, I must 
 always express myself with dutiful respect. With 
 this prefacing, I proceed to lay down my questions, 
 and if the noble Lord have difficulties in compre- 
 hending them precisely, then will 1 repeat them. 
 In the first place I desire to know, "Whether, 
 since the removal of her Royal Highness, the Prin- 
 cess Charlotte, to Carlton House, her Royal High- 
 ness has been allowed that communication and in- 
 tercourse with her friends and connections which 
 she previously enjoyed?" 
 
 Here the Duke of Sussex waited for an answer 
 from the Earl of Liverpool ; but none being re- 
 turned, his Royal Highness went on. If the noble 
 Earl do not think proper to give an answer to this 
 question, I shall proceed to my second, his Lordship 
 may wish to answer them altogether. I have pro- 
 posed to myself no entangling plans, but simply 
 want to be made acquainted with the circumstan- 
 ces of an occurrence which has perplexed the pub- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. £11 
 
 lie mind, and given to me particular uneasiness. 
 My second question is, " Whether Princess Char- 
 lotte, since her going to Carlton House, has been 
 permitted the free exercise of her pen, and to com- 
 municate without let or controul with whatever 
 friend she may choose to write to; and has been 
 given the same liberty of using and disposing her 
 papers according to her own inclination, as she had 
 while residing in Warwick House?" 
 
 In the third place I am fain to know, " Whether 
 her Royal Highness has been allowed the same 
 personal freedom which she had before coming to 
 Carlton House, and such as people not in confine- 
 ment are used to ?" 
 
 Fourth, " Whether the same advice with respect 
 to sea bathing was given to her Royal Highness in 
 the course of last year, which was suggested in the 
 present ?" 
 
 Fifth, "Whether her Royal Highness having 
 exceeded by a half year the eighteenth year of 
 her age, (the period after which parliament has ac- 
 knowledged the fitness of members of the royal 
 family to preside over the government of the coun- 
 try) there is any intention of making for her Royal 
 Highness such a provision as might enable her to 
 mix with the high ranks of the land, she that is 
 destined to possess a situation of the first eminence 
 and power which the constitution of Great Britain 
 recognizes ?" 
 
212 LIFE OF THE 
 
 A considerable pause ensued when the Duke of 
 Sussex had sat down ; and with visible reluctance 
 Lord Liverpool addressed himself to the House. 
 
 He hoped he might safely leave their Lordships 
 to consider whether or not such questions ought to 
 be started, and, when started, whether they could 
 with propriety be answered ? The Prince Regent 
 was the father of his family, and to his prerogative 
 it belonged to direct the concerns of it as be might 
 himself suppose to be advisable. With respect to 
 her Royal Highness, the Prince Regent had done 
 nothing that could excite his regret or sorrow ; he 
 was affected with great tenderness and love towards 
 his child, and he prudently adopted such measures 
 in her education as appeared to him most conducive 
 to her benefit and happiness, agreeably to the duties 
 which God, nature, and the laws of the country im- 
 posed upon him. The attachment of the Prince 
 towards his daughter was most sincere and devo- 
 tional ; nor could the slightest shade of indifference 
 ever be perceived in him towards her. He, under 
 the present circumstances, confidently trusted that 
 their Lordships would be forward to believe that 
 his Royal Highness did all in his power to promote 
 the comfort and ultimate happiness of his daughter, 
 and the more his Royal Highness's conduct to her 
 was known, the greater opinion must they entertain 
 of his desire for her honour and prosperity, notwith- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 213 
 
 standing to raise questions on the subject, would 
 bear by implication a disagreeable appearance, as 
 unmerited as it was unnecessary. 
 
 The Duke of Sussex said he had listened 
 with extreme attention to what had fallen from his 
 Lordship, but he did not clearly understand him ; 
 he seemed to suppose that some disrespect was of- 
 fered to a great character in what he had propound- 
 ed, if such were his meaning, he could most truly 
 aver that his Lordship had fallen into a mistake, 
 that nothing could be more remote to his intention. 
 Had he, contrary to his wish, expressed himself in 
 that manner, he must have violated the rujes of 
 decorum established in the house, and there were 
 present noble Lords who could have set him right, 
 if, in their sense, he had been wrong. Such a design, 
 he altogether disclaimed; but his Lordship, while he 
 obliged him by letting his thoughts transpire upon 
 this point, had by no means replied to his questions 
 in a satisfactory manner, and he should introduce 
 -i formal motion to gain the necessary knowledge, 
 on the Friday next. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor conceived that the duty he 
 owed to the Prince and the people, required him 
 to notice the proceedings of the evening. The il- 
 lustrious Duke had declared that no improper or 
 disingenuous principles had swayed his conduct, 
 and he was quite certain that the Duke entertained 
 
214 LIFE OF THE 
 
 no disrespectful sentiments towards the quarter 
 involved in the consideration of the case, but he 
 was fully persuaded, that if his noble friend had 
 given direct replies to the demands made of him, 
 his Lordship would have been guilty of irreverence, 
 where the contrary was justly due, and his good 
 opinion of his wisdom and prudent understanding 
 would have been forfeited for ever, nor could he 
 think himself supported by discretion, if he consult- 
 ed with his Lordship afterwards at any time. For 
 what was the tendency of the questions ? When it 
 was asked if her Royal Hignness had free recourse 
 to her pen, liberty to correspond with her friends, 
 and hold communication with them, did not a charge 
 immediately arise that the Prince managed his 
 daughter without due attention to her comforts and 
 innocent pastime ? an imputation of harshness, in- 
 stead of admiration for the exemplary manner in 
 which his Royal Highness had continually dis- 
 charged his paternal obligations. In the present 
 alteration made in the Princess's household, the 
 advice of ministers was conscientiously given, and 
 laudably followed by the Prince Regent, whose 
 province comprehended the direction of the royal 
 family. Whatever fault was found with the re- 
 cent mode her Royal Highness was treated in, 
 ought to have been objected solely to the responsi- 
 ble advisers of the Prince, who, in unison with the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 215 
 
 wisest plan that could be devised, had acted with 
 greater claims to their Lordships' entire approbation 
 and praise, than the interrogatories had to the seri- 
 ous consideration of their Lordships, which could 
 not be well bestowed upon them but to the incul- 
 pation of his Royal Highness's commendable con- 
 duct. 
 
 Although the Duke had signified his resolution 
 to move the business in due form on the 22d, it 
 was not till the 25th of July that he called the at- 
 tention of the House of Lords again to it. He on 
 that evening declared that he had come through 
 mere courtesy before their Lordships, in conse- 
 quence of his motion, which he was not now dis- 
 posed to forward ; as he had learned from the news- 
 papers that her Royal Highness had been in town, 
 after her removal to Cranbourn House, and was 
 in all respects unconfmed in the exercise of her 
 personal will, and he trusted the most lenient and 
 kind means would be used in the treatment of her 
 Royal Highness for the time to come. Severity 
 and exact discipline ill comported with the natural 
 temper of the Princess ; and it was probably owing 
 to agitations of mind that her indisposition had 
 advanced upon her: but since there was every 
 likelihood that benefit would be derived from a re- 
 sidence by the sea coast, and that was now pre- 
 scribed by persons eminent in the faculty, he did 
 
216 LIFE OF THE 
 
 not doubt but the earliest opportunity would be 
 taken to provide a suitable place, and that her re- 
 tirement would be free from the interruptions of 
 trouble and anxieties, her mind now requiring to 
 be soothed. He was quite convinced that nothing 
 could induce her Royal Highness to change the 
 resolution she had come to upon a certain matter, 
 andhepleased himself with the hope that no attempts 
 would be made to renew the primary cause of her 
 late mental sufferings. 
 
 But before the illustrious Duke sat down, he 
 could not abstain from furnishing some useful hints 
 to the noble and learned Lord upon the woolsack. 
 " Lord Bacon (he said) judged of reading that it 
 rendered men erudite, that writing made correct 
 men, and that conversation tended to make men 
 ready ;" thus concluded the Duke's interference. 
 
 Lord Liverpool highly approved of the deter- 
 mination of the Duke, and he was very happy to 
 find that the subject was not to go through any 
 tedious debate, nor be submitted to an unnecessary 
 investigation. In justification of himself and his 
 colleagues he must be permitted to observe, that no 
 design was ever entertained, or has been, of treating 
 her Royal Highness in a manner unsuited to her 
 rank, improper for her age, or hurtful to her feel- 
 ings. 
 
 There are indeed no grounds for supposing any 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 217 
 
 design to be held for renewing the overtures of the 
 Prince of Orange ; and very probably the condition 
 of the Princess of Wales, slighted by the several 
 great families of the kingdom, gave the only source 
 of uneasiness to her affectionate daughter. But 
 the time was now arrived for the Princess of W ales 
 to engage her mind in travelling through the coun- 
 tries of Europe ; and this was apparently a measure 
 best fitted to restore her tranquillity and brighten 
 up her spirits. As soon as the project was rumoured, 
 parliamentary notice was taken of it in the House 
 of Commons, where on the 30th of July, Mr. 
 Tierney observed that a report having prevailed of 
 the Princess of Wales being on the eve of depar- 
 ture for the continent, he would embrace that his 
 earliest opportunity to express his regret. If her 
 Royal Highness intended only to make an absence 
 of a year or two, even so, he must feel vexed at 
 her quitting England under her present circum- 
 stances, unrestored to the full dignity of her exalted 
 station, and because, in a national regard, it was also 
 subject to the greatest inconveniences, the contin- 
 gency of her succession to the rank of majesty ma^e 
 it a very solemn and lamentable resolution ; but if 
 the residence was to be perpetual abroad, then he 
 contemplated the matter with the most serious con- 
 cern. He expected to learn that no understanding 
 subsisted between the ministers and the Princess 
 
218 LIFE OF THE 
 
 that she should receive an addition to her pension, 
 and upon that account look to her journey as a 
 necessary consequence ; what would that be but to 
 have paid for the going off, to have sent her Royal 
 Highness into mercenary exile. The honourable 
 member was not then in his place, who, in conjunc- 
 tion with him, had been so active in procuring an 
 encreased allowance, but he would boldly answer 
 for him and all his other friends, that no idea was 
 ever entertained by them that she was to leave the 
 country, when the augmentation of her income 
 might enable her to travel. He begged to assure 
 the house that it was quite foreign to their views 
 to make such arrangements with that end, and he 
 trusted no stipulations of the kind had been agreed 
 upon by the servants of the crown and the Princess 
 of Wales. Lord Castlereagh, in answer to what 
 had been spoken by Mr. Tierney, said, that all he 
 could acquaint the honourable member with was 
 only this — her Royal Highness had signified her 
 intention to quit the country ; and requested per- 
 mission to dq so, which was of course most readily 
 acceded to, convinced that, when the encrease was 
 made to her Royal Highness's fortune, it was not 
 at the same time designed to incarcerate her person, 
 but that her Royal Highness might consider herself 
 at perfect liberty to take up her residence where 
 her pleasure or conveniency soever might suggest* 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 219 
 
 Mr. Tierney then declared that such a step was 
 positively counter to the advice which Mr. Whit- 
 bread, and all the sincere wellwishers of that person- 
 age had submitted to her consideration and accept- 
 ance. 
 
 To talk of regret and sorrow, as applicable to the 
 private enjoyments and peace of her Royal High- 
 ness, when she took the visit to foreign parts into 
 her mind, and enrolled it among her wishes, were 
 surely to combat with ordinary reason, for it was 
 the best expedient she could possibly hit upon, 
 according to the experience of every body who has 
 been placed in the like circumstances. The political 
 consideration of it is another affair. But she most 
 truly desired to go abroad, and wrote to Lord 
 Liverpool respecting that longing to see her brother, 
 and the land of her birth, which she hoped to be 
 permitted to accomplish. This is the published 
 copy of her Royal Highness's letter to his Lord- 
 ship: 
 
 " The Princess of Wales requests Lord Liverpool 
 to lay before the Prince Regent the contents of this 
 letter. 
 
 " Actuated by the most urgent motive, that of 
 restoring tranquillity to the Prince Regent, as well 
 as to secure the peace of mind of which she has 
 been for so many years deprived, the Princess of 
 Wales, after mature reflection, has resolved to re- 
 
220 LIFJE OF THE 
 
 turn to the continent. This resolution ought not 
 to surprize the ministers of the Prince Regent, con- 
 sidering the trouble and disagreeable experience of 
 the Princess for so long a time; and still more, 
 after the indignity and mortification to which she 
 has been exposed, by being withheld from receiving 
 her nearest relations, and the most intimate friends 
 of the late Duke of Brunswick her illustrious father. 
 
 " The Princess is extremely anxious that the 
 Prince Regent should be informed of the motives, 
 and clearly comprehend the tenor of her past 
 conduct as politically exhibited. In exacting a 
 justification from this noble nation, her sole pro- 
 tection since the unfortunate indisposition of the 
 King, she is to be understood as solicitous only to 
 maintain her rights and her honour, which are 
 dearer to her than life itself. 
 
 " The Princess of Wales would have undertaken 
 her projected tour long before, if she had not been 
 prevented by the breaking off in the projected 
 marriage of the Princess Charlotte with the Prince 
 of Orange. She could not resolve to leave her 
 daughter without protection, at a period so critical. 
 The Prince Regent having planned to settle the 
 new married couple at the Hague, the Princess 
 Charlotte on that account principally declined the 
 match. Unwilling to prove any obstacle to future 
 arrangements favourable to the happiness of her 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 221 
 
 daughter, the Princess of Wales has at length re- 
 solved to return to Brunswick, her native country. 
 She may afterwards travel into Italy and Greece, 
 where she may probably be able to select an agree- 
 able abode, and live in it for some years. The 
 Princess flatters herself that the Prince Regent 
 will have no objection to this design. 
 
 " The Princess of Wales requests Lord Liver- 
 pool to represent to the Prince Regent, that she 
 resigns Montague House, and the title of Ranger 
 of Greenwich Park, in favour of her daughter, as 
 also the house bequeathed to the Princess of Wales 
 by her mother. The Princess of Wales hopes the 
 Prince Regent will comply with these requests, the 
 last that her Royal Highness intends to offer. 
 
 " The Princess embraces this opportunity to ex- 
 plain the motives which have induced her to decline 
 the grant of £50,000 a year, voted to her by the 
 nation in Parliament. She expresses her lively ac- 
 knowledgment to this great people for their readi- 
 ness to make to her so liberal a pension during her 
 life ; but she has only taken £35,000, because as the 
 gift was intended to support her in her proper rank, 
 and to enable her to hold a court as became the 
 wife of the Prince Regent, the receipt of it would 
 interfere with her views of travelling, and her pur- 
 pose to quit England for a season. Such is the 
 substance of her present communication to Lord 
 
222 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Liverpool, which the Princess would have made 
 before, but for the fear of producing new debates 
 in parliament. She has therefore awaited the rising 
 of that august body, and is now about to depart for 
 Worthing to embark, not intending to return pre- 
 viously to London. 
 
 "The Princess of Wales is happy to assure Lord 
 Liverpool, that she will ever be ardently solicitous 
 for the prosperity and glory of this generous nation." 
 
 " Connaught-House, July 25th, 1814." 
 
 Lord Liverpool's answer to the communication 
 of the Princess of Wales : 
 
 " Lord Liverpool has had the honour to receive 
 the letter of her Royal Highness. Having acquaint- 
 ed the Prince Regent with its contents, he is desired 
 to state that her Royal Highness can meet with 
 no hindrance to the design she has intimated, of 
 returning to her native country, to visit her brother 
 the Duke of Brunswick, assuring her that the 
 Prince Regent will never throw any obstacle in the 
 way of the present or future intentions of her 
 Royal Highness as to the place where she may 
 wish to reside. 
 
 " The Prince Regent leaves it entirely to the 
 liberty of her Royal Highness to exercise her own 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 22S 
 
 discretion as to her abode in this country or on the 
 continent, as it may be convenient to her. 
 
 " Lord Liverpool is also commanded, on the part 
 of the Prince Regent, to inform her Royal High- 
 ness, that he will not throw any obstacles in the 
 way of the arrangements of her Royal Highness, 
 whatever they may be, respecting the rest of the 
 private property of her Royal Highness. But that, 
 for reasons rather too long to explain, the Prince 
 Regent will not permit the Princess Charlotte to 
 be Ranger of Greenwich Park, nor to occupy any 
 of the houses at Blackheath, which the Princess of 
 Wales has hitherto occupied. 
 
 " Lord Liverpool has also been enjoined, on the 
 part of the Prince Regent, before he closes the 
 letter which he has the honour to send to her 
 Royal Highness, to inform her, in relation to the 
 two articles which her Royal Highness has inserted 
 in her letter concerning the rupture of the mar- 
 riage of the Princess Charlotte, with the Hereditary 
 Prince of Orange, as well as to the reasons for 
 which the Allied Sovereigns did not, previously to 
 their departure from England, pay their visits to 
 her Royal Highness, that, as to the first article, 
 Lord Liverpool is commanded by the Prince 
 Regent to inform her Royal Highness, that the 
 Prince Regent is not persuaded that the private 
 considerations of the circumstances in which the 
 
224 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Princess of Wales is placed, can have been an ob- 
 struction to the marriage of the Princess Charlotte.— 
 As to the second article, Lord Liverpool is also 
 enjoined, on the part of the Prince Regent, to in- 
 form her Royal Highness that the Prince Regent 
 never opposed himself to the allied Sovereigns 
 making a visit to the Princess of Wales during 
 their stay in England. 
 
 "Lord Liverpool has the honour to be, with 
 profound esteem and consideration, respondent to 
 her Royal Highness. 
 
 " P. S. The Prince Regent can make no difficul- 
 ties on the subject of the directions which the Prin- 
 cess has the intention of giving as to the house 
 at Blackheath; neither will the Prince Regent 
 oppose her Royal Highness retaining the rooms in 
 Kensington Palace, in the same manner as she 
 possessed them while in London, for the conveni- 
 ence of herself and her suite." 
 
 "JWi/28*/*, 1814." 
 
 Her Royal Highness wrote likewise to Mr. 
 Whitbread, about the same time, explaining to 
 him the reasons for which she did not intend to 
 remain longer in this country. The letter is what 
 follows : 
 
 " The Princess of Wales has the pleasure to in- 
 form, and frankly to avow to Mr. Whitbread, that 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 225 
 
 she is about to take the most important step hi 
 her life. She has embraced the resolution of quit- 
 ting this country for a time ; and has written to 
 Lord Liverpool to inform the Prince Regent im- 
 mediately with her intention. The Princess in- 
 closes a copy of this letter to Mr. Whithread, to 
 make him and his friends understand the plan of 
 conduct which she has adopted. 
 
 " The Princess is so fully persuaded of the well 
 known integrity of Mr. Whitbread and Mr. 
 Brougham, that she cannot doubt but they would 
 have proposed such a step, if motives of delicacy 
 had not prevented them. The Princess is deeply 
 penetrated with gratitude for the attentions which 
 they have shown her, at all times and on all occa- 
 sions. This kindness on their part has withheld 
 her from asking their advice on the present occa- 
 sion ; in every other instance she assures, them, she 
 has always followed the suggestions of her advisers 
 and friends, and conformed to their superior intel- 
 ligence. 
 
 * Her conscience tells her, that her conduct is 
 worthy of her character and of her sentiments, and 
 will always remain so. She has had sufficient 
 leisure to reflect maturely before she adopted her 
 present resolution. People who know not the 
 character of the Princess may be disposed to believe, 
 that she has been induced to adopt this measure in 
 « G 
 
226 LIFE OF THE 
 
 a moment of ill humour; but she takes the Almighty 
 to witness, that she has been intending to travel 
 ever since 1806, although reasons too long for ex- 
 planation have prevented her. No person possess- 
 ed of pride and feeling, could endure to be degrad- 
 ed below her rank in this kingdom, as Princess of 
 Wales, or even as a simple individual, bear to be 
 so hated by its ruler, as to be debarred from his 
 presence both public and private. The Princess of 
 Wales knows not how to support so much debase- 
 ment and mortification. She cannot allow herself 
 to be treated as a culprit by the Prince and his 
 family, while her innocence has been acknowledged 
 by ministers and by Parliament, after an investi- 
 gation which has done away the accusations of 
 traitors and enemies. 
 
 " The Princess having obtained this public satis- 
 faction, cannot in conscience remain a burden to 
 her friends any longer. Events are continually 
 occurring, which oblige her zealous and generous 
 advocates to step forward in her defence. 
 
 " The Princess of Wales is deeply penetrated with 
 the generosity of this brave nation, which, after 
 having taken so lively an interest in her misfortunes, 
 and in her afflicting condition, so willingly affords 
 to her the means of living peaceably in future. She 
 hopes that her gratitude, which will only cease 
 with her existence, will be one day renewed in the 
 
miNCESS CHARLOTTE. 227 
 
 Princess Charlotte, and that her daughter will give 
 proofs of it by her zeal for the glory and happiness 
 of this kingdom ; by defending the rights of her 
 people; and proving by her conduct, that great 
 and powerful as she may be, she will not tyrannise 
 over any one, merely because they have not the 
 good fortune to please her. 
 
 "The Princess of Wales would probably not 
 have departed so soon, had not the marriage of the 
 Princess Charlotte with the Prince of Orange been 
 broken off at her own instance. Dear as her 
 daughter is to her, she could not resolve to leave 
 her without protection in a situation so critical. 
 The Princess aware that the match was ardently 
 desired by the people, wished neither to impede 
 the happiness of the nation, nor that of her daughter. 
 On this account she is solicitous to depart at once, 
 for it is pitiable to see a child rendered on all occa- 
 sions a source of dispute between her parents. 
 
 " The Princess of Wales is assured that in future 
 the Princess Charlotte will be more happy and 
 tranquil, and she is led to make this sacrifice, that 
 if she remains some time longer unmarried, there 
 may be fewer obstacles to her appearance in public. 
 Her father the Prince Regent may thus choose the 
 most suitable of her nearest relations to introduce 
 her into society, that she may enjoy the pleasures 
 congenial to her age, and become acquainted with 
 
22P, LIFE OF THE 
 
 the character of the most distinguished persons in 
 the nation, of which knowledge she has hitherto 
 been deprived, 
 
 "The Princess Charlotte will the less feel the 
 privation of her mother's society, as she has not had 
 it for the two last years. During that time five or 
 six months in succession have passed away without 
 the mother being allowed to see her daughter. She 
 has even been refused the consolation of receiving 
 any of her letters, and thus her regret at leaving her 
 is lessened ; for although living in the same capital, 
 they were not allowed to speak, even when they 
 met in their airings. Her daughter's coachman 
 was forbidden to stop, and directed to act as if he 
 knew not the carriage of the Princess of Wales. 
 Thus to quit her will but be the grief of a day, 
 whilst to remain were only to continue the sorrows 
 of both mother and child. The Princess cannot 
 rest in a situation so unfortunate for herself, and 
 so uneasy to others, and is sure that Mr. Whitbread 
 and his friends will be affected by these consider- 
 ations ; that their sentiments will accord with her 
 own, and that they will approve of her resolution. 
 
 " The Princess, before she ends this long letter, 
 is solicitous to explain to her advisers the most 
 urgent reason for her quitting England, and to 
 show them that delicacy has obliged her to put her- 
 self under the protection of this great and generous 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 229 
 
 nation, having no other refuge since the indisposi- 
 tion of the King. How much has it cost her to 
 make public this declaration — that is to say, that 
 his Royal Highness has been strangely biassed 
 and imposed upon by false accusers- and enemies to 
 her honour, 
 
 " That which renders her situation still more em- 
 barrassing is, that this generous nation has shown 
 more devotion towards herself than to its ruler, 
 who ought to be the blessing and glory of his 
 people. The Princess hopes, that when she quitted 
 England, the Prince Regent will make public his 
 conviction, that her conduct and character have 
 not merited reproach ; and thereby regain that po- 
 pularity which is due to him, and to which his 
 many excellent qualities entitle him in other re- 4 
 spects. 
 
 " The Princess of Wales most devoutly assures 
 Mr. Whitbread and his friends of the immutable 
 sentiments of lively gratitude and perfect esteem 
 towards them, which shall have the same ending 
 with her existence only." 
 
 The Princess of Wales might have known that 
 her comfort and happiness would always be ardent- 
 ly wished for by the upright individual whom she 
 honoured with her confidence and friendship ; but 
 it does not appear a certain thing that her Royal 
 Highness's intention to leave the country was ac- 
 
230 LIFE OF THE 
 
 eeptable to him and his political associates, although, 
 when proposed, it would not have been proper or 
 becoming in them to thwart her inclinations. Feel- 
 ings of regret for the measures entered into, were 
 not suffered to transpire, yet they almost discovered 
 themselves. And even the following reply of Mr. 
 Whitbread to her Royal Highness's letter has a 
 little of the hinted uneasiness in it ; it does not evi- 
 dence itself, but still there is a certain shade of dis- 
 appointment that notwithstanding runs over it. 
 
 %< August 1st, 1814. 
 
 u Mr Whitbread assures her Royal Highness the 
 Princess of Wales, that he has not been at all sur- 
 prised at the resolution with which she has been 
 pleased to acquaint him : it cannot but give him 
 much pain to think that he will not be able to 
 enjoy the amiable society of the Princess for some 
 time. Even in her absence, his zeal for her future 
 happiness will be at all times, and in every place, 
 his only object : he will prove it by his cares and 
 his activity, and by his unalterable attachment ; in 
 contributing to the happiness of the Princess Char- 
 lotte, whose integrity of character should suffice to 
 form his motive. 
 
 * In concluding, Mr. Whitbread must beg per- 
 mission to reiterate his sentiments of devotion, and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 231 
 
 of zeal for her re-establishment in all the rights of 
 the empire over which she is one day to reign." 
 
 " Samuel Whitbread." 
 
 Ail the needful preparations being made for her 
 journey, the Princess of Wales turned her thoughts 
 to the parting embrace of her dutiful and beloved 
 child. She wrote to the Earl of Liverpool, stating 
 her intention to go to see the Princess Charlotte 
 at Cranbourn House, and expressed her hopes 
 that no objection would be made to her doing so. 
 The answer to this application was not however 
 such as could gratify the feelings of the Princess of 
 Wales, but it was not altogether repulsive ; she was 
 informed that the Princess Charlotte would be per- 
 mitted to make her Royal Highness a visit on the 
 Saturday following. Upon that day, the young 
 Princess, attended by her usual retinue, drove to 
 Connaught House in a carriage of the Prince 
 Regent, and was received with rapturous fondness 
 by the expecting mother. They retired for nearly 
 one hour by themselves; and in that secret interview 
 many affecting, deeply affecting expressions were 
 no doubt used ; and they who witnessed the last 
 look which each cast the other at separation, could 
 hardly refrain from tears. It was indeed a very 
 solemn and a touching sight. 
 
 They who have been to see dear relatives or 
 
232 LIFE OF THE 
 
 friends, will call to their recollection how, after 
 staying much beyond the time at first designed to 
 limit their journey, and all has been said that 
 seemed possible for them to say, notwithstanding, 
 just as they are taking leave, there is occasion for 
 them to stop, some last, some important commission 
 is to be delivered ; so after the Princess of Wales 
 had received her daughter's farewell, Miss Mercer 
 was sent to Cranbourn Lodge, and remained in it 
 the whole of the subsequent day in close conference 
 with the Princess Charlotte. 
 
 On the 2d of August the Princess of Wales 
 reaching Worthing, where Captain King, of the 
 Jason, was directed to be in readiness for her ; but 
 not expecting her Royal Highness on the 2d, he 
 was not in attendance, and therefore she remained 
 longer. Meantime a great concourse of men, 
 women, and children, of coaches and horses, had 
 crowded along the beach at Worthing, which 
 (privateness best suiting her state) induced the 
 Princess to go to South Lancing, about a couple 
 of miles distant, where she embarked. But when 
 the people understood that her Royal Highness 
 bad gone to South Lancing, they all hastened away 
 thither, and they who were not in time to behold 
 her countenance, had only the satisfaction of seeing 
 a white handkerchief which her Royal Highness 
 waved till she gained the ship in answer to similar 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 233 
 
 tokens of attachment, made her by the ladies ; the 
 men were for the most part lost in silent meditation, 
 or lothto be obstreperous, lest their regrets should be 
 misconstrued into unbecoming exultation. The 
 greater portion of her female attendants went on 
 board at Worthing. But the Princess herself, atten- 
 ded by Lady Charlotte Lindsay* and young Mr. 
 Austin, (who was taken fromhiscradle under the pro- 
 tection of her Royal Highness,) arrived at the Jason 
 in the barge of Captain King. Her Royal Highness 
 wore a dark cloth pelisse with large gold clasps, 
 her cap was of velvet and green satin, after the 
 Prussian fashion, with a green feather in it. Among 
 her articles was a large tin case, with these words 
 painted in white letters: " Her Royal Highness the 
 Princess of Wales, to be always with her." 
 
 On leaving the English shore she was greatly 
 affected ; she looked upon the land in silent earnest- 
 ness for a time, then bursting into tears was much 
 relieved, but still her sorrow continued visible for 
 a few days. On the 12th of August, as the vessel 
 was passing the Texel, she desired that a royal 
 salute should be given in compliment to the day ; 
 (it was the anniversary of the Regent's birth,) and 
 after dinner she drank a glass of wine to the health, 
 prosperity, and glory of his Royal Highness. 
 
 The Princess of Wales, determined to adopt her 
 sphere of life in some measure to the distresses of 
 
 H H 
 
234 LIFE OF THE 
 
 her mind, did not assume the rank of Princess, but 
 travelled under the name of the Countess of Wolfen- 
 butel, receiving, however, all the tokens of respect 
 and attention which are commonly paid to illustrious 
 characters. In her journey through the continent, 
 an interview is reported to have taken place be- 
 tween her Royal Highness and the Prince Leopold ; 
 and it has been confidently said, that the motive 
 for Miss Mercer's visit to Cranbourn Lodge was to 
 give the Princess Charlotte an opportunity of writ- 
 ing to his Serene Highness a letter, of which the 
 Princess of Wales was to be the bearer, and this 
 letter was delivered to the Prince at the meeting 
 on the continent. 
 
 The Princess Charlotte remained at Cranbourn 
 Lodge till the 9th of September, and then she set 
 out for Weymouth, and arriving at it on the day 
 following, a great multitude went to meet her 
 Royal Highness, and celebrated her coming with 
 loud and reiterated shouts. 
 
 The mayor of Weymouth, Mr. Henry Hayes 
 Tozard, directed that the 12th should be passed by 
 the inhabitants with every demonstration of joy, 
 and such exhibitions as might best evince the grate- 
 ful sense of the people for the honour done them 
 by the promising and exalted young female. Ac- 
 cordingly the flags were displayed in the several 
 ships that lay in harbour, the Custom House was 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 235 
 
 adorned with suitable embellishments, and in the 
 evening a general illumination took place, fire- 
 works, and all the other circumstances of public 
 gladness. 
 
 On the 14th, a congratulatory address was pre- 
 sented to her Royal Highness by the mayor and 
 corporation of Weymouth, running in the following 
 words : 
 
 " We, the mayor, aldermen, bailiffs, and principal 
 burgesses of the borough of Weymouth and Mel- 
 combe Regis, entreat permission to address to your 
 Royal Highness our humble congratulations on 
 your safe arrival here, and to express our earnest 
 w r ishes for the re-establishment of your health. 
 
 " We regard the auspicious appearance of your 
 Royal Highness amongst us, not only as a happy 
 omen of the future prosperity of the town, but as 
 a revival of the joyful sensations we formerly ex- 
 perienced on the visits of your august grand-father, 
 the paternal sovereign of a grateful people. 
 
 "May the many public and private virtues which 
 adorn with peculiar lustre the character of our re- 
 vered monarch, shine with undiminished splendour 
 in the persons of his illustrious descendants. 
 
 " Madam, we beg leave to assure your Royal 
 Highness of our strenuous exertions to preserve 
 peace and good order, and by every means in our 
 power to anticipate your wishes." 
 
SSO LIFE OF THE 
 
 The answer of her Royal Highness was in these 
 words : 
 
 "Gentlemen, the Royal Family have so repeatedly 
 experienced the loyalty and good will of the in- 
 habitants of Weymouth, that they need no addi- 
 tional assurance of their affection and duty. 
 
 " It will, however, I am sure, afford them very- 
 sincere satisfaction to find, that time and absence 
 have produced no alteration whatever in their senti- 
 ments. 
 
 " To you, gentlemen, who have shown me this 
 particular mark of attention, and have so kindly 
 expressed your wishes for the restoration of my 
 health, I feel more especially indebted ; nor can I, 
 on this occasion, omit my very sincere acknowledg- 
 ments to all the inhabitants of this town, for the 
 very flattering tokens of regard which they have 
 universally shown me, and which I consider as a 
 proof of their undiminished attachment to my 
 father, and the rest of the royal family. 
 
 "And as to myself, believe me, gentlemen, it 
 will ever be my anxious wish to merit your good 
 opinion." 
 
 Taking the aggregate of the young Princess's 
 affairs into our consideration, we must suppose that 
 she was now far from being unhappy. Her royal 
 mother had left England with an ample provision 
 for her travels, scarcely any indulgences of kingly 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 237 
 
 persons lay beyond the reach of her fortune, and 
 moreover her Royal Highness was pretty well as- 
 sured of the fixed and unalterable attachment of 
 her beloved Prince Leopold; she held a regular 
 correspondence with him, and had by this means 
 the opportunities of interchanging sentiments of 
 mutual regard and esteem. She found her name 
 highly considered by all ranks and descriptions of 
 people ; the great and affluent were pleased with 
 her condescension ; the poor were supplied by her 
 with the necessaries of life; the fasting were made 
 full; the naked were clad; the religious were kept 
 in countenance by her pious demeanour and punc- 
 tual attendance upon divine service every sabbath 
 day, whilst she illustrated the integrity of her faith 
 by the zealous and steady performance of the christ- 
 ian duties; showing, in her example, that a tree 
 was to be known by the fruit of it. 
 
 The happy propensities of her natural disposition 
 were intermixed with the liveliest and most cheer- 
 ful spirits imaginable; religion and virtue were 
 not with her matters of gloom and austerity, but 
 virtue and religion were with her the basis and 
 helps of her self-complacency and delightful merri- 
 ment. 
 
 The Countess of Rosslyn, the Countess of II- 
 chester, Mrs. Campbell, the two Miss Coteses, 
 General Garth, and the Rev. Doctor Short, were 
 
238 LIFE OF THE 
 
 her attendants at "W eymouth, and happy partakers 
 of her pleasant society. 
 
 Although so far advanced in years, she did not 
 think herself beyond instruction, or that she had 
 outgrown the cares of a tutor. Every day she 
 read with Doctor Short, sometimes Latin, sometimes 
 Greek, and her progress was at once rapid and sweet, 
 probably no one has at any time had a more agree- 
 able pupil than had Doctor Short, for her lessons 
 were not only accurately prepared, but it was her 
 singular felicity to put her preceptor in constant 
 good humour, whereas most learners put their 
 teachers out of it. But few lessons passed away with- 
 out some pleasantries, some happy effusions of her 
 Royal Highness's smartness and drollery ; but it 
 was not that vulgar sort of facetiousness neither, 
 which at the time makes the hearer laugh, and for- 
 get it after, it was a deep, a sentimental species of 
 acute observation and genuine wit, that left a de- 
 lightful impression of it behind : the following is a 
 little anecdote of her Royal Highness to exemplify 
 these observations, that seems not unworthy inser- 
 tion. Having now got into the 4th book of the 
 JEneid, she appeared greatly interested in Dido s 
 story, and now and then declared she pitied her; as 
 they were finishing one of the lessons, the Doctor, 
 in his engaging manner, half by way of criticism, 
 and half as if he felt for the unhappy Queen, said 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 239 
 
 with great solemnity and archness, Poor Dido! 
 Poor Dido, say I too, Doctor ; but ah ! Sir, the 
 man was Mneas. Not satisfied with blunting the 
 edge of the satire by compassion for the Queen's 
 sufferings, she went, it may be seen, further, and 
 excused as much as she might the folly itself which 
 brought it on. 
 
 The neighbourhood of Weymouth is highly pic- 
 turesque, abounding in all the formations of nature, 
 which can enchain the fancy, or enlarge the narrow 
 conceptions of man, expanding them from the 
 confines of the little world we live in, till the soar- 
 ing mind loses itself in the immensity of creation. 
 There were consequently strong inducements fur- 
 nished in this place to her Royal Highness for 
 making excursions into the surrounding parts, and 
 of these some are of great and ancient celebrity, 
 the isle of Portland, too well known, the winding 
 sheet of many noble fellows, hardy and sincere 
 sailors, who there have met destruction ; and divers 
 castles, hills, and so forth; but above all the village 
 of Abbotsbury, the famous residence of the mon- 
 astic order of St. Benedict. 
 
 A fine day offering, the Princess with her re- 
 tinue sailed for Portland Island, but the wind not 
 being sufficiently brisk, the passage was long ; it 
 was not tedious, for it afforded to her Royal High- 
 ness leisure for contemplating the fine scenery of 
 
240 LIFE OF THE 
 
 the parts along the coast; and she appeared to con- 
 template all she saw with extreme earnestness and 
 pleasure. Having reached the island, the party all 
 debarked, and spent two or three hours in ramb- 
 ling over it, and surveying the ships, which in vast 
 numbers were seen from it floating along the im- 
 mense sea. She viewed the ships with great satis- 
 faction, and watched their motions for a long time 
 in silence; but perceiving her attendants to be 
 growing fatigued with the sight, she left the spot 
 and along with them entered the barge again. It 
 was late in the evening before they got home, but 
 they were all greatly pleased with the trip. 
 
 The Countess of Ilchester happened to have her 
 country residence in the vicinity of Weymouth, 
 and it was often the resort of her Royal Highness. 
 The name of the seat is Abbotsbury Castle, and her 
 Royal Highness listened with exceeding delight 
 to the stories which are told of the persons who 
 used to live there, and she had the means of grati- 
 fying fully her inquisitive turn, for of course the 
 different traditions were kept in remembrance by 
 the present inhabitants, so prone are we to take 
 merit to ourselves for the antiquity of the place 
 where we live, and this vanity is often just as high, 
 as ancestorial pride, nor is it perhaps of a much more 
 ridiculous nature. But proud as the Countess may- 
 have been to have the tales listened to, the royal 
 
* PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 241 
 
 auditor was equally affected with pleasure to hear 
 them told. When a person is in a country far 
 distant, he may look at the moon, and rejoice in 
 beholding it, considering that the same object en- 
 gages the notice of the people at home. So like- 
 wise we might receive satisfaction from hearing the 
 same stories which the Princess used to hear, but 
 her short life is now drawing to a period, and too 
 much remains to be related, for indulging in matters 
 not immediately connected with the personal inci- 
 dents of her Royal Highness. Yet the tale of the 
 Abbot's cook being but a short one, may be given. 
 When England was inhabited by people univer- 
 sally devoted to the drudgery of life, excepting the 
 great lords and the ecclesiastics, little attention was 
 paid to the cultivation of knowledge, the calls of 
 appetite demanded the cares of men, and excluded 
 the political speculations and watchfulness which 
 in later times secured the privileges of the subject 
 from the inroads of royal usurpation. In those days 
 the kings issued their edicts and expected obedi- 
 ence to their orders without scruple or examination 
 into the justice they rested upon, for few indeed 
 were capable of weighing the measures of the 
 court with intelligence ; riot even the learned men 
 were unchained from ignoble views and paltry 
 opinions, and the historiographers themselves record 
 for facts, details of what it were now absurd to sup- 
 i I 
 
242 LIFE OF THE 
 
 pose had any existence. Of this class is the anec- 
 dote of the abbot's cook, but it has certainly a 
 greater air of truth in it, notwithstanding, than 
 the early legends commonly exhibit. 
 
 The king, having run his coffers very low, and 
 his barons being reluctant to afford him any aid, he 
 was at a loss for an expedient to retrieve his affairs : 
 it struck him at length, that a monastery would be 
 a very likely place to find plenty of specie, and 
 once the source was discovered no difficulty ap- 
 peared to him of drawing copiously from it. Ac- 
 cordingly a blustering message was sent to the 
 Provost of the monastery, instantly requiring his 
 attendance on the King. When the abbot arrived, 
 What, said his Majesty, What, Mr. Abbot do you 
 and your fellow students advance human know- 
 ledge in, I desire to be informed, could you not 
 make as great a progress at a less expence ? No, 
 may it please you, my Liege, No; it were impossible, 
 retirement is absolutely wanted to give the ease 
 and freedom to the mind necessary for making 
 profound researches, our labours have already been 
 crowned with the utmost success, and we have 
 deeply penetrated into the secrets of nature, and 
 possibly your Grace may be reckoned of glorious 
 memory with our far distant posterity, if it were 
 only for the refined speculations we have made in 
 Metaphysics and Entology. As to these same 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 243 
 
 matters, replied his Majesty, more may be talked 
 about them than is understood of them ; but this 
 I can tell you, and be sure that I will have it ac- 
 complished ; Go to your closet, and return in ten 
 days and have a full and perfect solution drawn up 
 of these three questions, first, I want to know of 
 what compass the world is of, second, how deep the 
 sea, third, what are my thoughts ; have these clearly 
 and entirely resolved for me against your next ap- 
 pearance before me ; or the alternative must be sub- 
 mitted to, namely the dissolution of your society, 
 for if you have got any knowledge at all among 
 you, I think you will have no difficulty in making 
 out my questions. As to Metaphysics and En- 
 tology, I know little about such affairs, but your 
 resolution of what 1 put, will enable me to judge 
 of your merits ; be sure to return at the time ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 The poor Abbot went away in extreme perplex- 
 ity, and on his arrival grew every hour more 
 thoughtful and disconsolate. His faithful friend, 
 John the cook, observing his master's low spirits, 
 and, the greatest proof of all proofs that he was 
 deep in the meagrims, he was growing quite in- 
 different to whatever was laid before him on the 
 table. John begged most sincerely to be made ac- 
 quainted with his grief, and gave back to the 
 Abbot divers of his own wise and philosophical 
 
244 LIFE OF THE 
 
 maxims, to render the mind contented. Troubles 
 make people loving and humane ; the Abbot, re- 
 gardless of the distance between them, when the 
 day of his departure approached, and no prospect of 
 help was afforded by the cloister, unbosomed to his 
 trusty servant the cause of his secret sorrowing. 
 God bless you, cried John, if that be all, I'll myself 
 put all to right ; do you be but easy in your mind, 
 leave all the rest to me. The difference of condi- 
 tion between the Abbot and the cook was not 
 more wide than the inequality of their persons. 
 John resolved to personate his master, and by the 
 aid of some pillows effected a similitude. On the 
 required day John set out to the King's Pa) ace, 
 followed by the hearty prayers of the whole bro- 
 therhood. 
 
 Being now introduced to the King, his Majesty 
 asked with great rapidity, and with pleasant hope 
 beaming in his eye, for the answers to his queries. 
 Have you got them ? he cried. O yes, my Liege, 
 indeed I have. Your first question was of what 
 compass the world is about ; 1 take it then to be 
 but the journey of a day, and if any man should 
 travel as quick as the sun, I think, my Liege, he 
 might accomplish it in that space. Well, well, 
 exclaimed the King hastily, well, what say you to 
 my second question ? Your second was, my Lord, 
 How deep is the sea? I account the depth of the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 245 
 
 sea to be only the measure of a stone's cast ; fling 
 a stone into the deepest part of it, and I fancy it 
 will find the bottom : and now as to your Grace's 
 third question, which belike you reckon to be the 
 most abstruse ; it is really the most easy, as to what 
 your Grace thinks, you suppose me, no doubt, to 
 be the very Abbot himself, whereas in earnest I am 
 only John, the Abbot's cook. The^King was com- 
 pletely overborne by the smartness of the fellow, 
 and thrown into a fit of good humour, established 
 and sanctioned the foundation. 
 
 John returned with the joyful news to the 
 anxious college. An eulogy was pronounced upon 
 John's services and skill, and the cook ever after 
 was reckoned the usefullest man in all the mon- 
 astery. 
 
 The Sunday after she arrived in Weymouth, her 
 Royal Highness went to church, accompanied by 
 the Countess of Rosslyn, the Countess of Ilchester, 
 the two Miss Coteses, General Garth, and the Rev. 
 Doctor Short. Melcombe was the name of the 
 church ; and the minister, Mr. Gordon, drew a full 
 attendance, encreased by the expected presence of 
 her Royal Highness of course. The text was taken 
 from the 13th chapter of St. Paul's first Epistle to 
 the Corinthians, the words of it were, " Charity 
 never faileth." The churchmen have been time 
 immemorial disposed to accommodate as much as 
 
£46 LIFE OF THE 
 
 possible the severity of virtue and godliness to the 
 earthly satisfaction of an illustrious hearer ; instead 
 of softening down in reconciliation with human 
 felicity, the practice of the moral duties required 
 by the beneficent framer of the universe, and set to 
 our example by his adorable Son, it is not unfre- 
 quently declared to us, when a great person hap- 
 pens to be attending worship, that we need not 
 trouble ourselves, nor put ourselves out of our way, 
 as it were, about strict conformity with the divine 
 precepts, that there is no necessity for our being 
 very good. Short sighted man, whose views, while 
 they reach but a scanty distance, seem to regard 
 with more important concern the objects that are 
 near, weak as he is, and subject to prevalency of his 
 passions, often seeks and gropes in imagination 
 for happiness where it is not to be had, and is fain 
 to recommend himself to the powerful, by incul- 
 cating the veniality of error, and the toleration of 
 moderate failings — When trivial offences have 
 become fashionable, they ought to be sure to have 
 a gentle band applied to their cure. But, for the 
 honour of human nature, we sometimes find that 
 the sharper the cut, the less the pain is. To the 
 considerate and well tempered mind of her Royal 
 Highness, the reverend gentleman needed no re- 
 course to disingenuous arts, and his character speaks 
 him a man who, if they might be used agreeably, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 247 
 
 would not use them. He took for his subject the 
 admirable doctrine of Christian charity, the noblest 
 of the sentiments which inspire the breasts of 
 created beings, There abideth for us in this our 
 pilgrimage the exercise of faith, hope, and charity ; 
 these three ; " but the greatest of these is charity." 
 
 Every succeeding Sabbath, her Royal Highness, 
 accompanied by her establishment, attended divine 
 service at Melcombe church, where many were 
 edified by her attention to the worship, and the 
 cheerful piety that shone in her delighted counte- 
 nance. 
 
 The Princess being completely re-established in 
 health, a longer stay at the sea-side became unne- 
 cessary, and the different branches of the royal 
 house longing for her company, she hastened to re- 
 turn to the embrace of her friends ; and about the 
 middle of November she left Weymouth. As soon 
 as the departure was fixed upon, her Royal High- 
 ness lost not a moment to avail herself of all oppor- 
 tunities to promote the great object of her visit to 
 the place, and at the same time gratify the inquisi- 
 tive desire she felt for seeing all that was rare and 
 curious. 
 
 The Griper, a sloop of war, and the Greyhound, 
 a revenue cutter, lying off Weymouth, they paid 
 their honours to her Royal Highness when she 
 made her little voyages, which she did with ex- 
 
248 LIFE OF THE 
 
 treme delight and satisfaction, and much to the 
 benefit and exhiliration of her spirits. The people 
 upon these occasions assembled on the beach, re- 
 ceiving the illustrious navigator with loud cheers, 
 whilst the Princess, highly pleased with the rough 
 indications of genuine love, duty, and respect, 
 saluted the crowd with courtsies, smiling as she 
 courtsied. Her peregrinations were often repeated. 
 A day was fixed for visiting the antique residence 
 of Mr. Henry Bankes, Corfe Castle ; but it proved 
 so very unfavourable, that the ladies advised her 
 Royal Highness to put off going to another more 
 pleasant time ■ the Princess Charlotte appeared ex- 
 ceedingly vexed to give up what her mind was bent to 
 in previous expectation, and this observed by one 
 of the attendants, it was suggested that they might 
 go after all. No sooner was the acceptable intim- 
 ation given than a heavy shower came beating 
 furiously against the windows : 
 
 The Princess Charlotte. Why, it rains, it 
 rains like the very devil. 
 
 One in the company. Your Royal Highness, 
 I trust, will never reign so. 
 
 The lovely culprit bridled instantaneously ; she 
 saw the unbecoming levity which had slipped from 
 her tongue, and was alive to the rebuke. She stood 
 riveted, motionless. Down dropped her conscious 
 eye. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 249 
 
 Contemplate the figure ; who would not wish to 
 grasp the little charmer in his arms, and to fold her 
 to his bosom ? — If, for such is the frailty of the 
 best of us, she ever were led into measures unpro- 
 pitious to the state, coming to the management of 
 its vital concerns, was she likely to turn deaf when 
 the remonstrances of her people urged her to desist? 
 
 On her departure from Weymouth, the same feel- 
 ings were shown by the inhabitants, an equal gloom 
 overspread the countenance of all, as when of any 
 a near and dear relative had left the world. The 
 good wishes of the gentry and their love pursued 
 her, nor was she unattended with the solemn bless- 
 ings of the widow, and the lisping gratitude of the 
 orphan. She made Salisbury her course, and stop- 
 ped for a night at the palace of the bishop ; for the 
 bishop's daughters she entertained the most ani- 
 mated fondness, and for the bishop himself she had 
 reverence, attachment, and esteem ; his pontifical 
 appointment excited her veneration, he was her 
 tutor, and therefore she loved him; she esteemed him 
 because of his goodness. 
 
 Reaching Cranbourn Lodge, she only rested a 
 single day, and then repaired to pay her duty to 
 the Queen. The Regent, who had been impatient 
 to see the darling of his heart, she whom he loved 
 in his soul, the fond hope and expectancy of his 
 posthumous honours, arrived at Cranbourn Lodge 
 
 K K 
 
250 ^ftfc'^F THE 
 
 four days after her Royal Highness had come to it, 
 he would have been there sooner, but was detained 
 by the important affairs of the nation, and as quickly 
 as these were dispatched, he hastened to embrace 
 her. 
 
 On Christmas day, her Royal Highness received 
 the sacrament, in communion with her Majesty 
 and the Princesses, from the hands of the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, assisted by the bishop of 
 Salisbury, and the Dean of Windsor. 
 
 The mutual affection between the Princess and 
 the deserving object of her choice still continued ; 
 and the circumstance was suffered to transpire. 
 But the unsuccessful endeavours used in behalf of 
 the Prince of Orange, gave the people a good found- 
 ation for their belief that the report of a new matri- 
 monial negociation ought to be received with cir- 
 cumspect and careful scrupulosity, and the business 
 was regarded by -the majority of the speculative as 
 the mere offspring of conjecture. In general true 
 it is, that in this country the falsification of one 
 intelligence does not take away credibility which 
 another is intended to gain, and like unto wave 
 succeeding wave, story after story dupes the facile 
 supposition of an honest Biitannian. In this matter 
 they were all deceived, but yet the deviation from 
 the general run of our ideas had an adequate cause 
 to produce the eccentricity ; and the cause was no 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 251 
 
 other than this ; the people had formed generally 
 the highest opinion of the discretion and judgment 
 of the Princess Charlotte, and it seemed to them 
 incompatible with such notions that she should ac- 
 qept the addresses of a man in humbler circum- 
 stances than his were whom she had refused. 
 
 The hints, however, which were thrown out, at- 
 tracted to her Royal Highness more than ordinary 
 attention, and made her own wishes combine with 
 the direction of her medical advisers, to go to see 
 Weymouth again. At the battle of Waterloo, the 
 Duke of Brunswick fell; and his death greatly af- 
 fected her Royal Highness, adding to the pertur- 
 bation of mind which her condition naturally pro- 
 duced otherwise. Upon the same occasion, the* 
 Prince of Orange was wounded ; her Royal High- 
 ness manifested for him the strongest feelings of 
 friendship and concern. She owned with readiness 
 the sorrow she felt at his misfortune; sh^ called him 
 by names of all names the most tender, saying the 
 one of husband ; she called him her friend. An4 
 afterwards heard, with the highest pleasure, the ac- 
 count of his Serene Highness's convalescence. 
 
 She was attended to Weyrnouth by her usual 
 retinue. The inhabitants seemed delighted by the 
 visit. Her spirits were relieved and brought back 
 to their customary play. The Bishop of Salisbury 
 came to the town to stay and converse with his* 
 
252 LIFE OF THE • 
 
 illustrious scholar, who, desirous of doing all that 
 she could to make him happy, insisted upon his 
 taking with her a short trip to sea, in her beautiful 
 yacht. They were out for some time, and seeing 
 a ship of 74 guns at a distance, her Royal High- 
 ness was eager to come along-side. The ship was 
 the Leviathan, commanded by Mr. Nixon. When 
 they had drawn near, Captain Nixon went on board 
 of the yacht to pay his obedience to the Princess. 
 She expressed much admiration of the appearance 
 his ship made on the water, and said she must go 
 and narrowly inspect her. Accordingly she entered 
 Captain Nixon's barge, attended by the Bishop and 
 two ladies. About to ascend into the Leviathan, 
 a chair was lowered for her Royal Highness to sit 
 upon, while she was drawn up by ropes. O no, 
 said she, seeing the chair descend, that would never 
 do, I shall go up as a sailor does, yes, 1 must ; pray 
 Captain Nixon excuse my liberties with your ship; 
 let the chair be used by the ladies and the Bishop ; 
 and saying no more, she actually took hold of a 
 rope, and climbed the ship's sides in the very man- 
 ner, to use her own words, that a sailor does. Ar- 
 riving on deck she exerted the greatest condescen- 
 sion and affability to all that paid duty to her, and 
 there was not one that did not ; she was desirous 
 of seeing the various parts of the vessel, and so 
 Captain Nixon conducted her Royal Highness to- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 253 
 
 gether with the Bishop and ladies over the chief 
 apartments. Leaving a present for the men, she 
 left the Leviathan, amidst the loud and hearty huz- 
 zas of the admiring and delighted crew. 
 
 It was about New Year's Day that her Royal 
 Highness returned to Cranbourn Lodge, where, as 
 soon as she had arrived, her Majesty and the 
 Princesses visited her. They were urgent with her 
 to accompany them to Brighton, to which they 
 were going in a few days. Her Royal Highness 
 complied with the invitation. The evening before 
 they set out for Brighton, her Royal Highness 
 went to Windsor : having to start so very early in 
 the morning after, it was thought best that she 
 should have a bed in the Queen's house, so that the 
 less delay might be taken up in preparation, and 
 the days were very short, requiring a departure 
 betimes, to reach Brighton in proper hours. The 
 Prince was uncommonly rejoiced to see his daughter; 
 the meeting was most ardent and tender. A great 
 draw-back upon her Royal Highness's gratifications 
 was, that she was under a necessity of eating no 
 animal food, she had a cold. Not that the privation 
 was itself a grievance, the Princess never was de- 
 voted to the pleasures of the palate by any means, 
 she never was singular either way ; but being ob- 
 liged to live differently from our messmates has an 
 unsociableness about it, that was not just to the 
 
254 LIFE OF THE 
 
 liking of the Princess, who, all life and spirits now 
 was fond of entering into the convivialities of her 
 company. 
 
 After passing a few days at the Pavilion as 
 agreeably as people might, the Queen and the 
 Princesses returned. 
 
 The report was still in circulation that the Prince 
 Leopold had a very exalted place in the opinion of 
 the Princess Charlotte, still it was believed very 
 slowly. 
 
 But no doubt could remain after the 20th of 
 February 1816, for his Serene Highness on that 
 day landed at Dover. 
 
 His Serene Highness had been for some time at 
 Paris, adjusting some matters for his brother, the 
 reigning Duke; or he might only have stopped 
 there, because if he went farther off, he could not 
 have been so near the fond object of his affections, 
 his respect, and his ambition. It was most likely 
 on business that he left Paris, and proceeded to 
 Berlin, where the joyous news reached him of the 
 Regent's wish that he should return and claim the 
 hand of his beloved Princess, 
 
 The message was hardly delivered when he posted 
 away, and got to London on the 21 st of February, 
 putting up at the Clarendon Hotel Lord Castle- 
 eagh, apprized of his Serene Highness being 
 come, hastened to the Clarendon to pay his compli- 
 
PRINCESS charlotte/ 255 
 
 tnents, and hear from him what the measures were he 
 might wish to adopt. The Regent was then at 
 Brighton, therefore he could not immediately see 
 his son elect ; but the instant the noble visiter had 
 fixed with Lord Castlereagh what course he ought 
 to pursue, a messenger was sent to the Pavilion to 
 acquaint his Royal Highness with the result. His 
 Royal Highness forthwith dispatched Sir Benjamin 
 Bloomfield to congratulate Prince Leopold upon 
 his safe arrival, and to invite him to the Palace at 
 Brighton. Sir Benjamin proceeded with so much 
 haste, that he reached London the very day the 
 intelligence came to the Prince of his Serene High- 
 ness's arrival ; and this celerity must have been (it 
 showed no hike warmn ess) exceedingly gratifying 
 to the young stranger, who was, at Sir Benjamin's 
 coming, engaged at Lord Castlereagh's hospitable 
 board, where he had now eat a hearty dinner, which 
 his Lordship had, as his manner is, copiously and 
 elegantly provided for his guest. 
 
 Every place, moment, and person, and thing, was 
 all hurry, bustle, perplexity, joy and confusion, 
 nobody was so incurious or phlegmatic but he longed 
 to see the Prince ; the nobles sought the honour of 
 his acquaintance, the common people were anxious 
 above all things to have the pleasure of cheering 
 and huzzaing him, and thereby making themselves 
 almost as happy quite, as the Prince could be him- 
 
256 LIFE OF THE 
 
 self. The hotel was crowded with grandees, and 
 besieged with the less exalted ; compliments passed 
 within, while merriment was going forward on 
 the outside, obstreperous mirth, and giggling faces 
 made up a scene unbeclouded with the gloom or 
 careful aspect of a single character; a spectator 
 would suppose that no one of the throng had any- 
 thing at all to do for himself, so general was the 
 interest and concern taken in the affairs of Prince 
 Leopold, directed, as his affairs seemed to be, by the 
 laughter loving Goddess Venus. 
 
 On the 22d, his Serene Highness set off with 
 Lord Castlereagh for Brighton ; and was straight- 
 way ushered into the presence of the Regent, who 
 gave him* a reception most kind, affectionate and 
 cordial. The Regent is well known to be one of 
 the most agreeable men of the day, and determined 
 in the prosecution of the matter, showed his pater- 
 nal regard in the most open and undisguised man- 
 ner ; treating him as his relative and friend, the 
 way indeed he was considered by all the nation. 
 
 The Princess Charlotte arrived on Monday, the 
 27th of February, accompanied by the Queen and 
 the Princesses. 
 
 On the 10th of March, a cabinet council was 
 held at Brighton, for the purpose of determining 
 the settlements and stipulations to be observed in 
 the advancing marriage. The consent of the Regent 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 257 
 
 was formally given, and to it was appended the 
 Great Seal of the realm. 
 
 Three days after, a council was convened in Lon- 
 don, consisting of members of the cabinet, and the 
 Baron Just, who was the Saxon minister at the court 
 of St. James's, and they drew up the following 
 articles : 
 
 Art. i. It is concluded and agreed that the mar- 
 riage between her Royal Highness Princess Char- 
 lotte Augusta, and his Serene Highness Leopold 
 George Frederick, Duke of Saxe, Margrave of 
 Meissen, Landgrave of Thuringuen, Prince of Co- 
 bourg of Saalfeld, kc. &c. shall be solemnized in that 
 part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, called Great Britain, both being present, 
 according to the due tenor of the laws of England, 
 and the rites and ceremonies of the church of the 
 United Kingdom, as soon as the same may conveni- 
 ently be done. 
 
 Art. ii. His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, 
 acting in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty 
 the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, promises to secure to her Royal High- 
 ness Princess Charlotte Augusta, and to his Serene 
 Highness Leopold George Frederick, Duke of Saxe, 
 Margrave of Meissen, Landgrave of Thuringuen, 
 Prince of Cobourg of Saalfeld, &c. &c. &c. during 
 
 I. L 
 
258 LIFE OF THE 
 
 their joint lives, and to the survivor of them, the 
 annual sums herein-after mentioned; — that is to say, 
 during their joint lives, the annual sum of sixty- 
 thousand pounds, to be paid quarterly; ten thousand 
 pounds of which annual sum, also to be paid quar- 
 terly, shall be granted unto commissioners, named 
 for that purpose by his Royal Highness the Prince 
 Regent, acting as aforesaid, to be by them received 
 for the sole and separate use of the said Princess, 
 notwithstanding her marriage state, and without 
 his Serene Highness Leopold George Frederick, 
 Duke of Saxe, Margrave of Meissen, Landgrave of 
 Thuringuen, Prince of Coburg of Saalfeld, &c. &c. 
 &c. having any power over the same, and which 
 annual sum of ten thousand pounds, so payable 
 quarterly, the said Princess shall not have power, 
 either separately or conjointly with his Serene 
 Highness Leopold George Frederick, Duke of Saxe, 
 Margrave of Meissen, Landgrave of Thuringuen, 
 Prince of Cobourg of Saalfeld, &c. &c. &c.,to alienate, 
 mortgage, or receive, or direct to be paid by way of 
 anticipation ; but the same shall, from time to time, 
 as the same shall become due, be paid and payable 
 into the proper hands of the said Princess alone, 
 upon her own sole receipt, or to such person or 
 persons to whom she shall, by writing, signed by 
 herself alone, from time to time, as the same shall 
 become due, direct and order the same to be paid, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 259 
 
 or otherwise to receive the same on her sole 
 -behalf. 
 
 Art. hi. His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, 
 acting as aforesaid, engages to secure to her Royal 
 Highness Princess Charlotte Augusta, the annual 
 sum of sixty thousand pounds, to be paid to her 
 during her life, in case her Royal Highness shall 
 survive his Serene Highness Leopold George Fre- 
 derick, Duke of Saxe, Margrave of Meissen, Land- 
 grave of Thuringuen, Prince of Cobourg of Saalfeld, 
 &c. kc. &c, such annual sum to commence in pay- 
 ment from the death of his Serene Highness Leopold 
 George Frederick, Duke of Saxe, Margrave of 
 Meissen, Landgrave of Thuringuen, Prince of Co- 
 bourg of Saalfeld, &c. &c. &c, in the lifetime of her 
 Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Augusta, and to 
 he paid quarterly ; aud the first quarterly payment 
 is to be made at the end of three calendar months, 
 after such his decease, when the said annuity, pay- 
 able during their joint lives, is to determine, 
 
 And his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, so 
 acting as aforesaid, further engages to secure to his 
 Serene Highness Leopold George Frederick, Duke 
 of Saxe, Margrave of Meissen, Landgrave of Thu- 
 ringuen, Prince of Cobourg of Saalfeld, &c. &c. &c., 
 the annual sum of fifty thousand pounds, to be paid 
 to him during his life, in case he shall survive her 
 Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Augusta ; such 
 
260 LIFE OF THE 
 
 annual sum to commence in payment from the death 
 of her Royal Highness, in the lifetime of his Serene 
 Highness, and to be paid quarterly ; and the first 
 quarterly payment to be made at the end of three 
 calendar months after such her decease, when the 
 said annuity, payable during their joint lives, is to 
 determine. 
 
 Art. iv. The son or daughter, or descendant of 
 the said marriage for the time being, next in succes- 
 sion to the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, after the Princess Charlotte 
 Augusta, shall be brought up in such manner as his 
 Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, or his successors may be pleased 
 to direct ; and no children of this marriage shall be 
 allowed to marry without the consent of his Ma- 
 jesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, or his successors for the time 
 being. 
 
 AitT. v. It is understood and agreed that her 
 Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Augusta shall 
 not, at any time, leave the United Kingdom with- 
 out the permission, in writing, of his Majesty, or 
 of the Prince Regent, acting in the name and on 
 the behalf of his Majesty, and without her Royal 
 Highnesses own consent. 
 
 And in the event of her Royal Highness being 
 absent from this country, in consequence of the per- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 26l 
 
 mission of his Majesty, or of the Prince Regent, 
 and of her own consent, such residence abroad shall, 
 in no case, be protracted beyond the term approved 
 by his Majesty, or. the Prince Regent, and consent- 
 ed to by her Royal Highness. And it shall be 
 competent for her Royal Highness to return to this 
 country before the expiration of such term, either 
 in consequence of directions for that purpose, in 
 writing, from his Majesty, or from the Prince 
 Regent, or at her own pleasure. 
 
 Art. vi. This treaty shall be ratified by his 
 Royal Highness the Prince Regent, on the behalf 
 of his Majesty, and by his said Serene Highness, 
 and the ratifications shall be exchanged in ten days, 
 or sooner, if possible. 
 
 In witness whereof, the respective plenipoten- 
 tiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto 
 the seals of their arms. 
 
 Done at London the thirteenth day of March, 
 one thousand eight hundred and sixteen. 
 
 (L. S.) C. Cantuar. (L. S.) Baron de Just. 
 
 (L.S.)Eldon, C. 
 
 (L. S.) Harrowby, P. 
 
 (L. S.) Bathurst. 
 
 (L.-S.) Liverpool. 
 
 (L. S.) Castlereagh. 
 
 (L. S.) Sidmouth. 
 
 (L. S.) N. Vansittart. 
 
262 life of the 
 
 Additional Article. 
 
 It is hereby expressly declared, that no article or 
 provision, contained in the treaty of marriage signed 
 this day, shall, in any manner, be taken, or deemed 
 to affect, or prejudice any right or prerogative of 
 his Majesty, his heirs or successors, touching or 
 concerning the education or marriages of any of the 
 children or descendants of her Royal Highness 
 Princess Charlotte Augusta, or the education or 
 marriages of any of the Royal Family or their de- 
 scendants. 
 
 The present additional Article shall have the 
 same force and effect, as if it were inserted, word 
 for word, in the treaty of marriage signed this day. 
 It shall be included in the ratification of the said 
 treaty. 
 
 In witness whereof the respective plenipoten- 
 tiaries have signed the same, and have affixed there- 
 to the seals of their arms. 
 
 Done at London, the 13th day of March, one 
 thousand eight hundred and sixteen. 
 
 (L. S.) C. Cantuar. (L. S.) Baron de Just. 
 
 (L. S.) Eldon, C. 
 
 (L. S.) Harrowby, P. 
 
 (L. S.) Bathurst. 
 
 (L. S.) Liverpool. 
 
 (L. S.) Castlereagh. 
 
 (L. S.) Sidmouth. 
 
 (L. S.) N. Vansittart. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 263 
 
 On the same day that the marriage articles were 
 settled, Lord Liverpool, with the usual politeness 
 on matters of this sort taking place, apprized the 
 House that he should very soon be commissioned 
 to bring down a message to their Lordships on the 
 coming event. He redeemed his promise the next 
 day, and submitted the paper to their Lordships' 
 consideration. The Clerk of the House, reading, 
 spoke as follows : 
 
 " George, Princeps Regens. * 
 
 " His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, acting 
 in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, hav- 
 ing given the royal consent to the marriage of Prin- 
 cess Charlotte Augusta, his Royal Highness's 
 daughter, to Prince Leopold George Frederick, of 
 the House of Cobourg, has deemed it fit to com- 
 municate the same to the Peers of this realm. His 
 Royal Highness has at all times received from them 
 such proofs and indications of regard for the King's 
 family that he doubts not but their Lordships will 
 grant that provision for the parties, which may en- 
 able them to live with the splendour and appearance 
 of their high rank, and worthy the greatness of the 
 British nation." The message having been read, 
 his Lordship went on. He had examined the ac- 
 counts of a nature corresponding to the present af- 
 fair, and found it the invariable rule that an address 
 
264 LIFE OF THE 
 
 was moved on the very day the message was de- 
 livered. Feeling convinced that the alliance now 
 before their Lordships was deserving of perfect 
 satisfaction as much as any that had preceded it, and 
 assured that their Lordships were disposed to equal 
 their respect with former practice, he would move 
 an answer to the address of his Royal Highness. 
 This was what he proposed it to be. 
 
 That the House thanked his Royal Highness for 
 the gracious communication his Royal Highness 
 had honoured it with, and begged to express their 
 full satisfaction with the marriage of Princess Char- 
 lotte to a protestant Prince of the illustrious House 
 of Cobourg. That the event could not fail of being 
 acceptable to all the members of the community, 
 and tended to secure the main interests of the 
 British people. That their Lordships would most 
 readily, as far as in them lay, contribute to the hap- 
 piness of the distinguished persons about to be 
 united ; to evince the dutiful attachment and affec- 
 tionate respect for the Royal Family in their zeal to 
 uphold the dignity of the crown, and sovereign juris- 
 diction of the country. 
 
 The minister's proposal being referred to the 
 sense of the House, it was agreed to without a dis- 
 puting voice. 
 
 Independent of the character displayed by Prince 
 Leopold during his visit in England, the strictness 
 
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 Hjj 
 
 '-'). 
 
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 7 
 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. ' 265 
 
 of his morals, and the excellency of his private life, 
 were inquired into by the government, and the 
 statements of all the courts of the continent agreed 
 in representing his Serene Highness a young man 
 of irreproachable morals and undeviating honour. 
 The inquiry was not confined, it was sought not 
 merely from those connected with his family, but 
 in every quarter where Prince Leopold was per- 
 sonally known, and the result was most favourable 
 to his Serene Highness, confirming the good cha- 
 racter which had been before given of him. When 
 the thanks were returned by the Peers for the in- 
 formation imparted to them by the Prince Regent, 
 no particular arrangement was mentioned for a 
 pecuniary evidence of their Lordships' approbation. 
 That would not have been a proper or becoming 
 line of conduct ; for it would have presented an ap- 
 pearance of dry formality and deliberate acquies- 
 cence with the circumstance announced, inconsis- 
 tent with the due hastiness of applause, and cordial 
 consent called for by the nature itself ot % the matter: 
 besides, such things fell more fitly within the pro- 
 vince of the lower House, where a like royal inti- 
 mation was given officially, and a similar expression 
 of thanks voted with equal promptitude and un- 
 animity. 
 
 But the following day, the House of Commons 
 having entered into a committee, the Chancellor of 
 
 M M 
 
266 LIFE OF THE 
 
 the Exchequer addressed them. He could not (he 
 'said) anticipate that the slightest objection or demur 
 would be made to the execution of the measures 
 he was about to propose, judging from the alacrity 
 and zeal, manifested the day before by the House 
 in agreeing to thank the Prince Regent for the 
 communication he had been graciously pleased to 
 make them. 
 
 In defining the sum to be granted for the esta- 
 blishment of the illustrious couple, he hoped to 
 satisfy all who heard him, since he was entirely in- 
 fluenced by the junction of two considerations only; 
 the comfort and easy independence of their Royal 
 and Serene Highnesses, and an economical attention 
 to the national outlayings. 
 
 £60,000 he conceived to be a very proper and ade- 
 quate allowance every year ; of this £50,000 a year 
 was to go to the united maintenance of both, and 
 the residue of £10,000 was to form an annual re- 
 venue for the private use and disposal of Princess 
 Charlotte. Upon this grant being made the present 
 revenue of £30,000 a year which went to the Prin- 
 cess's establishment would expire; so that the 
 £60,000 would be only the addition of £30,000, 
 But as money must be wanted previous to the day 
 of payment for carriages and furniture and other 
 matters, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved 
 that £60,000 should be given out of hand to enable 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 26f 
 
 the illustrious pair to provide what they might 
 stand in immediate need of, £10,000 being set apart 
 of this sum for the purchase of clothes, and for 
 jewels £10,000 more, and so of the remainder as 
 their wants or their inclinations might dictate. 
 And all was assented to readily. But when on the 
 9th of April, the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 being absent, Mr. Lushington renewed the business 
 for its final settlement, an unexpected opposition 
 was made, arising from the wish of several members 
 to be informed whether her Royal Highness was to 
 hold Drawing Rooms or not. No explanation of 
 her future way of life either could not be given by 
 the ministers, or they were not disposed to commit 
 themselves by any pledge of theirs which the after 
 conduct of her Royal Highness might depart from. 
 When some very animated sallies had been used 
 by both parties, the bill for settling upon their Royal 
 and Serene Highness the annuity of £60,000 was 
 passed ; going through the House of Lords likewise, 
 and meeting there with the same delay that had oc- 
 curred among the Commons, on account of similar 
 interrogatories about the intentions of Princess 
 Charlotte to hold a court and Drawing Rooms. 
 
 The next in order of consanguinity to the sove- 
 reign of Britain will in all likelihood be constantly 
 opposed to administration, and a protection against 
 arbitrary and dangerous plans of the servants of 
 
268 LIFE OF THE 
 
 the crown will be by this means greatly envigorat- 
 ed and advanced. However well meaning and 
 worthy the men may be in whose hands shall be re- 
 posed the management of our affairs, yet to keep a 
 watch over them can never be useless or improper. 
 Indeed such vigilance, although not needed in other 
 respects than as precautionary, will be serviceable, 
 and tend to the security and confirmation of the 
 political greatness of the British empire; for all 
 beings are swayed by self-love and interestedness 
 from the time of boyhood to the latest period of 
 existence, the fondness of having shows itself in 
 our cries for the coral when another has it, and in 
 place of additional days* w T earing out the sordid 
 cravings of our nature, duration of time hardens 
 infantile curiosity into fondness, and as we grow up 
 desire takes hold of us, which is again improved and 
 becomes avarice, and of this there is a species, di- 
 recting its view r s to political power, called ambition. 
 Added to the eagerness of aggrandizement there is 
 in our constitutional affections the proneness to 
 keep whatever we get that makes men act as con- 
 trarily to the dictates of their conscience as at first 
 they might have done for the sake of acquisition. 
 Under these circumstances a sharp and observant 
 eye is needed for our public men ; and since by our 
 most admirable charter and national laws certain 
 classes are made to feel an interest in resisting the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 269 
 
 powerful, it falls to the lot of Britons to have this 
 vigilance duly exerted upon those that are placed 
 in authority over them. Now since the opposing 
 party must ever be the weakest, they are the most 
 likely to engage our pity, and since the inhabitants 
 of this island are open to those soft impressions, for 
 there is no way of gaining our love more ready than 
 to be in want of help, it follows therefore that the 
 opposition members will stand the best venture for 
 popular esteem and admiration; and because of 
 the natural wish of Princes about, to reign to win 
 the affections of their destined subjects, it may be 
 laid down for a general expectation that the pre- 
 sumptive heirs to the British throne will attach 
 themselves steadily (till they come at the inhe- 
 ritance) to those that are unfriendly to the men in 
 power. This is the road to the favour of the peo- 
 ple, who, over and above the generous sympathy 
 for the more feeble in society which has been noticed 
 as incentive to their regard* are sometimes impelled 
 to bestow their favour upon opposition through 
 motives of a less glorious character. For every one 
 that is not happy in himself, or contented with his 
 condition, is prone to assign or imagine an external 
 cause for his infelicity, every body does not suppose 
 that he wants money because he wants it, some 
 think the misconduct of their rulers is the privative, 
 and by an easy exertion of national feeling, indenti- 
 
270 LIFE OF THE 
 
 fving themselves with the state, they look upon 
 the managers of public affairs with very jealous 
 and misgiving eyes; and the great bulk of man- 
 kind in all countries being liable to misery and dis- 
 tress, the plurality of course belongs most common- 
 ly to the opposition interest. 
 
 Let these things be duly weighed, and the 
 reason is apparent for Mr. Tierney and his friends 
 wishing the heir apparent to keep the ceremonial 
 of a court. In short he and they (and why should 
 they not?) would like to have an opportunity of 
 going to a court themselves, if it were only for the 
 honour of the thing, and indeed, to say the truth, 
 little substantial benefit, beyond the consciousness 
 of virtue (that is much certainly), can be rationally 
 proposed to himself by any man who places his 
 exertions in the way to resist the authority and 
 projects of the leading men. No wonder then, that 
 dear as her Royal Highness was to the whole na- 
 tion, some little stoppage should take effect when 
 this consideration stood against the privacy of life 
 which there was strong foundation for believing 
 thai Princess Charlotte would adopt. 
 
 A part of the time that intervened between his 
 Serene Highness's arrival in England, and his mar- 
 riage, was spent at Brighton, the latter part of it 
 was chiefly Beguiled in Windsor Castle, where he 
 dined every day, and met at table, with the Queen, 
 Princess Charlotte. 
 
rHINCESS CHARLOTTE. 271 
 
 On the 25th of March Lord Liverpool intro- 
 duced a proposition for naturalizing Prince Leo- 
 pold, which was finally passed into a bill on the 
 following day, and to prevent its retardation the 
 usual practice of the House was dispensed with, 
 either for proving the eager fondness of their Lord- 
 ships to have as soon as possible the exalted and 
 worthy stranger one of themselves; or the 26th 
 day of March, being the 1 4th of March according 
 to the old style, it was intended to go as near as 
 could be, to make an Irishman of his Serene High- 
 ness, conducting his civil nativity under the au- 
 spices of St. Patrick. 
 
 His time was made agreeable to him by all the 
 means of gratification which splendour and state 
 can afford, but without them he had happiness 
 enough — for he enjoyed the frequent company of 
 Princess Charlotte. 
 
 The Lord in waiting, and the master of the cere- 
 monies, Lord James Murray, and Mr. Robert 
 Chester, left town on the 29th of April for Small- 
 berry Green, the mansion of Sir Joseph Banks, 
 there to remain for the purpose of escorting publicly 
 and in form his Serene Highness to London from 
 thence. The same day the Prince started from 
 Windsor soon after breakfast in one of the Regent's 
 travelling coaches, and arriving at Smallberry Green 
 Sir Joseph was there to receive him, and demon- 
 
272 LIFE OF THE 
 
 strated his hearty welcome, by a plentiful repast 
 prepared with the sumptuousness the occasion sug- 
 gested. Leaving Smallberry Green the same day 
 at two o'clock, his Serene Highness proceeded in 
 state to London ; his suite were in a carriage that 
 closely followed a grand coach of the Prince Regent's, 
 in which was the illustrious Prince. About a 
 quarter to four, the whole arrived at St. James's 
 Palace, and Prince Leopold entered the apartments 
 of the Duke of Clarence. The Regent being ap- 
 prized by Lord James Murray of his Serene High- 
 ness's arrival, sent the Marquis of Winchester to 
 compliment his Serene Highness, and felicitate him 
 in the name of the Regent. Similar congratulations 
 were made him by the other branches of the Royal 
 Family ; Mr. Desbrow, the Queen's Vice Chamber- 
 lain, delivered the kind wishes of her Majesty, and 
 Sir Edward Stopford made the remembrance of 
 the Princesses. 
 
 The great officers of the empire went on the 30th 
 to Clarence House and paid their homage to the 
 Prince; the Lord Chancellor with his mace and 
 judicial ensigns, the Master of the Rolls called the 
 same day, so did the Bishop of Salisbury, and other 
 characters of distinction. 
 
 The day appointed for the solemnization of the 
 wedding was the 2d of May. The sky in the 
 morning was clear and brightened with the dazzling 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 273 
 
 sun, and nature wore the same aspect throughout 
 the whole day, imparting additional chearfulness 
 and gaiety to the grandeur exhibited upon it. 
 
 Princess Charlotte dined with her Majesty at 
 Buckingham House, in company with her Royal 
 aunts. Prince Leopold had a few of his private 
 friends with him at his table in Clarence House. 
 The Regent had the Duke of Clarence to partake 
 of his dinner, also the Lord Chancellor, the Bishop 
 of Exeter, the late Mr. MacMahon, the Reverend 
 Mr. Blomberg, and the lawyer Mr. Leach, besides 
 two or three other gentlemen of wit and polite ac- 
 complishments, M'ho have been honoured with re- 
 peated invitations to his Royal Highness's hospi- 
 table and easy board. 
 
 About eight o'clock her Royal Highness de- 
 scended the grand staircase, attended by the Prin- 
 cess Augusta on her right, and on her left Colonel 
 Stephenson, and was met by the Queen in the hall, 
 where, after an affectionate salutation had passed, 
 they came down to the carriage in which her Majesty 
 and most engaging grand-daughter, having entered 
 it, sat together ; and opposite to them Princess 
 Augusta and Princess Elizabeth, Princess Mary 
 and Princess Sophia of Gloucester going after them 
 in another coach, and soon reached Carlton House. 
 
 Prince Leopold left Clarence House at half past 
 eight, in a coach with Baron Just, the Saxon pleni- 
 NN 
 
274 LIFE OF "THE 
 
 potentiary, and Mr. Chester, the assistant master 
 of the ceremonies, and proceeded to the Prince 
 Regent's, followed by Lord James Murray, Colonel 
 Adenbroke and Sir Robert Gardner. The shouts 
 and cheering acclamations of the throng he had to 
 pass, rent the great canopy as he went, and had it 
 not been for the interference of one or two that 
 accompanied him, the people would have unyoked 
 the horses and drawn him to his journey's end with 
 their own hands. 
 
 Meantime a body of the Horse Guards were 
 placed at Carlton House, with Sir Nathaniel Conant 
 and Mr. Birnie for preserving order; civil officers 
 were likewise distributed here and there to the 
 same purpose. 
 
 The Prince Regent was in his private closet 
 ready to meet the illustrious visiters, the Queen 
 was formally introduced, all the Princesses and his 
 Serene Highness. The domestics in their superb 
 liveries formed two parallel lines between the closet 
 and the crimson room where the ceremonial was to 
 be performed. An altar was fitted up for the oc- 
 casion with great elegance and magnificent decor- 
 ations. The Prayer Books of the Chapel Royal 
 were brought for the present use, and the church 
 plate was taken from Whitehall. 
 
 Her Majesty and her royal daughters entered 
 an adjoining apartment; soon after they, and the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 275 
 
 cabinet ministers also with their ladies, attended in 
 a room close to the one destined for the ceremonial. 
 The Ladies specially waiting on the Queen were 
 Lady J. and Lady E. Murray. But the Prince 
 Leopold and Princess Charlotte remained in the 
 closet after the Queen withdrew to the chamber 
 near the marriage saloon, and before them also 
 moved the Procession, containing these persons ac- 
 cording to their order of location : 
 
 The Primate. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor and Lady Eldon. 
 
 The President of the Council and Countess Harrowby. 
 
 The Countess of Liverpool, (his Lordship was indisposed.) 
 
 The Secretary of S'ate for the War Department and Countess Bathurst, 
 
 The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Viscountess Castlereagh» 
 
 The Secretary of State for the Home Department. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
 The Master General of Ordnance and Countess of Mulgrave, 
 
 The Lord Privy Seal. 
 
 First Lord of the Admiralty and Viscountess Melville. 
 
 The Master of the Mint and Mrs. Wellesley Pole. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. 
 
 The Lord Chamberlain and the Marchioness of Hertford* 
 
 The Vice Chamberlain. 
 
 The Lord Steward and the Marchioness of Cholmondeley. 
 
 The Groom of the Stole and the Marchioness of Winchester. 
 
 Lords of the Bed Chamber. 
 
 The Private Secretary to the Prince Regent, (Mr. MacMahon.) 
 
 The Groom in Waiting;. 
 
 The Duchess of Montrose, ( the Master of the Horse was not well.) 
 
 The Captain of the Band of Pensioners, 
 
 The Comptroller of the Windsor Establishment, (the Earl of Winchelsea.) 
 
 The Deputy Comptroller of the Windsor Establishment, (Lord John 
 
 Thynne.) 
 
276 LIFE OF THE 
 
 The Lord High Almoner, (the Archbishop of York.) 
 
 The Dean of the Chapel Royal. 
 
 The King's Equerries. 
 
 The Attendants of the Queen and Princesses, 
 
 The Clerk of the Closet, (the Reverend Mr. Blonlberg.) 
 
 The Regent's Librarian, (the Reverend Mr. Clark.) 
 
 The Bishop of London, the Bishop of Salisbury, and the Bishop of Exeter 
 
 The Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, (Lady Ellenborough was 
 
 unwell.) 
 
 The Gold Stick, (the Earl of Harrington.) 
 
 The Silver Stick, (the Earl of Yarmouth.) 
 
 The Reverend Dr. Short. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Duchy of Cornwall, (Mr. Leach.) 
 
 The Master of the Household. 
 
 The assistant Private Secretary to the Prince Regent, (Mr. Watson.) 
 
 The Deputy Earl Marshal, (Viscount Keith.) 
 
 The first Equerry and Clerk Marshal, (Sir Benjamin Bloomfield.) 
 
 The Regent's Equerries, including Sir William Congreve. 
 
 The Regent's Aides-de-Camp. 
 
 Several Admirals, and Military Officers were joined to the Procession. 
 
 When things were in readiness for the com- 
 mencement of the ritual, the Marquis of Hertford, 
 in his capacity of Lord Chamberlain, repaired to the 
 closet, and led his Serene Highness thence to the 
 altar, and afterwards the Marquis was accompanied 
 by the Duke of Clarence to the closet, and escorted 
 the Princess, reclining on the arm of her royal uncle ; 
 when she had come near, the Regent seated himself 
 beside the Prince and Princess, arrayed in a suit of 
 gorgeous regimentals, and shining with his various 
 orders. 
 
 Immediately after the Regent the Royal Dukes 
 
~ A ^ ' " :-?! 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 277 
 
 were all standing, and behind them were the Lord 
 Chancellor, the Earl of Harrowby, the Earl of 
 Westmoreland, the Earl Bathurst, and the Earl of 
 Mulgrave, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Sidmouth, and 
 Lord Melville, Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Pole, mem- 
 bers of the cabinet. 
 
 Opposite to the Regent the Queen sat in a chair 
 of state, having on her right the Princesses Augusta, 
 Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia of Gloucester, and the 
 Duchess of York. 
 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury stood close to the 
 altar, having on his right the Bishop of London, 
 and behind him the Archbishop of York ; the 
 Bishop of Exeter, as clerk of the closet, was also 
 present, and her Royal Highness's tutor, the Bi- 
 shop of Salisbury; and in front of the altar, at a 
 little distance, were the Foreign Ministers. 
 
 Two velvet stools of crimson colour were placed 
 to be knelt upon by the Princess and her Bride- 
 groom, and before the clock sounded for nine, they 
 approached together, the Princess treading with a 
 firm and easy step. The marriage form was read 
 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, relieved occa- 
 sionally by the Bishop of London. The Princess 
 was given away by her royal father of course, and 
 had for Bridemaids the Lady Charlotte Cholmon- 
 deley, the Lady Caroline Pratt, the Lady Susan 
 Ryder, the Honorable Miss Law, and Miss Maimers. 
 
278 LIFE OF THE 
 
 She followed the reader with becoming assurance 
 and without airs, or the least affectation, though 
 not with so much confident forwardness as if she 
 had made the matrimonial ceremony the chief part 
 in the Prayer Book to engage her study. The 
 Prince himself was not half possessed of her steady 
 and deliberate manner, but seemed to be overwhelm- 
 ed and weighed down by the magnitude of the 
 blessing showered upon him ; for he delivered his 
 replies and the expression of his dearest wishes both 
 slowly and in faulted ng and embarrassed accents. 
 
 When the service was over, she flew into the 
 arms of her father, and clinging to him for a time, 
 made the most affecting acknowledgment of his 
 great and indulgent kindness in consulting the 
 dictates of her heart, and giving to her the Man of 
 her Choice. She then bowed respectfully to the 
 Queen, and kissed her Majesty's hand ; she kissed 
 with fervent warmth her royal aunts, and going up 
 to her uncles, she took their hands and gratefully 
 received their felicitations. Turning to Prince 
 Leopold, she caught him by the arm, and in the 
 most engaging and amiable way, retired along with 
 him, followed by the admiration of every one pre- 
 sent, and about eleven o'clock left Carlton House 
 for Oatlands, the seat of the Duke of York, which 
 was given up to the accommodation of the exalted, 
 or to use a better word, the happy couple for a few 
 weeks. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 279 
 
 Her Majesty was highly pleased with the husband 
 her Royal Highness had chosen ; and the Regent 
 was equally gratified with the match, showing his 
 satisfaction by splendid and sumptuous entertain- 
 ments, as the Queen did her's by a distribution of 
 Bride Cakes amongst the persons attached to 
 her Majesty's establishment, amounting, in all, 
 perhaps, to the number of five or six hundred. 
 
 Nor was joy confined to the relatives of the be- 
 loved Bride ; it was manifested in all the corners 
 of the empire. Balls were numerous over the 
 entire country, and attended by the greatest con- 
 course of young ladies wherever they were held. 
 
 The day after the wedding a Common Council 
 was assembled to take into consideration the fitness 
 of presenting the good wishes and prayers of the 
 city of London, that the circumstance might prove 
 answerable to the sanguine hopes entertained of 
 their mutual comfort and happiness, founded on 
 the firm base of the virtues and admirable dispo- 
 sitions of both Princess and Prince. When the 
 object of their meeting was formally stated, one of 
 the members requested to be informed whether 
 any regular communication on the affair had been 
 made to the Lord Mayor : and his Lordship re- 
 plied that he had intimated to Lord Sidmouth the 
 propriety of the corporation sending a person of 
 their body to witness the celebration of the nuptials, 
 
280 LIFE OF THE 
 
 and that Lord Sidmouth having concurred with 
 him in opinion, a person was accordingly sent, and 
 that he was looking on during the solemnity. His 
 Lordship added, that an official information was 
 given to him besides, and that he had in conse- 
 quence issued summonses which he trusted would 
 be attended to, the occasion requiring a full assem- 
 blage to give to their resolves due lustre and im- 
 portance. But a worthy alderman conspicuous for 
 loyalty or more properly speaking for his ability of 
 showing it, for all the members of that court are 
 very possibly equally sincere friends of the house 
 of Brunswick, and alike impressed with a consci- 
 ousness of the benefits their accession to the throne 
 has secured to us : he got up and declared that 
 the address must be instantly drawn out and voted 
 for, that it might be seen how the Common Council 
 of London hastened to mark w r ith the declaration 
 of their hearty gladness the event that held fortli 
 such confident pledges of future happiness to the 
 royal family. He therefore proposed that congra- 
 tulations should be made directly; to the Queen 
 one, one to the Regent, one to the Princess her- 
 self, and one to Prince L opold. The motion 
 was carried unanimously, and the Sheriffs were 
 directed to wait upon the distinguished indi- 
 viduals, and know their pleas e as to the day 
 they might be disposed and at leusure to attend to 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 281 
 
 them. Monday the 13th of May was appointed 
 by his Royal Highness, and the same day was fixed 
 upon by the Queen and Princess Charlotte and his 
 Serene Highness. It was this very day that the 
 Sheriffs indeed first waited upon the Prince and 
 Princess, who had only come from Oatlands the 
 day before, after they had attended divine worship 
 in Wey bridge church as they also did the preced- 
 ing Sabbath and were joined in prayer by a crowd- 
 ed congregation, some of whom, it is charitable 
 enough to say it, might have come to see rather than 
 to hear. Camelford House was their town mansion. 
 There the address of the London corporation was 
 received and replied to. 
 
 But first the city procession repaired to Carlton 
 House to pay their dutiful respects to the Prince 
 Hegent, who was on this occasion, and all his house- 
 hold, dressed as for a levee day. A little before 
 three o'clock the party arrived, the Lord Mayor 
 was appareled in his official robes, on his left breast 
 was a large knot of white ribbons, and on each 
 shoulder were smaller ones. The aldermen like- 
 wise, and all of the procession wore cockades, and 
 their appearance on tht whole was exceeding chear- 
 ful and gay. 
 
 Being introduced to the presence of his Royal 
 Highness, who sat'H'pon the throne surrounded by 
 the great officers of state, the Recorder delivered 
 o o 
 
282 LIFE OF THE 
 
 the address in fine tone; and produced altogether 
 a very delightful and grand effect. The Regent 
 appeared to feel a secret joy as the address was 
 read over, and at its conclusion he returned the 
 following answer : 
 
 " I thank you sincerely for this loyal and atten- 
 tive expression of your sentiments. I receive with 
 the most cordial satisfaction your congratulating 
 speech ; it is grateful to my private feelings, and 
 pleasing to my wishes, that a matter has your full 
 approbation which promises felicity to my daughter, 
 and has attached to it the best and true interests of 
 the realm." 
 
 .After paying this visit to his Royal Highness, 
 whose hand they had the honour of kissing, they 
 next proceeded to Buckingham House, and were 
 greeted at their entrance by a military guard. 
 When introduced to the Queen's presence they 
 found her seated upon a chair, and behind the 
 chair was a throne, attended by Princess Elizabeth 
 and Princess Mary, the Ladies of her Majesty's 
 Bedchamber, and the Earl of Morton. The address 
 was delivered by the Recorder as spokesman for 
 the city, and her Majesty was evidently pleased 
 with the dutiful and kind expressions it contained, 
 delivering her reply in the words following : 
 
 "I receive your congratulations with heartfelt 
 satisfaction, and I am highly gratified by those 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. %&3 
 
 sentiments of duty to the King, and of attachment 
 to the royal family which you have shown upon 
 this occasion." 
 
 When the ceremony with the Queen was over, 
 the Lord Mayor and his party went to Camelford 
 House, Sir Nathaniel Conant was attending with 
 peace officers, that order might be maintained on 
 the outside of the mansion, for vast crowds had 
 gathered round it, forming a theatre for pick-pockets 
 and tumultuous characters to act their parts in. 
 The Princess, in gratification of this good will mani- 
 fested towards her by the people, showed herself 
 frequently at the windows, and was saluted with 
 loud and hearty peals of applause, and admiration. 
 The Mayor's retinue entered Camelford House by 
 the court leading into Hertford street ; and were 
 received with much distinction ; the royal servants 
 all of them were in their new state liveries. The 
 concourse of persons entitled to enter the Princess's 
 presence had considerably encreased by this time, 
 the hall indeed was expressively crowded, in so 
 much that the Lord Mayor seeing how great the 
 gathering was, requested the gentlemen to restrain 
 themselves and not squeeze violently forward into 
 the apartment of the Princess which was not more 
 than large enough for thirty; but his Lordship 
 assured them at the same time they should all have 
 the pleasure of beholding her Royal Highness in 
 
284 LIFE OF THE 
 
 their turn : they accordingly lay back and behaved 
 with perfect order and moderation, meeting the 
 reward which the Mayor had promised to them. 
 
 Her Royal Highness dressed in black, on account 
 of the death of the Austrian empress, received them 
 in the drawing room with great affability and 
 sweetness; she placed herself in the centre, and 
 was attended by Lady Emily Murray, Lady John 
 Thynne, and Mrs. Campbell and Miss Cotes. The 
 Recorder, as soon as the first compliments were 
 done, addressed her in these terms : 
 
 " Madam, 
 
 "We his Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, 
 the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commoners of 
 the city of London, in Common Council assembled, 
 request permission to 'offer our warmest congratu- 
 lations upon the recent and auspicious marriage of 
 your Royal Highness with his Serene Highness the 
 Prince Leopold, 
 
 u This very important union with an amiable 
 and accomplished Prince, of a family long distin- 
 guished for its attachment to the protestant cause, 
 we regard as an additional proof the anxious care 
 of your royal father for the interests and welfare 
 of his Majesty's subjects, and of his paternal affec- 
 tion for your Royal Highness. 
 
 " The splendid dignity of your royal birth, as 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 285 
 
 presumptive heiress of the British sceptre, creates 
 peculiar sentiments of affection and reverence in 
 the hearts of all his Majesty's subjects, accompanied 
 by the full assurance and proud exultation, that 
 the great acquirements and endearing qualities and 
 graces of your royal mind are so happily calculated 
 to adorn the exalted station of your Royal High- 
 ness ; and their prospects are brightened by the af- 
 fectionate regard to the interests of these happy 
 realms, which your Royal Highness, the pride and 
 hope of Britain, has manifested by this illustrious 
 alliance. 
 
 u The citizens of London are anxious to express 
 the affectionate solicitude they feel, that the joyful 
 event may be accompanied by the peculiar favour 
 of Heaven, and that the transcendent virtues which 
 inhabit your royal bosom, may descend to grace a 
 line of Princes, who may be the pride of their royal 
 parents, and a lasting glory to the country." 
 
 The Princess appeared highly sensible of the 
 sincere and ardent wishes of the corporation of 
 London for her happiness, and thus replied: 
 
 " My Lord Mayor, and Gentlemen, 
 
 " I receive your congratulations with the utmost 
 satisfaction and comfort, and I trust you will be 
 fully assured that to preserve the esteem of the 
 city of London will be an object of my perpetual 
 wish, and constant endeavours/' 
 
286 LIFE or THE 
 
 Those then present, and all the members of the 
 body had the honour of kissing the hand of her 
 Royal Highness. 
 
 The address to Prince Leopold was then pro- 
 ceeded upon ; his Serene Highness was standing 
 beside Baron Hardenbrock when the company 
 was introduced by Mr. Chester. To him the Re- 
 corder spoke as follows : 
 
 " May it please your Serene Highness. 
 
 "We, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Com 
 moners of the city of London, in common council 
 assembled, have great joy in paying their compli- 
 ments of congratulation to your Serene Highness 
 on your safe arrival in this kingdom, and on your 
 auspicious nuptials with the virtuous and amia- 
 able Princess Charlotte Augusta, presumptive heir- 
 ess to the throne of these realms. 
 
 " The dignity of your princely house, your dis- 
 tinguished fame, the solid endowments of your 
 mind, the excellent qualities of your heart, demand 
 our veneration and esteem, and afford the most 
 cheering prospect that an alliance thus formed will 
 be productive of all the happiness that can attend 
 the married state. 
 
 " With the illustrious Princess, the fair promise 
 of our isle, your Serene Highness has received all 
 the graces and virtues which furnish our British 
 
PRINCESS CHAELOTTE. 28? 
 
 daughters with an eminent example of female con- 
 duet and manners, and the attainments of her mind 
 are equalled by the engaging softness of her dis- 
 position, fitted alike to adorn the elevated sphere 
 of life in which she is destined to move, and to 
 sweeten and embellish the privacies of domestic 
 retirement. 
 
 " May your Serene Highness live long to enjoy 
 the blessing ; and may your royal bride crown your 
 wishes with a race of Princes, inheriting your re- 
 spective graces, and transmitting your names with 
 glory and honour to the children of our descen- 
 dents." 
 
 His Serene Highness could not forbear to ex- 
 hibit evident marks of his joy and gratification at 
 this pledge of public esteem and reverence offered 
 him by the city of London. In the most captivat- 
 ing manner he smiled upon the Lord Mayor and 
 Aldermen, and delivered himself to this effect in 
 very good modes of pronunciation : 
 
 " My Lord Mayor, and Gentlemen, 
 
 " I return to you my warmest and very sincere 
 thanks for the flattering and agreeable instance 
 you give of the interest you take in my happiness, 
 and in the hope of proving not unworthy of it, I ac- 
 cept the expression of your loyal and kind senti- 
 ments, with the highest liveliness of feeling" 
 
288 LIFE OF THE 
 
 The Princess and Prince left Camelford House 
 to take an airing for a short time before dinner, 
 and on their way were noticed by the populace in 
 their usual methods of manifesting their regard 
 and admiration by loud and reiterated cheers. They 
 came back amidst the same marks of general esti- 
 mation which were bestowed upon them at setting- 
 out, and returned them in the most agreeable 
 manner. 
 
 Congratulatory addresses were likewise moved 
 and unanimously agreed upon in both houses of 
 parliament, to be presented to the heads of the 
 royal family, the Prince Regent and the Queen, 
 and also the Prince and Princess themselves. On 
 the 9th of May these addresses were duly read to 
 his Royal Highness and her Majesty, and were re- 
 plied to in the most condescending and gracious 
 terms, the Queen held a special court for the pur- 
 pose of receiving the committee deputed to wait 
 upon her, having upon this occasion the Duke of 
 York, the Duke of Clarence, and the Duke of 
 Sussex along with her : and the Prince according 
 to custom held a levee. 
 
 Owing to the stay of Princess Charlotte and her 
 beloved husband at Oatlands, and they would have 
 stopped longer perhaps, had it not been for the pur- 
 pose, the Houses of Parliament bad not an oppor- 
 tunity of paying their respect and devotion to the 
 
PUINCESS CHAULOTTE. ' 289 
 
 illustrious pair as early as they did to her Majesty 
 and his Royal Highness. It was the Peers who 
 first arrived at Camelford House ; they were intro- 
 duced into the presence of her Royal Highness and 
 Prince Leopold in the usual way by Mr. Chester, 
 and the Lord President of the Council delivered 
 himself as follows : 
 
 " Ordered, nemine contradicente, by the Lords 
 spiritual and temporal in parliament assembled, 
 that a message be sent from that House to congra- 
 tulate her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Au- 
 gusta, and his Serene Highness Leopold George 
 Frederick, on the solemnization of their marriage." 
 
 Her Royal Highness's answer was, 
 
 " We are much gratified by the proof of atten- 
 tion and regard which we have received upon this 
 occasion from the House of Lords, and we return 
 them many thanks for their congratulations." 
 
 His Serene Highness replied to, the same effect 
 to their Lordships' compliments. 
 
 The party delegated by the House of Commons 
 consisted of the Marquis of Worcester, Earl Gower, 
 Lord Elmley, Lord Clive, Sir Thomas Acland, 
 Mr. Jenkinson, Mr. Law, and Mr. Hill. The ad- 
 dress was read by the Marquis of Worcester. 
 
 "Agreed to, nemine contradicente, that a congra- 
 tulatory message be sent to her Royal Highness 
 p r 
 
290 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Princess Charlotte Augusta, and his Serene High- 
 ness Prince Leopold George Frederick, in attest- 
 ation of the friendly sense of the House respecting 
 .that auspicious event, of the concern they take in 
 the welfare of the Royal Family, and their wishes 
 that felicity may always attend their Royal and 
 Serene Highnesses." 
 
 The Princess in reply. 
 
 " We receive with great satisfaction this proof of 
 the attention and regard of the House of Commons, 
 and return them many thanks for their congratu- 
 lations." 
 
 And his Serene Highness answered thus : 
 
 " I rejoice, Gentlemen, at the share the House of 
 Commons take in my happiness, and am sensible 
 of their attention in making the congratulations. 
 I am very much obliged to them for their good 
 wishes, and thank them for the assurance of their 
 friendship, which I shall constantly endeavour to 
 deserve." 
 
 The inhabitants of the whole kingdom had re- 
 course to the same means for the declaration of 
 their joy and pleasure at the marriage, which being 
 formed upon the pure principles of mutual attach- 
 ment, and each of the parties endued with the 
 virtues that secure the happiness and lasting com* 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 291 
 
 fort of the connubial state, a reasonable expectation 
 was indulged, that in the conduct of Princess Char- 
 lotte and his Serene Highness, an example would 
 be given to the members of the empire, restraining 
 the levity and giddiness which were by degrees 
 growing into use between husband and wife ; the 
 judicious observer of the ways of the world, perceiv- 
 ed the readiness that was likely to exist among the 
 inferior classes to practise themselves to a course 
 of obliging behaviour and attention to one another 
 shown in the carriage of the exalted individuals. 
 The moral character of a court does more to esta- 
 blish the people in virtue than can be achieved by 
 wisdom and address of legislators, for to borrow a 
 rule of action from those who are lifted up far 
 above us, is at once gratifying to our vanity and 
 conducive to our interest, the shame of a virtuous 
 life is often a great disheartner of persons with 
 honest views, but when they observe in superiors 
 a specimen of the goodness they would follow, a 
 sort of sanction is gained, and the scoffs of the 
 worthless lose their effect. In order to meet the 
 wishes of several exalted persons to see the Princess 
 and Prince, her Majesty issued notice of holding a 
 Drawing-room on the 10th. This assembly was 
 attended by the major part of our nobility and 
 gentry, making a collection of distinguished cha- 
 racters to upwards of three thousand, so that all 
 
£92 LIFE OF THE 
 
 who had not space to be introduced at the begin- 
 ning of the ceremonies, and those who retiring after 
 their introduction could not get at their vehicles, 
 formed a most enchanting sight for the many 
 hundreds gathered before the Queen's palace, as 
 they either appeared at the windows, or walked 
 upon the grass plat. The festivity of the day, not- 
 withstanding the great bustle and numbers of 
 coaches, and people on foot, passed off without any 
 damage. The Queen made her entrance a little 
 after two, and was followed by the members of the 
 Royal Family. Her Majesty received the congra- 
 tulations of the company given in the warmest 
 terms, having the Princes and Princesses on her 
 right, and the Chamberlain and other officers at- 
 tached to her person standing by her left, according 
 to the practice that is always observed. When the 
 numerous visitants had made their duty and joyous 
 respects to the Queen, they proceeded to salute in 
 a similar way Princess Charlotte and her distin- 
 guished consort. A particular address was present- 
 ed to her Majesty from the borough of Guilford by 
 Lord Grantley, High Steward of the place, accom- 
 panied by the Recorder. Many addresses of a 
 like nature were delivered upon this occasion. The 
 illustrious couple left the Drawing-room in the 
 same equipage they came in, and were noticed by 
 the usual military honours ; the Bishops also, the 
 
FRmCESS~CHAHLOTTE. 293 
 
 Judges, and the eminent official individuals who 
 had been to make their compliments, ranging into 
 rows, formed a lane for the royal pair to pass, and 
 bowed most profoundly to them as they proceeded, 
 which their Highnesses returned with engaging 
 and graceful courtsey : and upon entering into the 
 park were noticed by the crowd with general ap- 
 plause. Her Royal Highness's attire was exceed- 
 ingly magnificent. Her petticoat was of silver 
 tissue of the richest quality, silver lama embroider- 
 ed the splendid net work which made the Roman 
 garments thrown over the shoulders of her Royal 
 Highness, the borders of the same were widely 
 sparkled with shining drops of silver, they were 
 made fast by a silver cord fringed with glossy- 
 tassels. Her mantua was of rich tissue, bordered 
 with lama, and edged with the finest Brussels' point. 
 Her head was garnished with numerous refulgent 
 diamonds, cast into florets of roses, and thistles and 
 shamrocks, and set off with three most beautiful 
 ostrich feathers. And notwithstanding the bril- 
 liancy and elegance of her attire, the Princess had 
 all she wore, fashioned entirely by British factors ; 
 save in the laces, native industry alone had been 
 employed in the adorning and splendour of her ap- 
 pearance. It is worthy of remark that our beloved 
 Princess Charlotte made a more showy figure at 
 this Drawing-room than at the preceding ones, and 
 
£94 LIFE OF THE 
 
 that she never attended with greater pains to the 
 neatness of her apparel before her marriage than 
 she did after it ; a hint, which presented by an ex- 
 ample so admirable, may reasonably be looked upon 
 to prove full of good results to the ladies of this 
 kingdom, who influenced by the best principles, 
 and confident of their deserts, think to retain the 
 affections of their husbands without any regard to 
 those little trivial elegances which they used suc- 
 cessfully in making captives of them. Doubtless 
 they imagine with much propriety and reason that 
 having spent a great deal of their time aforehand 
 in such matters, they have a good right to enjoy a 
 relaxation, and are justified in asserting it on the 
 ground of familiarity, and by the visible falling off 
 in the ardours the husbands abounded in before 
 they made them ones. But they ought to be in- 
 formed that little attentions added all together 
 make a great favour, and inspire a sense of consider- 
 able obligation, though separately taken they may 
 be very trifling and foolish : and even in this case 
 they should not be wholly neglected, for man him- 
 self in his utmost elevations is trifling and foolish 
 in his own nature, and perhaps through all creation 
 no vanity in animals out-does the vanity of him 
 who boasts himself to be the lord of it. An argu- 
 ment, and it is a very strong one, arises also from 
 the pride and good sense of letting the world see 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 295 
 
 that the man of their choice was worth the choos- 
 ing ; but after all it must be owned that arguments 
 are not of much avail to counteract the estrange- 
 ment of affection, and there are no examples, I be- 
 lieve, of people that fell in love, and remained in it 
 according to the rules of logic. 
 
 The borough of Guilford, which had made their 
 address to her Majesty the day of the Drawing- 
 room, had settled a joint epithalamium for the 
 Princess and Prince, which their Highnesses signi- 
 fied their intention of receiving on the 18th, two 
 days after, at which time the High Steward, one 
 of the members, and the usual officers repaired to 
 Camelford House, when the following was de- 
 livered: 
 
 " We your Royal and Serene Highnesses' most 
 affectionate and devoted servants, the Mayor, High 
 Steward, Recorder, Magistrates, and approved men, 
 together with the other inhabitants of the town and 
 borough of Guilford, in the county of Surrey, beg 
 leave to offer to your Royal and Serene Highnesses 
 our warmest and most sincere congratulations on 
 your auspicious union ; and to assure you, that a 
 union, so calculated to ensure the domestic felicity 
 of your Royal and Serene Highnesses, is, in every 
 view, a source of satisfactory reflection to the in 
 habitants of the British empire. 
 
 « ^y e re j ice in the opportunity afforded us of 
 
296 LIFE OF THE 
 
 addressing a Prince for whom we entertain the 
 highest and most profound respect and esteem ; to 
 assure your Serene Highness how fully we parti- 
 cipate in every happiness you can experience and 
 particularly in your union with so illustrious a 
 British Princess. 
 
 " May these nuptials, so pleasing to the nation, 
 be productive of permanent felicity to your Royal 
 and Serene Highnesses, and may you both live 
 long in the esteem arid affection of a free people." 
 
 A joint answer was made in these words : 
 
 rt Gentlemen, we return you our best thanks for 
 your loyal address, and the expressions of attach 
 ment and regard towards us which are contained 
 in it after a way so highly gratifying." 
 
 The expected appearance of the Princess and her 
 consort at the opera, gathered of course a very nume- 
 rous audience. Indeed no vacancies at all were 
 left. The first act of the representation being ended, 
 and their Royal Highnesses not arrived, great dis- 
 quietude was beginning to appear in several persons 
 who had gone to the opera for the sole purpose 
 only of seeing the Prince Leopold and Princess 
 Charlotte. But at last entering the Regent's box, 
 they were greeted with the loudest acclamations, 
 and " God save the King" was immediately struck, 
 sung by the full band of performers. While her 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 297 
 
 Royal Highness remained, she had frequent oppor- 
 tunities of recognizing some of her private friends, 
 and these she greeted with her usual condescension 
 and cordial affability. She had all eyes fixed upon 
 her while she stopped, and imparted to the house 
 a due sense of the kind attentions which should 
 accompany private friendship, in her manner of 
 accosting her acquaintances; and upon withdrawing 
 courtsied to the whole crowded theatre with much 
 visible satisfaction at the joy which was shown by 
 the audience at her entrance, and the well meant 
 stare with which she was gazed upon the time she 
 remained. The day after, her Royal Highness 
 attended divine service at the chapel of Whitehall, 
 and was accompanied thither by the Prince and the 
 Duchess of York. Such attractions did the illus- 
 trious pair hold forth for the gathering of immense 
 crowds, that a police magistrate, in precaution, went 
 to Whitehall, followed up by a party of the peace 
 officers, that order might be maintained amongst 
 the expected multitude. No riot, however, was 
 made. On Monday, the 20th of May, their High- 
 nesses and the Duchess of York went to see the 
 British Gallery, before the room was opened for 
 public exhibition. The Marquis of Stafford, a 
 nobleman who has encouraged the art of painting 
 with peculiar activity, the Earl of Aberdeen, Earl 
 Brownlow, Lord Dundas, the Right Honorable 
 Q Q 
 
298 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Mr. Charles Long, Sir George Beaumont, Sir 
 Thomas Bernard, Sir Abraham Spencer, and the 
 Reverend Mr. Carr, who are all directors of the 
 institute of painting, were present, and attended the 
 Prince and Princess, explaining the several pictures 
 that were to form the approaching display of British 
 art and taste. The royal party were highly grati- 
 fied, and continued to examine the paintings with 
 critical minuteness a long time ; then driving to 
 York House, they alighted for a few minutes, and 
 thence proceeded direct to Camelford House, 
 whither the Duchess of York very soon followed 
 to partake of their Highnesses, dinner. 
 
 The managers of Drury Lane theatre having 
 been apprized that the Princess Charlotte and 
 Prince Leopold intended to honour the representa- 
 tion of Bertram with their presence this day, mat- 
 ting was laid from the flag stone before the entrance 
 door, all along to the Regent's box, where they 
 were to sit. The expectation of their company 
 had brought that evening a crowded attendance, 
 and on the outside such a vast concourse of peo- 
 ple had assembled, that it was almost in) practi- 
 cable to make way through them. A little before 
 nine, the Prince and Princess arrived, having in 
 their retinue Baron Harden brock and General Tay- 
 lor. Mr. Dibdm and Mr. Rae waited to escort 
 them to their seat, dressed in the court mourning. 
 
PRINCESS CHATtLOTTE. 29$ 
 
 At the moment they entered, Mr. Kean was just 
 finishing the catastrophe of the play; but the 
 audience interrupted the progress, and called for 
 u . God save the King s " which was chaunted by the 
 whole drnmatic corps, decorated with white knots^ 
 in compliment to the visiters. When the tune 
 was ended her Royal Highness bowed in acknow- 
 ledgment of the attention shown her and his Serene 
 Highness ; and the box she sat in being ill con- 
 trived to exhibit those that occupy it at any time, 
 the Princess in the most considerate and indulgent 
 manner leant forward that she might be seen. 
 
 On the 23d of May, their Highnesses entertained 
 the Prince Regent and a party of his friends. 
 Prince Leopold awaited his Royal Highness at the 
 door of Camelford House, and thence led him into 
 the drawing room where he was affectionately re- 
 ceived by his beloved daughter. In the preceding 
 part of this day a chapter was held of the Bath 
 Knighthood, at which his Serene Highness was en- 
 rolled among its members ; a chapter of the Garter 
 was also convened to confer its honour upon the 
 same exalted personage. A laudable curiosity in- 
 duced Princess Charlotte to witness the ceremonies; 
 she was attended by Colonel Addenbroke, Lady 
 J. Thynne, and Lady E. Murray. 1 he first busi- 
 ness gone through was swearing in the Dean of 
 Windsor to be the Registrarius of the order. The 
 
300 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Bishop of Salisbury, in his capacity of Chan- 
 cellor, read an act dispensing with that already fra- 
 med, which by its provisions excluded one in 
 Prince Leopold's circumstances from the enjoyment 
 of the dignity ; and after settling the eligibility of 
 his Serene Highness, he was introduced formally 
 by the Earl of Liverpool and Lord Castlereagh. 
 His Royal Highness thereupon, assisted by the 
 Duke of York, confirmed the enrolment of the 
 Prince, whilst the Chancellor pronounced a solemn 
 admonition respecting the course of living and 
 honourable conduct which were to be expected 
 from the wearer of a badge put on in commemor- 
 ation of the patron Saint of England, St. George. 
 His Serene Highness, after his election was com- 
 pleted, advanced to the Prince Regent, and kissed 
 his hand ; then paying his compliments to all the 
 members present, he withdrew, and was followed 
 by Princess Charlotte. 
 
 In the evening of the 24th, their Highnesses 
 went to Covent Garden Theatre to see the play of 
 the Jealous Wife. They reached the house before 
 seven o'clock ; Mr. Harris, and tw r o gentlemen of 
 the theatre, conducted them to the Prince Regent's 
 box, and presented them with the plays of the 
 Jealous Wife, and lists of the persons who were to 
 sustain the characters. Their reception was very 
 animated and hearty, the house rung with the ac- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 301 
 
 clamations of the spectators ; and all the ladies, in 
 honour of their Highnesses* happy nuptials, were 
 dressed in white ; her Royal Highness was still in 
 mourning, but her attire was most splendid notwith- 
 standing, and her hair was ornamented with wreaths 
 and a chaplet of ostrich feathers. 
 
 The city of Bath having framed a congratulatory 
 offering to their Highnesses, the Marquis of Camden, 
 Lord John Thynne, and Colonel Palmer waited 
 upon them on the 25th and delivered it, containing 
 similar sentiments and professions of regard with 
 those that had been already presented, and both 
 Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold returned 
 their acknowledgments with equal warmth and 
 kindness, which it is unnecessary therefore to put 
 to press, for the general expression of gratitude was 
 all that could be employed upon such occasions, 
 and a specimen has been given sufficient to convey 
 the tenour of all the rest. Indeed few places of 
 any note or consideration neglected to make their 
 best wishes to her Royal Highness at this the most 
 interesting juncture of her life of any from the time 
 she first received it. Politeness and fine breeding 
 are really needed among us, impelled as we all are 
 by nature to behave with narrowness and surly 
 manners to those we expect to get nothing from : 
 but their employment is much deplored when an 
 instance offers in which the common place phrases 
 
302 LIFE OF THE 
 
 of agreeable and pleasing things are made use of 
 without in the least violating truth, or doing wrong 
 to the rigour of good sense, because in this case it 
 is a very great pity that the commended person 
 should have theencomi urns bestowed upon him liable 
 to the vast drawbacks which are evermore supposed 
 admissible from the universal application of the 
 bland words, that are more than usually strained 
 to impart a high opinion of himself to one exalted 
 beyond the attacks of an ordinary providence. But 
 Princess Charlotte had so endeared herself to the 
 whole nation by the virtues that began in her 
 childhood, and acquired growth with the en crease 
 of her stature ; the frankness of her disposition, 
 the sensibility of her soul, the fearlessness she 
 used upon every crisis that called for steady re- 
 solution, her charity, and for whatever else she 
 had of goodness, the public had made their judg- 
 ment, and were prepared to admit with a ready ear 
 the grateful and elevated compliments that were 
 paid her upon the auspicious nuptials of her Royal 
 Highness with a man whom she had selected with 
 a discernment and propriety becoming and suit- 
 able to the possessor of those very qualities which 
 she noticed with special favour in Prince Leopold. 
 Their Royal Highnesses, in order to gratify the 
 affectionate fondness of the people for looking at 
 them, went occasionally to places of public resort, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 303 
 
 the opera and the theatres. Mrs. Siddons was an- 
 nounced to perform on the 31st, the part of Queen 
 Catharine in Shakespear's play of King Henry 
 VIII. and they repaired to Covent Garden in the 
 evening of that day with the additional enduce- 
 ment of witnessing the exhibition of that accom- 
 plished and noble actress. The very reappearance 
 of Mrs. Siddons itself was an attraction hard to be 
 withstood, and must have brought to the house an 
 overflow of spectators, but the intimation of Prin- 
 cess Charlotte and Prince Leopold's attendance 
 made the collection countless. More came to the 
 door than obtained admission. (Here let us pause 
 for a while, and as the sweet object of our curiosity 
 was always known to be chearful amidst her piety, 
 so we shall indulge the awful a little, in the centre 
 of our gay contemplations ; and reflect how a view 
 of her may be obtained when the farce of this world 
 is ended, and we have quitted the busy stage of it : 
 then that very modesty and diffidence in ourselves 
 which hindered several from getting into Covent 
 Garden may, it is trusted, if directed to christian 
 concerns, form a passport to her presence for ever.) 
 There are in the play of Henry VIII. many 
 passages that pointedly touch the lamentable sepa- 
 ration between the distinguished parents of her 
 Royal Highness. These passages of course were 
 eagerly embraced by the auditory, to testify to the 
 
304 LIFE OF THE 
 
 illustrious child the true regard they bore her af- 
 flicted mother, and the sincerity with which they 
 entered into her sufferings, or, to say the least of it, 
 her disappointments. It happens to lie altogether 
 without the province of the biographer to make 
 any comments on this matter, or to offer an opinion 
 about its propriety and judiciousness, and he is 
 glad of it ; if indeed he were assured within himself 
 that it is his duty to express his sentiments, that 
 the reader will expect, since, from the papers he 
 must needs have perused for the purposes of his 
 work, he ought, as being well qualified to do it, to 
 say something : he could only declare that he be- 
 lieves the Princess of Wales did not deserve to be 
 ill treated, nor on the other hand does he think she 
 has been so badly used as the bulk of the kingdom 
 are fond of imagining, so that we should make our- 
 selves easier than most of us do upon this head. 
 There is an honest but a most sincere bluntness in 
 a British native that hurries him away from the re- 
 gard of minor things, and he must be either on one 
 side or the other positively, and he becomes 
 himself a party in the business that is agitated. In 
 the affair indeed now alluded to, there is no room 
 for a half judgment, for the nature of it does not 
 admit of that ; yet one may find a view of the case 
 which represents the disapproved conduct in no 
 unamiable light ; when for instance the handsome 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 305 
 
 provision made for the Princess of Wales is taken 
 into consideration, it is highly unjust to give way 
 to that vehemence of declamation which is excited 
 in many by the generous concern taken in her mis- 
 fortunes, and again, who is not indignant and dis- 
 gusted when he runs over the gross and unmanly 
 insinuations which are applied to the prejudice of an 
 unbefriended Princess. 
 
 But to return to the play. Henry VIII contains 
 in it many lines in reference to Catharine, which, 
 without a great deal of violence, might be turned 
 to use in the present times. In the second act 
 Catharine pleads for herself in these words : 
 
 " Sir I desire you to do me right and justice ; 
 And to bestow your pity on me : 
 For I am a most poor woman, and a stranger, 
 Born out of your dominions j having here 
 No judge indifferent, nor no more assurance 
 Of equal friendship and proceeding. 
 Alas, Sir, in what have I offended you ? What cause 
 Hath my behaviour given to your displeasure, 
 That thus you should proceed to put me off, 
 And take your good grace from me ? 
 If in the course and process of this time, 
 You can report and prove it too, 
 Against mine honour aught, my bond to wedlock, 
 Or my love and duty toward your sacred person, 
 Id God's name turn me away ; and let the foul'st contempt 
 Shut door upon me, and so give me up 
 To the sharpest kind of justice/* 
 R R 
 
306 LIFE OF THE 
 
 In the fourth act, Catherine and a person attached 
 to the court, hold this dialogue : 
 
 Cath. How does his Highness ? 
 
 Capucius. Madam, in good health. 
 
 Cath. So may he ever do, and ever flourish, 
 
 When I shall dwell with worms, and my poor name 
 
 Banished the kingdom. 
 
 Sir, I most humbly pray you to deliver 
 
 This to my Lord the King. 
 Capucius. Most willingly, Madam. 
 Calk. In the which I have commended to his goodness 
 
 The model of our chaste loves, his young daughter ; — 
 
 (The dews of Heaven fall thick in blessings on her !) 
 
 Beseeching him to give him virtuous breeding ; 
 
 And let him a little love her for her mother's sake, 
 
 That loved hkn, Heaven knows how dearly. 
 
 Again, 
 
 " She little thought, when first she touched this isle, 
 She should have bought her dignities so dear." 
 
 The auditors demonstrated in the most open 
 and undisguised way the deep impression on their 
 minds that the Princess of Wales was foully sland- 
 ered. Of this, I fancy, no upright charitable person 
 will hesitate to allow the truth ; nor is there any 
 question but her situation was worthy the compass- 
 ion of a feeling people, for however comfortable her 
 pecuniary circumstances might be, other causes 
 were certainly adequate to produce deep vexation 
 in the breast of the poor Princess of Wales, accus- 
 tomed as she had ever been to abundance, she could 
 not be alive to the miseries of actual want, or to 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 307 
 
 the troubled thoughts of the head of a family who 
 apprehends ruin to be at hand, and whose grand 
 pursuit is therefore the acquisition of a maintenance 
 for himself and those that are dear to him, and hav- 
 ing thus provided, he commonly regards himself as 
 happily conditioned. In all the gradations of 
 society the same accidents do not produce the same 
 effects indiscriminately, the pleasure that some 
 men take in retirement, is death to others ; nor do 
 the causes that invariably lead to results of the like 
 stamp operate without their different degrees of 
 influence. To remove uneasiness affords us a sense 
 of pleasure, and brings on a train of delightful ideas, 
 and in general this is the chief instrument to our 
 gratification and comfort: a source that we can 
 hardly ever expect to fail us, for there will always 
 exist some secret cause, at least, of anguish that will 
 put us upon struggling to get rid of it, there will 
 be misery enough to keep up the Parthian system 
 of seeking happiness ; such being our lot, in the 
 most prosperous fortune, the sighing heart will ac- 
 knowledge its imperfection, nor if all the happiness 
 that is scattered through the earth were to be col- 
 lected and tied up in the possession of a single man, 
 is it by any means clear that the sum total would 
 make a very happy being, though it is quite true 
 on the contrary that if the woes of every sort that 
 pervade the species were to be gathered and heaped 
 
308 LIFE OF THE 
 
 upon some particular creature, they would make a 
 very miserable one. We are aptly counselled then 
 to try for ease and content here, and prepare our- 
 selves for happiness hereafter, and, (as the great 
 moralist and penetrating metaphysician Mr. Locke 
 has it,) rinding imperfection and want of complete 
 enjoyment in whatever the creatures can afford, we 
 should betake ourselves to the Creator, and look to 
 him, " with whom there is fulness of joy, and at 
 whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore." 
 The reader must not take offence at the seriousness 
 I have fallen into, nor be ready to construe it into 
 impertinence ; for it is hard to resist the intrusion of 
 grave thoughts into one's mind, when he sees the 
 instability of that greatness all the world contend 
 for : elevated rank is open to secret sorrowings, and 
 they perhaps are just as acute and painful to the af- 
 flicted person as are the grosser and more vulgar 
 troubles which perplex and infest beings of the 
 lowest condition. An affront to a man of honour 
 is no less mortifying and severe than the visitation 
 of a real calamity, and yet nobody would fain de- 
 scend beneath himself, and take up the meaner cha- 
 racter in human action that might strip him of all 
 imaginary distress ; but every man strives to push 
 forward and overleap the heads of such as stand 
 before ; and indeed so ill suited would the first 
 option prove to our nature and ways of thinking, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 309 
 
 that he should be reckoned a mad wrong headed 
 reasoner who adopted it with philosophic deter- 
 mination ; and certainly if an insane person desig- 
 nates him that strays from the common paths, it 
 is very rational to lay him down for such. Neither 
 does any cause appear for deeming a practice of 
 this sort proper to advance the business of the 
 world happily. People of this high set imagination 
 raise their views too far to partake in the affairs of 
 others or. turn serviceable to the rest of the species 
 by the self-denial shown in themselves, for it is 
 odds but the fortune of these comes into hands not 
 so well trained or prompt as their own to acts of 
 goodness, since whatever mistake or distorted judg- 
 ment may influence them, they are not the worst 
 description of mankind that have recourse to 
 methods of this nature ; they evince indeed a native 
 excellency of temper and disposition which might 
 be improved to the very great advantage of those 
 within their reach, and much to their own internal 
 satisfaction. In short, good men behave most un<- 
 advisedly in running away from the world in order 
 to do it service : even self-interest might be more 
 eligible, self-interest to be sure is the groundwork 
 of crime and iniquity, but nevertheless its influence 
 for meritorious purposes might now and again be 
 connived at, it is at least an active principle, and 
 keeps a man from growing indolent and heedless of 
 
310 LIFE OF THE 
 
 necessary concerns, and it may be looked upon per- 
 haps in the light of a thing combining the unin- 
 tended cause and actual consequence in one ; a mo- 
 mentum in some manner akin to what actuates a 
 person that is going to be married, — he is purely 
 led by the personal regard he bears the fair one, and 
 upon this account longs very much to make her 
 his wife ; then, as a matter of course, her fortune 
 falls in along with the lady. And yet it is wrong 
 to do evil that good may come of it. 
 
 We have seen Princess Charlotte quite happy in 
 her beloved husband, and letting other people see 
 that she was not discontented with the man she 
 had favoured at the beginning ; for she declined no 
 share of genteel and discreet entertainment which 
 could manifest the pleased habitude of her mind. 
 In the early part of June, however, the charming 
 spirits she had maintained so long, began to fail, 
 and morbid gravity at last overspread her chearful 
 countenance. She was gradually growing more 
 sickly, and on Saturday the 9th of that month was 
 in an alarming state of fever and general indisposi- 
 tion. Doctor Baillie was called in, Surgeon Keate 
 and Mr. Walker attended her Royal Highness like- 
 wise ; and on the Sunday morning a bulletin was 
 issued to inform the numerous inquirers that " the 
 Princess had a good night's rest. The fever was some- 
 what abated. But notwithstanding the refreshment 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 311 
 
 her Royal Highness had gained by sleep, she 
 still lay under a very irritating cough." For 
 two or three days after this, Princess Charlotte 
 was at one time worse, then better again, but to- 
 wards the 15th her ailing assumed a most serious 
 aspect, and on the 15th itself, the affliction was 
 at its utmost height, from that day her Royal 
 Highness made rapid strides to be well and on 
 the 23d was in a state to go to the theatre. On 
 account of the expected visiters, and the intention 
 of Mrs. Siddons to appear in her chief character, 
 Lady Macbeth, a crowded audience was gathered 
 there. Lady Macbeth may not constitute Mrs. 
 Siddons' most admirable personification, it may 
 only be on a level with other parts in which Mrs. 
 Siddons is always seen with rapture ; but it is gen- 
 erally esteemed the best fitted for the development 
 of her powers, especially because it gives a full 
 scope to the exercise of that dignified and noble 
 energy which is the leading stroke of her gifted 
 mind, and furnishes the actress with an opportunity 
 of displaying her exceeding fine person and com- 
 manding countenance; other heroines may contri- 
 bute a great deal in this way too as well as Lady 
 Macbeth, but at any rate it may be safely advan- 
 ced that Mrs. Siddons' representation of the aspiring 
 woman, and the daring sallies of her thoughts, gives 
 a sort of reality to the delusion, and is a perfect 
 
312 LIFE OF THE 
 
 masterpiece in its kind. Some days previous, al- 
 though the Princess did not venture outside the 
 precincts of Camelford House, yet she was suf- 
 ficently recovered to receive visits, and on the 18th 
 addresses were read to her Royal Highness which 
 had been postponed on account of her sickness. 
 While she was confined, the Royal Family did not 
 go into her chamber, but satisfied themselves with 
 making inquiries, because of the recommendation 
 the doctors gave that her Royal Highness should 
 be kept as quiet as possible, and not discomposed 
 by the exertions required for speaking to her friends. 
 It was particularly noticed of her Majesty that she 
 did not go into the apartments of her grand- 
 daughter, nor show any of those symptoms of over 
 anxiety which in common life are usually seen in 
 the manner of a relative advanced in years, when- 
 ever the safety or health of a descendant is concern- 
 ed. Universal positions ought not to be laid down 
 as the certain foundation for individual conduct, 
 the chequered inclinations and tempers of the hu- 
 man species, do not comfort with such forcible and 
 straining maxims, but notwithstanding there are 
 few exceptions to the rule of moral philosophers 
 who hold that the affection runs downwards, and 
 seldom ascends with a power equal to what it de- 
 scends with. Yet in the matter of the grandmo- 
 ther and her grandchild no very great difference 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 313 
 
 was obviously noticed in this respect, for Princess 
 Charlotte always showed a deference and submis- 
 sion to the Queen, proportioned to the fondness 
 expressed by her Majesty towards her. The pub- 
 lic opinion is much divided upon this head, some 
 "feeling with severe sensibility the prudent adhe- 
 rence to the advice of the doctors, and others re- 
 garding the considerate behaviour of the Queen as 
 in perfect unison with discretion and propriety. 
 This affair being left undecided, for who indeed 
 shall determine a point that can only be settled ac- 
 cording to prejudice and supposition? no liberal, 
 nor honest man can take pride in the aspersions or 
 low whispers that tend to bring down the good 
 name of a personage set far above the rest of the 
 world by the station she holds in the country, and 
 whose sphere of action does not so properly lie in 
 the execution of the duties attendant upon consan- 
 guinity as in the discharge of national obligation, and 
 if a cool dispassionate mind will weigh the decorum 
 that has marked the domestic behaviour of her 
 Majesty, and place it against the little inattention 
 to private occurrences in her own family, consider- 
 ing also the importance of a good example in a 
 nation, permitted by affluence to indulge folly and 
 giddiness, of noxious results to the repose of the 
 fire-side, no room will be found for the entrance of 
 dislike, or it will be swallowed up in the contem- 
 s s 
 
314" LIFE OF THE 
 
 plation of qualities that are truly useful. The con- 
 stitutional excellencies which imparted lustre to 
 Princess Charlotte, promised to make her a sove- 
 reign that could conciliate the affections of her 
 people, without deteriorating their moral principles, 
 a certain happy mixture of right instinct with 
 sound reason distinguished her actions and demea- 
 nour, nor did the latter seem to operate so much as 
 the first, she appeared to be led into what was at 
 once noble, philanthropic, and virtuous ; she loved 
 as it were to be kind and good, and often gave way 
 to the rising impulse of her humane propensities 
 before she inquired into their cause : why she knew 
 not, nor did she care much wherefore. But such 
 persons are very sparingly sent into the world, and 
 only that it is an impious thing to yield to the no- 
 tion, one might look upon providence as repenting 
 itself of the favour intended to a worthless race of 
 creatures, and therefore it often occurs that they 
 are of very short existence. I believe there are 
 not many parents from whom a child has been cut 
 off in the dawn of infancy or the bloom of youth, 
 but delights to dwell upon the captivating graces 
 and praiseworthy properties that showed themselves 
 in that child in particular, whether the reminis- 
 cence starts up in the recesses of the solitary mind, 
 or an occasion offers' to make any mention of the 
 deceased. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 315 
 
 The nature of her Royal Highness's complaint 
 is understood to have been a blight to the country's 
 expectation. This was the received opinion of the 
 best informed persons at the time, and delicacy 
 does not suffer a more curious examination into all 
 the circumstances of the case, but there appear, 
 upon a broad survey, and by congregating one 
 thing with another, strong grounds for assenting to 
 the truth of the suggestion. 
 
 The establishment of the Princess's health was 
 thought to be most readily effected by a residence 
 in the country, that there engaged in the innocent 
 pursuits of rural affairs, employed upon the further- 
 ance of the earth's productions, her spirits would 
 improve by the progress of the soil's cultivation, 
 till at last smiling nature only kept in countenance 
 the complacency of her mind. 
 
 A sequestered way of spending one's time, is pro- 
 bably the most congenial to a virtuous turn of 
 thinking, which does not require to go abroad in 
 the search of contentment, but can find it always 
 within itself, and be happy at home. This disposal 
 of her Royal Highness was adopted in the early 
 part of her existence, and was now perhaps grown 
 into a pleasing habit with her. Her comforts were 
 no doubt very much heightened by the recent 
 change of her state, but they were not rehned so 
 exceedingly either as to exclude the perception of 
 
316 LIFE OF THE 
 
 natural enjoyments, like what happens to many 
 persons of rank and figure, who cannot live but in 
 a crowd. True happiness has always been fond of 
 solitude and the shade, and that sort of it in parti- 
 cular which fell to the share of the Princess Char- 
 lotte, whom providence had allotted an amiable and 
 accomplished partner, and his society would have 
 been to her a good, indeed a very preferable sub- 
 stitute to large parties : with him she had company 
 enough ; " we two make up a multitude," is a pro- 
 verbial saying which her Royal Highness's conduct 
 and inclinations gave complete illustration to. That 
 artificial pleasure which is hung upon foreign cir- 
 cumstances was altogether uncongenial to her turn 
 of mind, she was incapable of narrowing the extent 
 of her felicity to such strait and fleeting limits; and 
 long „ after it ceased to be gazed at, her happiness 
 continued to exist, for pomp and splendour did not 
 form its chief ingredients, although doubtless they 
 must have gratified her a good deal, and she could 
 not but feel delightful reflections in regarding the 
 approbation of the world to the alliance she had 
 made. Independent of the recess meditated by 
 their Highnesses from the bustle of the town, Ca- 
 melford House would have been given up at all 
 events, for it was found ill adapted for them, afford- 
 ing too little room for the accommodation of the 
 persons that were annexed to their household. The 
 following is a list of their Highnesses' servants, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 317 
 
 Ladies of the Bed Chamber, The Lady Emily 
 Murray and Lady John Thynne. 
 
 Bed Chamber women, Mrs. Campbell and Miss 
 C. Cotes. 
 
 Keeper of the Privy Purse, Mrs. Campbell. 
 
 Equerries and Aid-de-camps to his Serene High- 
 ness, Baron Hardenbrock and Sir Robert Gardiner. 
 
 Equerries to the Princess, Colonel Adden broke, 
 and Colonel Percy. 
 
 Treasurer, Mr. H. N. Willis. 
 
 Chaplains, Rev. Doctor Short, Rev. Doctor 
 Moorhead, Rev. Mr. Short, and the Rev. Mr. Ric- 
 ketts. 
 
 Physicians : in; ordinary, Doctor Stockman, 
 Doctor Baillie, arid Doctor Rodham; extraordinary, 
 Doctor Morrison; Accoucheur, Doctor Sir Richard 
 Crofts, Bart. 
 
 Surgeons : in ordinary, Mr. Robert Keate ; ex- 
 traordinary, Mr. Thomas Harding. 
 
 Apothecaries, Mr. W. H. Nevile, Mr. Walker 
 and Mr. Brande. 
 
 Household Secretary, Mr. Aminerschaber. 
 
 Pages, Mr. James Sims, Mr. Thomas Poole, Mr. 
 Henry Florshutz, and Mr. Pan Mechin. 
 
 Valet-de-chambre, Mr. M. Florshutz. 
 
 Dresser, Mrs. Prior. 
 
 House Steward, Mr. Philipps, and House Keeper, 
 Mrs. Philipps. 
 
318 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Clerk of the Wine Cellar, Mr. Lyons. 
 Cooks, Mr. F. Grillon, Mr. E. Morel and Mr. J. 
 Sehellburn, and Mrs. Elizabeth Hands. The con- 
 fectioner, Mr. C. Hoeek ; and for the Coffee Room 
 Mrs. Hannah Parsons. 
 
 Gardener. Mr. T. Fairbairn. 
 Silk Mercer, Mr. W. King. 
 Linen Maker, Mrs. Mary Hillhouse. &c. &c. See- 
 Now for all these, and the menial attendants, Ca- 
 melford House could not furnish apartments to hold 
 more than one half, even though they should not 
 live in the place, whose office did not require them 
 to attend constantly. Camelford House was at the 
 first thought to be a very commodious and proper 
 seat in town for their Highnesses to live in. Previ- 
 ous indeed to the negotiation for this residence, the 
 mansion in Cavendish Square, which belongs to the 
 Earl of Harcourt, was treated for by the President 
 of the Board of Works, but upon a more intimate 
 survey of that mansion, it was found to be in so 
 bad a state, and so far from the comforts and magni- 
 ficence of a royal abode, that to render it suitable a 
 vast sum of money must have been expended upon 
 it, not less, according to the usual charges of an 
 architect, than £100,000, which might be enough 
 to purchase a house altogether in complete readi- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 319 
 
 ness for their Highnesses' reception. It was then 
 that Lord Grenville was applied to for Camelford 
 House, of which his Lordship was owner. He 
 consented to let it for a certain period, with the 
 option of renewing the lease ad libitum, and like- 
 wise to give the furniture upon a moderate and fair 
 valuation. But added to the smallness of the house, 
 there arose many inconveniences to be undergone 
 by the distinguished inmates ; it had only one stair 
 case, and that was close ; there did not appear any 
 way of enlarging the entrance from Oxford street, 
 which was narrow and disagreeable; it was not besides 
 furnished with other apartments than those on the 
 first floor and under it, for there is not a second 
 story worthy of the name ; externally its appearance 
 was striking, and it looked like a princely mansion, 
 but its court-yard was not spacious, and such as it 
 was the people in Hereford street could look into 
 it at pleasure, and see all that was going forward : 
 now although it might not be the wish of the in- 
 habitants to shrink from the prying eye of the pub- 
 lic, still it could not be very pleasant to the domes- 
 tics to be watched by every curious body who 
 would be so bold as to indulge his inquisitive pro- 
 pensities ; we do not live in an age that admits of 
 few attendants, or a forbearance of sumptuous fare 
 and splendour in our grandees, and therefore many 
 house servants are actually wanted, and justly and 
 
3£0 LIFE OF THE 
 
 discreetly kept by them, and so long as they are re- 
 tained, it is honourable and demonstrative of hu- 
 manity to treat them with consideration and indul- 
 gence. In the early times of Roman greatness, 
 much simplicity prevailed, and we are told of 
 Drusus one of the most eminent persons of his day, 
 that he had his house formed of so many windows 
 that the people in the streets could see the 
 family at their meals, and that instead of this* in- 
 spection giving offence to Drusus, it was quite 
 agreeable to him. Now there is nobody of a good 
 and upright mind, who can delight to show the in- 
 firmity of honest men and the weakness of virtue, 
 but yet the present case admits of a doubt whether 
 some vanity was not at the bottom of the conduct 
 pursued by Drusus. However this observation ap- 
 plying itself to every good practice that lies out of 
 the road of other persons, does not merit much 
 serious regard ; if Drusus were now upon the earth, 
 and in his old circumstances, he might keep up his 
 splendour without impairing the greatness of his 
 reputation, and if he did, hardly any doubt can be 
 made, at least not rationally, but that he would 
 have consulted the wishes of his servants, and per- 
 mitted them to conceal what they did not think 
 fit that all the world should see. Sober people can 
 receive no pleasure, and the considerate do not re- 
 quire, to trace any action of Princess Charlotte and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 321 
 
 Prince Leopold to the bottom, and try whether it 
 rest upon a good and virtuous foundation or no ; 
 for there are several transactions through which men 
 must pass without any claim to either censure or 
 applause, those that are in themselves altogether in- 
 different, and to fail in which is not always attend- 
 ed with any crimination, but on the other hand 
 sometimes imparts a sort of malignant gratification, 
 inasmuch as we get a better opinion of ourselves 
 by finding out imperfection in others, and are the 
 more easily reconciled to bear the recollections of 
 folly that start up in the memory by discovering 
 something to keep ourselves in countenance. The 
 only matter of course connected with giving up 
 Camelford House that had any thing to do with 
 the nation was the additional expenses the public 
 would have to defray by procuring another resi- 
 dence. But as their Highnesses w T ere now bent 
 upon going into the country no great anxiety was 
 shown by them to suit themselves better in town. 
 The object that engrossed their care was the pos- 
 session of a proper and agreeable place out of town. 
 Claremont House was selected ; and on the 20th of 
 June, Mr. Huskisson in the House of Commons 
 apprized the members that he was going to bring 
 before them the consideration of making for Prin- 
 cess Charlotte and her illustrious consort the pur- 
 chase of a country residence. The business itself 
 
 TT 
 
322 LIFE OF THE 
 
 did not present any difficulties, nor was likely to 
 meet with much resistance, the point in Mr. Hus- 
 kisson's opinion alone worthy debate, was the way 
 in which a habitation in the country was to be pro- 
 vided, and whether for that purpose one of the 
 houses forming Kensington Palace might not be 
 used. It was, however, apparent to him that the 
 needful dignity and show to be maintained by the 
 distinguished individuals, could not be so well con- 
 sulted as by procuring a country seat of large di- 
 mensions, and with a corresponding quantity of 
 lands annexed to it. Claremont offered strong 
 claims to attention, not only by the superbness of 
 the house, but the uncommon grandeur of the cir- 
 cumjacent grounds. A regard to the prudent ex- 
 penditure of the public revenue induced the mini- 
 sters to send down an experienced surveyor to val- 
 uate the house and lands of Claremont, as soon as 
 it was determined that Claremont should become 
 the future residing place of their Highnesses in the 
 country ; to him there was an assistant ; and the 
 owner made the most full and candid disclosure of 
 all things that could affect the bargain. £19.000 
 was the sum reckoned to be a fair allowance for the 
 property of the house alone, but others had already 
 estimated it at a rate much higher, and if it were 
 now to be built, four times that would scarce cover 
 the expenses. Thus while few modern edifices, if 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 323 
 
 any, were to be compared to it, the outlaying would 
 be a great deal under what any of the royal palaces 
 must cost for repairings to be put in a fit state for 
 the reception of the illustrious couple. The furni- 
 ture was estimated at £6,000, and the whole con- 
 cern, farm, plantation grounds, house, and furni- 
 ture would come to £56,000. Mr. Huskisson then 
 proceeded to inform the members of the mode in 
 which this sum was to be raised. There was in the 
 three per cents a sum of nearly £300,000, deposited 
 for the crown by the commissioners for selling the 
 land tax redemption, and also the sale of crown 
 lands had left a balance of £66,000 ; now he con- 
 ceived it very proper to avail themselves of this 
 fund upon the present occasion. All that was 
 taken from the redemption of the land tax would be 
 returned by the sale of lands appended to the crown; 
 and this would be in fact only giving to them the 
 enjoyment of what belonged to the royal possession. 
 The observations of this member ended with a 
 motion for bringing a bill in to settle the purchase 
 of the Claremont estate, and obtain it for the use of 
 Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold. Mr. Bar- 
 ing remarked upon what Mr. Huskisson had men- 
 tioned as to the saving to be gained for the public by 
 the mode of meeting the expense, that the fallacy 
 was hardly specious of supposing it, for if such sales 
 of crown manors otherwise unproductive could be 
 
324 LIFE OF THE 
 
 turned to good account, the matter should be looked 
 to carefully, and it amounted to the same with 
 public money unused. He likewise said that, al- 
 though he conceived the bargain was no bad one, 
 yet fifty years ago he knew that the place was sold 
 for £10,000. The other in explanation stated, that 
 lately a greater sum was paid for the estate, than 
 what was now agreed upon. It is indeed true 
 that Mr. Ellis purchased it for £53,000, but then 
 Mr. Ellis had some very excellent farms annexed 
 to it that went into the Claremont property, and 
 he still retains them, as landlord ; Prince Leopold 
 has rented from him two or three which are copi- 
 ously stocked with game, and one of them was got 
 for a residence to accommodate his Aid-de-camp, 
 Sir Robert Gardiner. We are informed that not 
 long before, an offer of £30,000 would not have 
 been refused for the estate, and notwithstanding its 
 abundance of timber, and a most delightful park of 
 three hundred acres, still the contract made with 
 Mr. Ellis does not evince that the ministers impos- 
 ed upon him. Claremont received its name from 
 the Earl Clare above a century ago, in exchange 
 for Esher Park or Esher House, by which it was 
 previously known. The antiquities of Claremont 
 are very curious; there exist proofs that aboriginally 
 it was a place of considerable note, and probably a 
 religious conventicle. To favour the last opinion 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 325 
 
 might be mentioned the hillocks and circular piles 
 that time has not yet entirely levelled. The misle- 
 toe grows abundantly along with nearly every 
 species of the arboreal kind. Among the natural 
 wonders may be reckoned a very loud and clear 
 echo in a part of the demesne, that seemed to be a 
 spot so well calculated for making love, that an 
 entire composition of lovers' poetry has been written, 
 which makes it the seat of the sweet hearts ; now 
 with due deference to the poet's genius, a little sa- 
 gacity will find the ill judgment of taking a place 
 that had so great an echo in it for the recess of a 
 loving pair to pour out their hearts in, since no 
 place in the world was so likely to tell upon them. 
 Esher common lies off in bleak perspective, but it 
 in a measure gives the nosce te ipsum to the be- 
 holder, long enchanted with a survey of the better 
 cultivated grounds, and of the house itself, which is 
 a truly noble mansion, although posited in a situ- 
 ation that is not the fittest for showing itself at a 
 distance, and much higher and more conspicuous is 
 a tower ; this may have originated in times of tu- 
 mult and disturbance in an observatory for viewing 
 an enemy's motions, for which it is well adapted by 
 its great elevation. We shall now to the end, to 
 which we are going apace, beguile our time almost 
 entirely here, and we have for the present consider- 
 ed Claremont premises enough. But the place 
 
326 LIFE OF THE 
 
 comes associated with such a press of importance 
 upon the mind, that the reader will be glad to learn 
 all about it. This disposition is not very philosophi- 
 cal, but it has something in it quite consentaneous 
 to the soul of man. As little good has been done 
 by it, so are besides the generous sentiments of 
 our nature thwarted by the frigid philosophy which 
 would conduct us unconcerned over regions cele- 
 brated for wisdom^ bravery, or virtue ; the person 
 indeed is but little to be envied, whose patriotism 
 would not grow warm in treading the plain of 
 Marathon, or whose resignation to the will of Heaven 
 does not gather strength as he meditates among the 
 bushes of Claremont. 
 
 Her Royal Highness being now sufficiently re- 
 covered to undergo a little fatigue, the departure 
 to the country was fixed for the 24th of August. 
 But the worthy corporation of London did not feel 
 happy that the Prince should leave town before he 
 became a citizen, and accordingly it was determined 
 in council that he should be enrolled among them, 
 and become one of themselves. A deputation was 
 sent to Camelford House to inquire the time his 
 Serene Highness might wish for the inauguration 
 to take place; he appointed the 11th of July, upon 
 which day likewise their Royal Highnesses the Duke 
 of Kent, the Duke of Sussex, and the Duke of 
 Gloucester were to receive the honours of the city. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 327 
 
 The Lord Mayor, and all his retinue were adorned 
 in the highest style of civic magnificence, and the 
 horses too were caparisoned in the most splendid 
 gorgeous manner. Upon reaching the hall, his 
 Lordship and the leading men of the corporation 
 escorted his Serene Highness and the Dukes to the 
 election stand; and thereupon their places being 
 taken, the Chamberlain addressed them in suitable 
 terms, first the Duke of Kent, and so on according 
 to their rank. In complimenting his Serene High- 
 ness, the chamberlain concluded to this effect: 
 " Allow us, Sir, to express our true and cordial 
 wishes that you may long enjoy the comforts of 
 your wedded life. That your royal bride may 
 crown our hopes with a circle of sons and daughters 
 inheriting those amiable traits of character by which 
 their parents are distinguished. That they may 
 be willing and able to guard the City of London 
 from infringement of the privileges they have the 
 happiness now to hold, privileges which their an- 
 cestors have procured them, and that are at once 
 needful to the preservation of the state, and dear to 
 the hearts of those whom your Serene Highness 
 has been pleased to consort with and graciously to 
 make them your fellow citizens." This address, 
 which was at least an honest one, the Prince re- 
 ceived with marks of high satisfaction and pleasure, 
 and returned in these words : "My Lord Mayor, 
 
328 LIFE OF THE 
 
 and Gentlemen, I cannot adequately describe my 
 sense and grateful idea of this additional mark of 
 regard shown me by the city of London. I hope 
 it is altogether needless for me to tell the happiness 
 I see in myself at becoming one of its members. 
 With the privilege to make your prosperity my 
 own, rest assured that it will always be an object of 
 my anxious wish to find the commerce of this great 
 city go forward successfully and with safety." The 
 august personages having taken the customary 
 oaths, were presented with boxes for keeping the 
 testimonials of their freedom in, these were written 
 in the first manner of ornamental writing, adorned 
 with beautiful devices, and all the show that pen- 
 manship could give was given to them ; the boxes 
 were formed of the wood that had borne the great 
 bulwarks of our country's integrity and honour, the 
 victorious seamen of Britain. Prince Leopold did 
 not put his up immediately, but held it in his hand, 
 and closely examined it, as well on account of the 
 neatness of the workmanship, as for a compliment 
 to the great service which the wood of it had passed 
 through. The box was truly uncommon, the 
 figures on it were done with exquisite taste and 
 difficulty, the roses, thistles, and shamrocks were 
 the figures easiest to be made that appeared upon 
 it, for the emblematical productions were not only 
 designed in a bold and engaging manner, but exe- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 329 
 
 cuted with necessary delicacy on account of the 
 grain of the wood. The distinction of citizenship 
 being duly gone through, and all the ceremonials 
 over, the illustrious fishmongers partook of a dinner 
 prepared at the Mansion House with the customary 
 savouriness and plenty which have ever been to be 
 found at that hospitable board. When the ban- 
 quet was over and they had done feasting, the 
 healths of the most distinguished persons of the 
 nation were proposed and drunk with great enthu- 
 siasm and eagerness, nor were the toasts confined 
 to individual healths, collective toasts were given 
 and warmly noticed, such as the Parliament and 
 the like, not omitting of course the Citizens of 
 London. Some time also before their Highnesses 
 left town,, a grand entertainment was made at 
 Carlton House, to which the whole circle of fashion 
 had been invited, and most all of them came, so 
 that the party was exceeding brilliant and numer- 
 ously attended, but it was not in the power of 
 Princess Charlotte to go, as her health was not yet 
 capable of sustaining much fatigue, although greatly 
 amended. But what indeed was still a more pro- 
 voking thing to her Royal Highness, she could 
 not pay her personal respects and love to her 
 Royal Aunt, Princess Mary, upon her auspicious 
 marriage with the Duke of Gloucester, an event 
 which every body was delighted at, for both were 
 u u 
 
330 LIFE OF THE 
 
 of the most mild and worthy temper, and gave every 
 assurance that they would prove an amiable ex- 
 ample of conjugal happiness and proper carriage, 
 and their high and conspicuous rank in the country 
 must draw in many of the great to follow the pat- 
 tern ; and these being copied by the next in degree, 
 and so down the links of society, a general good 
 effect is produced by a circumstance of this kind, 
 yielding far greater benefits and advantage than 
 those trophies of glory which make a louder noise. 
 The calm but slow effects of morality and good 
 conduct in the better sort of people is beyond 
 question of more durable and solid use than whole 
 campaigns of victory and honour from beginning 
 to end; for the glory and fame gained by these to a 
 nation may be tarnished by a single age, and all its 
 former grandeur make up a show in the triumphal 
 train of some foreign conqueror, and give insolence 
 only to the murderers of our children's children, 
 not but that such things are deservedly matters of 
 national joy and gratulation, and so far as they tend 
 to keep foes at a distance, or to animate the people 
 by a remembrance of them, whenever they are at- 
 tacked, in so much the glory of the realm identi- 
 fies itself with the security of it ; but of domestic 
 influence the usefulness is not so exposed to chance, 
 nor is it indeed in its quality so mutable, and such 
 is the spread of morals in a nation, that enemies and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 331 
 
 friends are profited by them when they come re- 
 commended by genteel or celebrated names. The 
 sacred compact was entered into by Princess Mary 
 and the Duke of Gloucester on the 22d of July, 
 although it might have taken place at an earlier 
 period, had there not been a wish to see Princess 
 Charlotte in a happier condition of health ; and an- 
 other cause was said to be the great desire Princess 
 Mary had to be given away by the Duke of Cam- 
 bridge who had not sooner arrived. The Queen's 
 palace was the place the royal pair were married in, 
 due preparations having been made for the purpose 
 by altar pieces, &c. the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 performed the service, aided by the Bishop of Lon- 
 don, as in the case of Princess Charlotte's marriage. 
 The first visit paid by the Duke and Duchess to 
 Camelford House was on the 7th of August ; their 
 time was previously passed away at Bagshot, the 
 Duke of Gloucester's country seat. Meantime the 
 furniture that was intended to be added to the 
 furniture already at Claremont was taken away 
 daily in waggons; and on the &£th, a stage coach 
 left Camelford House in the morning with the do- 
 mestics and their baggage. The personal attendants 
 of their Highnesses set out soon after in their car- 
 riages, and were followed at three o'clock by the 
 Prince and Princess, who reached Claremont time 
 enough for making different plans and regulations 
 before the day was spent, and dined there. 
 
3$% UFE OF THE 
 
 Camelford House was now left altogether by the 
 illustrious couple, and upon returning to town, it 
 was determined to select another residence. Cum- 
 berland House was talked of, and thought to be a 
 very suitable place, affording ample accommodation, 
 but finally Marlborough House was chosen. 
 
 Being now in the country, and freed from the 
 troubles and perplexity of company, the fond pair 
 enjoyed themselves in a way of life innocent and 
 virtuous and agreeable. Minds that are undisturb- 
 ed by guilt, and fond of ruminating the ideas that 
 rise up in them, whether those ideas be retrospec- 
 tive or directed to future ends, are alone known to 
 seek a retirement from the world, when the world 
 is within the reach of their enjoyment. To repair 
 into the groves for the purpose of escaping the 
 pleasures of sense, denotes a* voluntary goodness of 
 principle which can bear to be reflected on. Indeed 
 it is very improper to call the retreat of persons 
 conditioned as their Highnesses were by any term 
 that implied an abandonment of worldly concerns, 
 for # in truth it was only to enjoy the world with 
 more relish and less aberration from true purity, 
 and the term world therefore stands here for the 
 turmoils, the bustle, and the madness of it. An 
 absolute and total dereliction of all the affairs and 
 employments of life is just as reprehensible to the 
 full as that senseless avidity with which we run 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 333 
 
 after the gaieties of it, and spend all our time in 
 preparing for them. To mix in society with com- 
 fort to ourselves, and benefit to others, should con- 
 stitute the scope of our endeavours, but the way to 
 do this is by no means obvious ; he is much de- 
 ceived whose idea of society can only reach to a 
 crowd, and who thinks that it may not exist in a 
 village, or in the companionship of a friend or two. 
 Neither is it consistent with the general observation 
 which a man may form of himself to suppose that 
 in the wide range which the eye may cover the 
 thoughts are scattered and hard to be called home, 
 and that so the natural feelings of the heart become 
 indolent and cold. Experience shows the contrary. 
 The affections tied down to few objects are kept 
 in proper exercise, and neither dissipated by variety, 
 nor distracted by the guilty indulgences that creep 
 unawares upon the diversions of revelry. The 
 mind of Princess Charlotte was elevated beyond 
 the anxieties for trifles which young persons in her 
 sphere of life commonly feel in the pursuits of gay 
 and light entertainment. To take away the little 
 relaxations which company affords to persons en- 
 gaged in the active affairs of the world is very cruel, 
 and militates perhaps against the public good ; for 
 nothing so much opens the heart of a man of busi- 
 ness, weakens the influence of selfish passions that 
 are improved by his toiling for gain, or tends to 
 
334 LIFE OF THE 
 
 make him more actively useful in the concerns of 
 other people, than the little nocturnal assemblies of 
 different characters, where the transactions of the 
 day and the direction of the state fall under cogni- 
 zance, and are duly weighed and examined. In 
 this way the cares are banished from the tortured 
 brain, and if a song be added upon occasion, neither 
 is that amiss. The danger is lest from innocent 
 playfulness we fall into criminal indulgence, and 
 instead of unbending the mind, the spirits are sunk 
 in drunkenness, and the fortune squandered away 
 in useless gratifications, which it may have cost us 
 some conscientious remorses to raise. Common in- 
 stinct will act sufficiently as a monitor to promote 
 this virtuous disposition to society, which all men 
 unsoured by heavy disasters must be sensible of in 
 a greater or a less degree ; the province of the ab- 
 stract moralist is to provide against the excess of it, 
 and keep an excellence innate in our constitutions 
 from running into viciousness. But however ad- 
 visable such recreations are when there is discretion 
 enough to guide them, the splendour and the cap- 
 tivating charms which fashionable parties employ 
 to become pleasing to their votaries, ought to 
 be guarded against with all the care and pains 
 which philosophy can exert. Therefore in review- 
 ing the course of life which her Royal Highness 
 led, there is no trait in her character more earnestly 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 335 
 
 sought to be proposed as worthy the reader's ad- 
 miration and applause than the fondness she showed 
 to withdraw from giddy routs and luxurious con- 
 ventions, and to indulge her senses in the sweets of 
 rural sport, and in the still calm duties of the 
 country house. As a person of cultivated taste is 
 disgusted with some books, and declines to peruse 
 them, yet it were not proper thence to infer uni- 
 versally that he dislikes reading, and is a hater of 
 books ; neither ought the Princess Charlotte to be 
 held as one that had any aversion to society. The 
 common mode of a numerous assembly's waste of the 
 time that they are together, and the circumstances of 
 the meeting was what gave rise to her Royal High- 
 ness's objections to launch out into extravagancies. 
 From the delicacy of texture, and the neatness of 
 the mould which the British ladies exhibit in their 
 persons, a stranger, if asked his mind, how a great 
 number of them passed their time away when as- 
 sembled together, would certainly think of their 
 eating meat to be the last way of all others, and 
 yet dinner parties or parties to supper have place 
 on all occasions, any thing else can hardly be reck- 
 oned polite or genteel, unless it be a musical party, 
 which is also not just the desideratum. In those 
 districts of the empire where the Goddess of sim- 
 plicity has not been expelled by foreign refinements 
 but arrayed in her genuine attractions, continues to 
 
336 LIFE OF THE 
 
 rule it over the conduct of the people, that class in 
 the community which lies equally remote from 
 sordid poverty and superfluous affluence, are known 
 to have a great relish for evening parties to tea. 
 At these little congregations the young ladies are 
 permitted to talk freely to the other sex and with 
 each other, they imbibe a consciousness of shame, 
 the acquaintance that is hereby contracted with 
 their equals and admirers naturally stirs up this 
 principle within them, aware that their friends take 
 note of their actions, and that their friends are nu- 
 merous, they are not very likely to err from the 
 paths of rectitude, or do any thing unworthy the 
 dignity of their characters. With respect to the 
 salutary and strong influence which such a system 
 enables virtue to spread far and near in those happy 
 spots of the world, it were improper to spin it out 
 too great a length here, but I cannot forbear to 
 say, that from all the accounts we have of Princess 
 Charlotte and from what her character ever dis- 
 closed in any part of it to those who had the oppor- 
 tunities of examining it closely, it seems to me to 
 be very plain, that if her Royal Highness had been 
 born in the middle order of life, and her birth place 
 cast into one of the regions such as we have been 
 speaking of, she would, it is my opinion, have been 
 exceedingly fond of these little evening tea parties. 
 Prince Leopold was vain of the country schemes 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 337 
 
 which her Royal Highness was disposed to, as 
 much perhaps as she could be herself. The Prin^ 
 cess had given him a hand, the like in point of re- 
 versionary power all the potentates in the world 
 whether emperors or kings could not come up to 
 in a marriage dowry to a daughter of theirs ; we 
 bear a name of national importance that seems to 
 have been only rivalled, and never outdone by any 
 country, whose exploits have been supposed to de* 
 serve historic preservation. Besides the conviction 
 of its fitness, Prince Leopold was led to the desire 
 of living retired by the very nature of what consti- 
 tuted his happy condition. To enjoy unmolested 
 by the constant intrusion of visiters, the charming 
 and instructive society of Princess Charlotte must 
 have formed a strong inducement with his Serene 
 Highness to embrace with avidity the projected re- 
 cess. 
 
 It is said that when they came down, the house 
 not being completed in all its parts, the workmen 
 did a little on Sunday ; and that as they were busy 
 her Royal Highness inquired what noise was mak- 
 ing ; being told that the carpenters were under the 
 necessity of going forward with their work on 
 Sunday because of the several things that yet re- 
 mained to be done, the Princess appeared much 
 hurt at the circumstance, and instantly directed 
 that they should desist, nor upon any future oc~ 
 x x 
 
338 LIFE OF THE 
 
 casion that the Sabbath day should be occupied in 
 a way unbecoming the respect which ought to be 
 shown it. She said nothing could excuse the pur- 
 suits of business upon that day, except there was 
 an urgent cause, a very urgent cause indeed; but 
 in the case before us, I am sure, said she, no one 
 reason of importance exists for transgressing the 
 decorum that is due to a season set apart for God's 
 service more especially than the rest of the week. 
 Whether there be guilt in doing certain offices 
 that appear necessary on the Sabbath, some have 
 doubted; but the matter resolves itself into the 
 need that there is for having the business done, and 
 the urgency of it. Our blessed Redeemer did him- 
 self perform an office of humanity on the seventh 
 day, and this has been often perverted to serve the 
 purposes of careless persons, who dwell too much on 
 the literal reproof he gave the people of Jerusalem 
 without regarding the spirit and general drift of what 
 he said, which did not go farther than expostulation, 
 for although he made the comparison between what 
 gave employment to them and the object of their 
 eondemnation, at the same time he by no means 
 justified the practice of doing things more suitable 
 to another day; for he expressly and actively op- ^ 
 posed such conduct as the pious reader must have 
 observed ; but this little remark may perhaps be of 
 service in taking away the excuse that is set up by 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 339 
 
 Sunday workers ; however the usefulness of the re- 
 mark is circumscribed, it must be acknowledged, 
 since people of that stamp, whatever they may pre- 
 tend, are at bottom very unsolicitous about having 
 scripture on their side, but either through vivacity 
 or a vain ambition they merely show their skill in 
 argument, and for this end care not to scoff at de- 
 cency and order. The regard borne by her Hoyal 
 Highness to the day more particularly claimed by 
 the Creator for praise and adoration to be paid him 
 by his creatures, did not lie only in the punctilio of 
 observance, but she showed the personal interest that 
 ought to be taken by all directors of families, in 
 seeing a due attention to religious reading and 
 prayer amongst the domestics. 
 
 The pew which her Royal Highness sat in along 
 with her illustrious consort, was a good while oc- 
 cupied in part by a respectable family in the neigh- 
 bourhood. But this joint tenement was so mana- 
 ged that no forwardness appeared in the family who 
 had used it before her Royal Highness's arrival* 
 nor any restraints imposed upon the exalted couple 
 from the company of persons beneath them, for 
 her Royal Highness did not go in the forenoons, 
 and the others never came in the afternoons, 
 though both the family alluded to, and the princely 
 pair attended service every Sunday with uninter- 
 rupted regularity, except in case of indisposition, 
 
340 life or THE 
 
 The elevated piety of Princess Charlotte rose be- 
 yond the common distinctions of degree ; the union 
 of several hearts, whether they who offer their 
 prayers up be well dressed or not, has been ordain- 
 ed as a mean of obtaining heavenly grace, and is 
 consonant with our common sense notions of the 
 way to give pleasure to the Supreme Mind. At 
 the same time, many inferior creatures entirely de- 
 void of christian principles are fond of taking such 
 occasions for associating with those who in the lan- 
 guage of the world, are better people than them- 
 selves, and much philosophy is needed to bear with 
 them, yet it becomes a duty to refrain from con- 
 tempt, although they may deserve it, as well as to 
 deprive them of the familiarity elsewhere which 
 they so improperly seek, but even this should be 
 done with great caution, for we cannot read the 
 secret thoughts, and may be therefore grossly de- 
 ceived, the wisest as it is the surest way then is 
 to abstain from haughtiness altogether. In the 
 present matter there can belittle doubt that the 
 respectable family who possessed a claim to a part 
 of the Claremont pew, were more earnest to avoid 
 any apparent advances than her Royal Highness 
 could be to decline them. The pew was much im- 
 proved in the Duke of Newcastle's time, and an 
 entrance was made to it altogether private. Opposite 
 the pew stands the pulpit, and consequently there 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 341 
 
 is every facility of hearing well. The latter eon- 
 veniency was much valued by her Royal Highness, 
 who marked always with extreme heedfulness the 
 doctrines of the ministers that officiated before her, 
 and being, in a high acceptation of the phrase, an 
 excellent biblical scholar, was in a good measure 
 competent to judge the propriety of what she heard. 
 Her common practice was to meditate upon the 
 illustrations of the preacher, to sift and examine 
 them, and make her comparisons with some ap- 
 proved commentary on the same part which printed 
 books afforded, dr to lay up his thoughts by way 
 of food for her to ruminate, for there are numerous 
 passages too plain for elucidation in holy writ, and 
 yet so very comprehensive as to give rise to delight- 
 ful speculations in a mind that is seriously turned. 
 When Prince Leopold and Princess Charlotte en- 
 tered the yard of the church, all the poor people, 
 and they who admired unaffected religion in the 
 great, collected and surveyed them as they passed 
 along, pouring blessings upon their heads, and had, 
 their kindly salutations noticed with the marks of 
 goodness and free condescension which distinguish- 
 ed this happy couple. 
 
 In most authors who give up their thoughts to 
 the consideration of the human affections, by which 
 we are bound to one another in different degrees, 
 whether of the fondness that is shared by equals, 
 
342 LIFE OF THE 
 
 or mingled with respect where there is a disparity* 
 -of fortune, it is generally observed that the attach- 
 ment will commence witli the earliest knowledge 
 the parties may have of each other, almost at the 
 first sight, and so continue throughout : such is the 
 ordinary ways wherein the working of the soul dis- 
 plays itself; but this is not a rule without its excep- 
 tions; for it very often happens that two people who 
 bore a grudge or enmity at least have sunk the 
 bitterness of their reciprocal humours and grown 
 into friends of great firmness and sincerity. None 
 therefore who appear at the beginning of our ac- 
 quaintance with them to be undeserving our love, 
 ought to be excluded from our tender regard so 
 far as to make us shun them altogether, unless a 
 positive and substantial cause arise to prove their 
 criminality. The observation in general made re- 
 specting first impressions is not gainsayed by the 
 case of the neighbouring people with Princess 
 Charlotte and his Serene Highness, for they were 
 hardly arrived at Claremont when the inhabitants 
 of the place began to conceive a high opinion of 
 them, and heartily to rejoice at their living amongst 
 them ; a disposition of good will and respectful 
 esteem was maintained afterwards. Her Royal 
 Highness, immediately after herarrival,rode through 
 the entire demesne, and surveyed the little cottages, 
 of which there are many scattered about, and seem- 
 
, PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 343 
 
 ed to look at them with the interest of a true friend. 
 By degrees the little children grew so familiar that 
 they would accost the Princess with uncommon 
 boldness and unconcern, and she took their innocent 
 freedoms, as one might expect from her estimable 
 character, in a way that encouraged them to per- 
 severe in their familiarities. When on these oc- 
 casions the mothers would strive to prevent them 
 being so troublesome, the Princess would cast a 
 smile of benignant pleasure upon them, as much as 
 if she spoke, Let them do as they will. She 
 continued to ride 01 perambulate about every day 
 in company with the Prince, sometimes she stopped 
 to examine a particular shrub or other object with 
 nice attention, sometimes she went forward with 
 rapidity, while few days escaped her that she did 
 not finish by happy nights, laying up as she did 
 for herself by the deeds of the day a source of com- 
 fortable reflections when sable night came on, en- 
 robing all things in darkness and silent awe, and 
 preparing the mind for the exercise of sober back- 
 ward contemplation. The results of virtue are 
 found to be of so much advantage to all men, that 
 the right idea of what virtue is has remained since 
 the beginning pretty well established in the opin- 
 ions of mankind of what sect soever, on account of 
 this general tendency it has to make all happy. 
 As it gives expulsion to the short sighted views 
 
344r LIFE OF THE 
 
 that are often engendered in the breast under the 
 influence of a selfish spirit, and therefore most 
 frequently recommends itself to the respect of 
 others ; so that indeed every body finding it for 
 his benefit to employ and deal with virtuous peo- 
 ple, it is an ordinary consequence of a virtuous life, 
 provided it be at the same time an active one, to 
 receive a temporary reward in the affluence which 
 follows in the train of it ; but even should this re- 
 quital to honest industry and beneficence be want- 
 ing, he that has an unsullied honour and uninjured 
 conscience will be free from the agonizing vexations 
 which harrow up the breast of the guilty as soon as 
 reflection overtakes them. The delightful converse 
 of an honest heart with itself is certainly not the 
 lowest of the sublunary blessings that are attendant 
 upon the due discharge of our duties in life, No one 
 can judge properly the conduct of another, unless 
 it be a case that regards the shade of crimination 
 or applause that ought to be assigned any palpable 
 and open action, for to measure the proper merit 
 of a man's exploit there is a necessity to have ber 
 fore us the intention with which it was formed, and 
 this lies beyond the inspection of a mortal eye, the 
 great Author of being and animation, who trieth 
 the reins of men, can alone pry into their secret 
 thoughts, and finding their intentions at once, he 
 is able to judge aright the thing that is done. We 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 345 
 
 who are aware of the propriety of taking into the 
 account the end proposed to himself by a person 
 whose behaviour we examine, the most that can 
 be achieved by us is to guess at the principles of 
 action by the deeds only. But in our calculations 
 we must be frequently in error, and of this there 
 can be no proof stronger than the great diversity 
 of opinion which exists relative to the same matter. 
 That which renders a man a hero or a saint in the 
 mind of some, will seem to others a designing or 
 hypocritical scheme, artfully wrought up to meet 
 the sinister views of the contriver himself. It 
 remains therefore that we should act as if solicitous 
 to obtain the approbation of our own hearts more 
 than the applause of all the world, and directing our 
 whole course of proceedings to the ministry of the 
 duties approved by our Maker, seek the favour of 
 Him, whose best spokesman is our own conscience, 
 and then look up with patient hope and humble 
 zeal to the coronation of all our efforts, when he 
 shall utter the glad words : " Well done, thou good 
 and faithful servant, enter now into the joy of thy 
 Lord." From these considerations it were impious 
 to decide upon the actual and proper merits of the 
 beloved young Princess, but if any clue can be af- 
 forded by a chearful countenance and a beneficent 
 hand, to trace out the private emotions of the heart, 
 we may justly reverence the memory and deplore 
 y t 
 
346 LIFE OF THE 
 
 the loss of so admirable a person, and treasure up 
 her name in the depository of our most sacred re- 
 collections, a theme alike of pleasure and of pain. 
 Her time was occupied in that agreeable manner 
 that it could not sit heavy on her hands, or require 
 to be softened by the compliments and civilities of 
 courtly friends. Yet her elevated situation, the 
 great powers that seemed to be in store for her 
 Royal Highness, added to the personal charms of 
 her company and conversation, drew of course a list 
 of the distinguished to pursue her with noise and 
 bustle. The retirement into the country could not 
 exclude the salutations of those who, from disinter- 
 ested motives, sought her friendship, or were at- 
 tached to her by the ties of consanguinity. Neither 
 perhaps was it the wish of her Royal Highness to 
 lead the life of a perfect secluse. Open in her af- 
 fections, and naturally warm in the constitution of 
 her mind, she loved her relatives with great ardour 
 and sincerity, and was always happy to see them. 
 
 Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess 
 of Gloucester drove to Claremont to make a visit 
 to the Prince and Princess on the 24th of Septem- 
 ber, and passed a few days with them. Other mem- 
 bers also of the Royal Family came to Claremont 
 among them were the Duke of Cambridge and the 
 Duchess of York. The day was filled up in the 
 most agreeable manner by rational conversation 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 347 
 
 and such observations as must naturally be raised in 
 the familiar discourse of persons nearly allied to 
 each other. The weather being at this time in- 
 tensely heated by the long continuance of a cloud- 
 less sky, through which the sun permitted to dart 
 his beams with the entire force of the commanding 
 situation he now moved in, and seconded by the 
 warmth the earth herself retained, made a retreat 
 beneath the shade highly pleasant and refreshing. 
 All opportunities were therefore taken to enjoy the 
 green canopy and the little gusts of wind that oc- 
 casionally played among the trees. They frequent- 
 ly took luncheon in the bower, and her Royal High- 
 ness delighted in drawing them to distant parts of 
 the demesne, so that the guests had no reason to 
 make complaints for want of exercise. After spend- 
 ing some time with the Princess, the Duke and 
 Duchess of Gloucester made their Highnesses pro- 
 mise to go to Bagshot for a few days, and would 
 not depart until they were assured of the visit. 
 
 Prince Leopold and Princess Charlotte accord- 
 ingly went to the country residence of the Duke 
 and Duchess, and received much gratification in 
 the amiable and engaging society of their beloved 
 relatives. The morning was generally devoted to 
 riding and walking, and in the close of the day 
 music was resorted to, and free talk was inters 
 mingled, a sort of music no less pleasing than the 
 
348 LIFE OF THE 
 
 instrumental. But the stay was of short continu- 
 ance, and her Royal Highness hastened back to 
 enjoy the pleasures which she had made for herself 
 in the plans of improvement that she had struck 
 out, and in looking over the condition of the labour- 
 ing tenantry, 
 
 There are some people who have the knack of 
 gaining upon us all in an instant, and growing at 
 once into a familiarity that never is increased, but 
 frequently diminished by coldness and reserve. A 
 selfish turn is to be served at the time, and the per- 
 son that can administer to the satisfaction that is 
 pursued, finds himself in a moment happy with his 
 new acquaintance, and builds divers fallacious and 
 weak hopes upon the continued friendship. Artizans, 
 and such as live principally by the exertion of their 
 talents, have frequently had to do with fine ladies 
 of quality, whose overpowering sweetnesses have 
 enraptured them so far that they seemed for some 
 days elevated above the common occupations and 
 affairs of the world ; the captivating graces of the 
 ladies delighted them to think upon by day, and 
 their visions teemed with phantoms of rank and 
 beauty all the night through. But let the needed 
 business be but executed, or the operator prove 
 unfit, and then, alas ! how altered, how woefully 
 changed appears the countenance to which the joy 
 was altogether owing, at first so kind, so free, so al- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 349 
 
 luring, it was quite absurd to think to withstand 
 it : but when the poor dupe becomes useless, he 
 feels his blood run cold, such dismal icy looks are 
 cast and hardly cast upon him. Sufferers of this 
 class deserve a little pity, for inexperience is the 
 groundwork of the error that leads them on, but 
 they notwithstanding tnerit the punishment ; it is 
 due to their folly, and the artifice itself should not 
 be entirely banished the commonwealth, for it may 
 do society the same sort of service that tinsel does 
 an Indian Queen upon a London stage, it may 
 support good appearances, yet no honest nature can 
 view it without abhorrence and disgust, and it can 
 only at best be allowed the toleration of a necessary 
 evil, which, if there were no benefit to be found 
 from it, ought to be hooted and marked with a 
 stigma the more disgraceful as it eludes the grasp 
 of any legal redress. The vice now spoken of is by 
 no means confined nor particularly fixed to the 
 fair, the other sex act similarly too, but to make 
 the case more pointed beauty has been employed 
 to give additional fascination to the powers of arti- 
 ficial dealing ; and in passing along it may not be 
 amiss to draw this moral, that if nature has qualifi- 
 ed the female world to shine without integrity, 
 how studious ought they to be for adhering to right 
 principles, then would they captivate substantially 
 and creditably, then would they indeed be all over 
 
350 LIFE OF THE 
 
 charms. Princess Charlotte possessed not only 
 that openness and freedom of manner which let a 
 stranger without difficulty into her disposition, but 
 the purity and goodness of her Royal Highness's 
 heart seemed to grow upon her friends more and 
 more, the more they saw of her. The little chil- 
 dren of the poor people who lived scattered over 
 the face of Claremont, began to take great liberties, 
 and hearing their parents dwell with constant 
 pleasure upon the name of her Royal Highness, 
 they conceived it an object of their puerile ambition 
 to be noticed by the Princess's encouraging smiles, 
 with which we have seen her already gratifying 
 the young admirers. By means like these she 
 added to her other enjoyments, and thence no 
 doubt arose the steady complacency that always 
 beamed in her good natured countenance. The 
 father and the mother were not the worse for her 
 regard to their offspring, she attended to their com* 
 forts and spread ease and content in all directions. 
 
 The projected alterations and improving designs 
 for the garden, the house and other parts of the 
 Claremont residence, were carried on beneath her 
 own eye with much vigour and assiduity, and she 
 had the satisfaction to find g the results generally 
 correspondent with the good appearance they pre- 
 sented to her fancy before their execution was 
 begun. Her taste was deservedly held in high re- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 351 
 
 pute, she had made a considerable progress in 
 drawing landscapes, in likenesses and perspective, 
 and the neatness with which she worked them up 
 appeared to be lost in the grandeur and majesty 
 that she infused into her works generally. Her 
 imagination soared above the petty niceties of art, 
 and she seemed better calculated to the production 
 of pieces that had meaning and effect in them, than 
 to the little beautiful sketches a lady is supposed 
 to excel in. Not that her soul was insusceptive of 
 the soft emotions which things fair and excellent 
 arouse in the mind, but she regarded such matters 
 in a light comparatively trivial to the attention she 
 paid to what caught the notice and the thoughts 
 of an observer. The Princess acknowledged beauty, 
 but considered it a secondary affair, she preferred 
 whatever yielded food to the imagination to that 
 which lulled the eye into a sweet but nerveless 
 apathy. Even living objects did not reach in this 
 respect farther than a bare, innocent, and some 
 would term it, a childish, gratification. Of this 
 I heard a very curious corroboration from a re- 
 spectable woman of discreet and thoughtful habits, 
 which confirms me in the opinion I give. I shall 
 Set down the story in the precise w r ords that the 
 lady used herself in telling it, as well as I can re- 
 collect them. The circumstance took place before 
 her Royal Highness was married, and so a little 
 
352 LIFE OF THE 
 
 anachronism may be discovered in my introduction 
 of the anecdote here, but as it tends to illustrate 
 her idea of what is called the Beautiful, the gram- 
 matical impropriety will be excused. The story 
 was told by the gentlewoman thus : " A certain 
 young officer," we need not mention the corps, 
 " who was employed on his duty at Windsor, struck 
 the eye of the Princess by his very delicate features 
 and well turned person. The Princess in a manner 
 perfectly free and unconcerned, went up to the 
 youthful soldier and catching him by the forelock, 
 asked him where he came from ; then still holding 
 his hair in her hand, she wheeled him about from 
 right to left, and declared that he was a very pretty 
 fellow, and let him go. The lad, for he was nothing 
 more, told his mother when he came home, that he 
 thought Princess Charlotte a very odd young wo- 
 man." If this narrative be viewed with fit regard 
 to all the circumstances of it, the admiration her 
 Royal Highness evinced of beauty, the unimport- 
 ant consideration that she at the same time bestowed 
 upon it, her freedom, and the impression it made 
 with the young gentleman, the whole being col- 
 lected into one single idea, we shall get a true 
 notion of what is understood by the word " trait ;' 
 as when we say of any body that is a good trait or 
 a bad trait in his character. From a taste so highly 
 refined, and an imagination raised beyond the level 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE 353 
 
 so far, one may easily suppose that the improve- 
 ments set on foot by the Princess at Claremont 
 were such as to impart a novel appearance to a 
 spot that was already favoured with the lavish gifts 
 of nature, and embellished with art in a superior 
 degree. 
 
 Whilst the attention of her Royal Highness was 
 thus innocently and nobly employed in turning 
 into the grandest forms the plantation and flower 
 grounds of her country abode, and the Prince was 
 occupied in a similar way, the fall of the year came 
 on apace^ and was gradually undermining the rural 
 pleasures of the illustrious cultivators. Their 
 thoughts were now called off by the visit of her 
 Majesty and Princesses Augusta and Elizabeth, 
 who came to Claremont on the 24th of October. 
 This was the first time that her Majesty had been 
 to see the Prince and Princess. The royal party 
 were attended from Windsor by a guard of honor ; 
 and reached Claremont at two o'clock. Their stay 
 however was but a short one; soon after dinner the 
 Queen and Princesses left Claremont and returned 
 to Windsor Palace. What may have been the 
 cause that prevented a longer continuance is only 
 to be conjectured, but this, however, is certain, that 
 the Queen was not expected to remain over night, 
 since the Prince had promised to dine the day fol- 
 lowing with the Fishmongers' Company, and Prin- 
 z z 
 
354 LIFE OF THE 
 
 cess Charlotte left their country seat for London 
 along with him ; and as Camel ford House was in 
 their possession still, although not frequented by 
 the royal pair, they made it their place of rest upon 
 coming to town. 
 
 For six weeks following they passed their time 
 at Claremont, enjoying all the comforts that a re- 
 fined state of private life is capable to afford. 
 Their rank and grandeur seemed to be swallowed 
 up in the copiousness of those endearing joys which 
 Heaven has permitted to fall to the^ share of the 
 lowest as well as most exalted people. A poet 
 whose imagination roved across human nature un- 
 controlled by the critical rules of his art, but di- 
 rected merely by his own observations upon hu- 
 man life, has declared the happiest of conditions to 
 be that of a couple connected together in wedlock, 
 when the sentiments of each beat in harmony, and 
 both are innocent. It is not surprising that such 
 should be the mind of a person educated as he had 
 been, and it will be strange if an experienced and 
 unprejudiced man will not give into the justice of 
 his remark. No wonder then their Highnesses 
 were anxious to shut the world out and withdraw 
 into themselves. Had it been their wish to main- 
 tain great show and splendour, they could have 
 had the gratification of taking the lead over all the 
 nobility. Prince Leopold was enrolled among the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 355 
 
 Peers of the realm, and his rank was settled next 
 after the Dukes of royal blood; so that in all assem- 
 blies of subjects, he could have had no man except 
 these, superior to himself. It had been very confident- 
 ly stated that his Serene Highness was to bear the 
 title of Duke of Kendal, and that the Princess was 
 to descend from her principissal station to the level 
 of ordinary individuals. Whether this was ever 
 seriously intended or not some have doubted, but 
 certain it is the method finally pursued was better 
 calculated to give respectability and importance to 
 the illustrious person who was promised to hold 
 the sceptre of the kingdom. The Duke and 
 Duchess of Kendal sounds well enough, but Prince 
 Leopold and Princess Charlotte has more of the 
 national love and acquaintance in it; when Prin- 
 cess Charlotte is mentioned, one is apt to think 
 upon the same familiarity as he runs over the name 
 of his sister or his daughter with, but Duchess of 
 Kendal, although a title of inferior consequence, is 
 much more distant and dry, and while it does not 
 surpass the other in the dignity of it, that other is 
 much less forbidding. Had the form of address 
 been changed, a short time no doubt would have 
 reconciled us, and made the name of Kendal fa- 
 miliar and dear to us by the conduct and character 
 of those who bore it. Kendal is a town of West- 
 moreland, distinguished for its antiquity, but m 
 
$56 life of the 
 
 other respects of no great account. The title of 
 Duchess of Kendal was bestowed in 1715 upon a 
 German Lady, the Duchess of Munster, her who 
 is said to have stood so high in the favour and es- 
 teem of George I. But the reputation of this wo- 
 man was more creditable to her comeliness than 
 her principles of honour, and however failings of 
 this nature are regarded in exalted life as unde- 
 serving of serious notice, yet such slight account of 
 impropriety by no means lessens the utter contempt 
 which a woman truly virtuous, like the Princess 
 Charlotte, must have conceived for whatever be- 
 longed to her. Prince Leopold not only ranked 
 next in order to the Princes of the blood, but had 
 been created a Marshal, a dignity conferred upon 
 his Serene Highness two days after his happy mar- 
 riage, 
 
 But what ought these fantastic pleasures tq 
 weigh against the true enjoyment which it was in 
 his power to obtain, conversing with a lovely young 
 woman, whose mind was highly cultivated and al- 
 together worthy the admiration and esteem of a 
 sensible and accomplished husband. The person 
 of her Royal Highness was rather below the middle 
 size than above it, inclining to be fat, (as good hu- 
 moured people are often said to be,) and yet was 
 her figure thoroughly qualified to make no con- 
 temptible appearance upon occasion of state, in a 
 
PEINCES3 CHARLOTTE. 357 
 
 drawing-room assembly, or at a ball. In the 
 lineaments of her face might be read the extreme 
 goodness of her heart and the openness of her entire 
 soul ; the general expression of it was highly agree- 
 able, and betokened a chearful and contented mind, 
 every vein seemed to possess intelligence to the 
 spectator who suffered himself to be influenced not 
 only by the personal charms of her Royal Highness, 
 but looked at her with all the awe and respect that 
 her eminent condition on earth was fitted to inspire. 
 Those indeed who never saw the Princess might 
 suppose that this portrait of her was overdrawn, 
 but whoever has had the opportunity of witnessing 
 the truth of the image, will feel disposed to ac- 
 knowledge its justice, and perhaps go so far as to 
 think that the author might have spent a little 
 more time upon this subject. But the contem- 
 plation of the human figure is an affair so trivial 
 and unimportant compared to the excellencies of 
 the soul that gives animation to it, we cannot en- 
 gross any needless attention in that way, without 
 paying a poor compliment to nobler qualities. 
 Prince Leopold had the freedom in the beau ideal 
 of his figure which was conspicuous in his consort's; 
 and his features indicated deep thought, simplicity, 
 and what is more valuable still, his countenance 
 beamed with good nature. His carriage and man- 
 ners impressed the persons in his company not only 
 
358 LIFE OF THE 
 
 with an admiration of the Prince himself, but 
 every body was enabled to entertain a good opinion 
 of his own merits and worth ; and this way of a 
 great man's conducting him towards others is very 
 much to be valued. There is no method by which 
 we come to the knowledge of the noble disposition 
 that an exalted character maintains within, so ready 
 or more suited to the truth than by considering 
 how he bears his greatness. Persons of high quali- 
 fications, with sentiments corresponding, are anxi- 
 ous always to shew the world that they have no- 
 thing beyond the reach of the rest of mankind. 
 Haughtiness and vanity most usually fail of gain- 
 ing the end that is sought after, whereas diffident 
 behaviour is calculated to win over many admirers 
 who otherwise would bear envy, and to authorize 
 us as it were in the gift of our approbation, and 
 just as the Roman Historiographer said of Cato, 
 that by trying to escape from the commendation 
 and applause of men, he gained his glory, so it is 
 generally the custom in all countries and ages to 
 allow much where there is but little arrogance. If 
 one were to be shown Prince Leopold, and were 
 only informed that he was simply a gentleman, he 
 must lay him down for a person that appears to 
 have much modesty and merit ; and when acquaint- 
 ed with his actual circumstances, he must only 
 add his good will to the respect he would naturally 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 359 
 
 bear him, A couple so happily joined together 
 were always certain to find too much real felicity 
 by themselves to risk their happiness at routs and 
 assemblies. The intelligent mind of the Princess 
 had been instructed in the different branches of 
 useful and ornamental science, but the Prince hav- 
 ing a peculiar bent to horticulture and botanical 
 knowledge, her Royal Highness, with that admir- 
 able disposition which distinguishes the loving wife, 
 accommodated her own to the taste of her consort, 
 and became a botanist herself. Before his Serene 
 Highness had arrived in England, while he was 
 yet under his father's roof, his time being much at 
 his own disposal, his inclination led him to stalk 
 through the Flower Garden, as fancy impels other 
 young gentlemen in the beginning of life, to run 
 after the groom, and make horse racing the grand 
 ultimatum of their anxieties ; not that the Prince 
 was just so very perfect as not to indulge in this 
 conceit a little also, but his whole desire was uncon- 
 fined by such pursuits, and his turn of mind had a 
 more solid direction. People who are able to please 
 themselves with natural delights should feel happy 
 and congratulate themselves on their susceptibilities, 
 for the gratification is in such a case more within 
 the possibility of attaining it, and gardening is 
 more pure than most artificial recreations, and there- 
 for it excels them in real pleasure ; for the nature 
 
360 LIFE OF THE 
 
 of guilt throws a gloom over all the enjoyments 
 that it enters into. The Prince having laid out 
 a considerable portion of his time in the perusal of 
 English books, from his retentive memory, and the 
 eagerness he bestowed upon gathering a knowledge 
 of the tongue, he was quickly master of a good 
 flow of those words that are made use of in con- 
 versation, and consequently he was soon able to 
 hold arguments and dispute with his beloved ad- 
 versary. To determine the plant to a species, it 
 was not always enough to have the printed refer- 
 ence agreeable to either's opinion, but it cost much 
 time and ingenuity to show by a string of close 
 deductions and authorities the class to which the 
 plant might belong. Upon these occasions they 
 used to differ not unfrequently, and strenuously 
 maintained the first assertion, while the common 
 harmony of others had nothing in it half so de- 
 lightful as these little variances in argument which 
 this happy and ingenuous pair used to keep up for 
 whole days together with great warmth and ob- 
 stinacy. A relish and good savour was imparted 
 by this means to the ordinary table civilities, which 
 otherwise are cold and tasteless ; but the pleasant 
 vivacity and contradiction now and again that they 
 artfully made use of towards one another, rendered 
 them evermore chearful and joyous companions. 
 What a contrast does a life spent this way, provid- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 361 
 
 ed it be innocent likewise, form to the dull, un- 
 meaning sameness that reigns often in the connu- 
 bial state ! It must, however, be owned, that as a 
 couple advance in years, this gay temper must be 
 softened in proportion ; but the seriousness which 
 becomes old age is apt to grow of itself without 
 the aid of any lectures, for between the loss of 
 friends and the other casualties of mortal existence, 
 the human heart is weighed down and oppressed ; 
 or rather the different fond objects of regard are as 
 so many strings that confine our views to the earth, 
 which cut one after another, leave the unfettered 
 mind at rest to pursue the sober anticipations of an 
 after world, or if the soul be not solaced with such 
 felicitous meditations, it becomes still and abstraet- 
 edj so that in all cases the longer we stay in this 
 sublunary scene, the more likely are we to throw 
 off sprightliness and good humour, and upon this 
 account there is a glaring inhumanity in stripping 
 youth of its chearful relaxations, for these dissolve 
 quickly of themselves. When an aged person is 
 able to divest himself of all his gloomy cares, and 
 enter into the amusements of the young, at least 
 to take pleasure in contemplating them, he shows 
 an open and benevolent nature, and very justly 
 draws upon him the regard and love of the com- 
 pany, for if he were a selfish being bound up in 
 his own sorrows, he could not do so ; nothing there- 
 3 A 
 
362 LIFE OF THE 
 
 fore bespeaks a happy and virtuous temper more 
 strongly, and one that is in a manner fit for the 
 reception of those heavenly joys which the Lord 
 will give to " all that love him," nor can a much 
 more confident pledge of divine favour be afforded 
 to our dark understandings, than this propensity of 
 the aged to take an active part in the pleasures and 
 festivities of tho^e entering upon life. It would 
 therefore be unacceptable to the intelligent, morose- 
 ly to discant upon the playfulness and affectionate 
 whims of this illustrious, exemplary, and virtuous 
 pair. But we were engaged upon the plants. In 
 a critical disputation respecting the secret properties 
 of some, when the Princess found that the Prince 
 was gaining it over her, she with consummate art 
 and address, would put the question off at the time, 
 and the very fUst moment she could obtain to her- 
 self, she would steal into the library, ransack all the 
 places till she got at the desired subject, and then 
 supposing herself quite mistress of it, would take 
 the earliest opportunity of renewing the argument 
 again, but having been ingenuous enough 
 upon one occasion, after a complete victory, to ac- 
 knowledge the means that enabled her to show 
 with so much advantage, the Prince ever after- 
 wards would for no pretence suffer her Royal High- 
 ness to leave him until she had either given in, 
 or he was himself obliged to submit. These pur- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 363 
 
 suits were not barely speculative ; they both at- 
 tended to the practical use of what they knew of 
 herbs and flowers in the garden, as well as the ex- 
 ercise they made of their skill for the mere purpose 
 of quarrelling through the fulness of their mutual 
 love. In order to forward their gardening schemes 
 their usual time for rising was very early, when 
 the rosy fingered Aurora, the eldest daughter of 
 the day first appeared and tinged with splendid 
 colours the skirts of the horizon, this couple might 
 be seen stepping into the garden, and watching 
 with a solicitude almost parental the growth and 
 progress of their flower beds. When the lark is 
 aloft in the air, and proclaims a new day to the 
 busy world, and all nature, if one might use the ex- 
 pression, seems to be unsoiled, not yet tarnished by 
 the labours and work of the ensuing hours, while 
 the dew is frigid upon the blade, and the gentle 
 breeze has a delicious freshness in it, how much 
 pleasure do they forfeit who slumber in bed, whose 
 torpid faculties are exempt from feeling, and their 
 limbs like dead matter lie unemployed, or he who 
 is but just withdrawing to seek repose for the re- 
 fection of his disordered frame and crazy head, the 
 consequences of last night's revelry? It is a common 
 remark that few epicures, or any indeed that trans- 
 gress the rules of living which consist with decency, 
 ever meet the enjoyment they had promised them- 
 
364 LIFE OF THE 
 
 selves to arrive at ; if no consideration that involves 
 principle and integrity can reach men of hardened 
 intemperance, this one reflection at least ought to 
 bring them to a sense of what is due to the good 
 order of society, and their own peace of mind, They 
 almost continually fly for relief to deeper draughts 
 of intoxication, and by augmenting the fire, they 
 would fain escape from it altogether, but they come 
 off losers by the expedient, one they had not ever 
 resorted to indeed, but from want of resolution to 
 pursue a more effectual one, the reformation of their 
 manners. To rise like the fair and accomplished 
 Princess early in the morning, and pay a visit to 
 the vegetable world all fragrant and breathing their 
 agreeable influence in the freshening breeze, would 
 do good to the health, animate the spirit, and 
 spread a general glow of chearfulness and pleasure 
 over the whole man. Perhaps, we cannot take 
 into our fancy a more captivating object than what 
 is presented in the contemplation of so much virtue 
 and innocent delight as fell to the share of Prince 
 Leopold and Princess Charlotte. 
 
 As their pastime became confined to the very 
 house by the approach of bleak winter, an invita- 
 tion to Brighton was made them by his Royal 
 Highness the Regent. A great meeting took place 
 then of the principal, indeed one might say the 
 entire of the Royal Family in the beginning of Pe- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 36,5 
 
 cember, and much talk was needlessly afloat re- 
 specting the occasion of it. Some base and grovel- 
 ling minds would have the thoughts that started 
 up in them delivered with all the pomp and con- 
 sequence of political parade, and that unintelligible 
 gabble that so often prevails in the parts of an 
 essay where the author would fain be uncommonly 
 deep, or rather penetrating, this is a term more 
 suitable ; when a writer loses himself in obscurity 
 it is wrong to call him deep, for depth implies a 
 bottom, but penetrating is a modest epithet that 
 is enough to warn a man, who has got something 
 more profitable to employ his time with, that his 
 author descends too far to give any hopes that he 
 who follows shall be apt to overtake him. But 
 they who consider political subjects, are generally 
 the plainest in their works, although the circum- 
 stances, the proofs, and the like, may not be brought 
 within the compass of a reader's understanding, yet 
 the matter itself is coarsely stated. All the world 
 knew that her Royal Highness the Princess of 
 Wales had been visiting at foreign courts of doubtful 
 honour, but this was nothing more than all female 
 travellers of distinction had done before her ; it was 
 therefore very absurd to suppose that any thing 
 censurable was attached to her conduct. But so 
 it was reported, that grounds existed for the justi- 
 fication of a divorce, and that to this purpose the 
 
366 LIFE OF THE 
 
 chief members of the Royal Family assembled to- 
 gether. There are so many other more probably 
 motives, that without further evidence, this reason 
 should not be admitted. It is much more likely 
 that the illustrious personages came together with 
 no other view than the mutual satisfaction to be 
 expected from one another's company. 
 
 The first arrival was made in the person of the 
 Duke of Clarence, followed closely by the Queen. 
 Her Majesty was escorted into the town by a troop 
 that had been sent to meet her, and received at 
 the entrance into the palace, with military honours. 
 A vast crowd had gathered round about to witness 
 the royal grandeur, and after waiting for above an 
 hour, were gratified with the sight of the Duke of 
 Clarence, and soon after of the Queen ; and while 
 the people were engaged in contemplating or rather 
 catching a view of them, for there was too much 
 stir and bustle to allow contemplation, the horns 
 and trumpets noticed the approach of his Royal 
 Highness the Prince Regent himself. The party 
 did not travel after the same manner ; his Royal 
 Highness came direct, but her Majesty stopped 
 with Princess Augusta and Lady Macclesfield 
 for a little by the way at Lord Arden's beautiful 
 mansion near Epsom, and took some refreshment 
 there. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester 
 came next. Prince Leopold and Princess Charlotte 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 367 
 
 did not arrive for five days after; but during their 
 stay behind, a new pledge was given by them to 
 the country of what might be rationally expected 
 from the sweet Princess, if she ever should take 
 upon her the management of our public affairs. 
 Every reader, and indeed even those Britons who 
 could not read, must be aware that about this 
 time many tumultuous meetings were held, and 
 great disorder and indecency prevailed amongst 
 the members of them, being poor, needy, ignorant 
 creatures in general, who believing that some in- 
 stant change in the administration of public affairs 
 would bring about a favourable turn in their own 
 fortunes, had come together with all those crabbed 
 feelings which people naturally are seized with 
 when keen hunger takes hold of the stomach, and 
 no method appears of allaying its importunity, even 
 the disgraceful one of an almshouse was not within 
 attainment, which, if it were, could afford little 
 comfort to persons of independent minds. Thus 
 were these men wrought up to a high state of poli- 
 tical intoxication, and scandalous disrespect to their 
 superiors was the consequence. It is however cer- 
 tain that there was hardly any employment for 
 handicrafts of different descriptions, but the silk 
 weavers underwent peculiar privations. The cala- 
 mities and sufferings of this class of men having 
 reached the ears of Prince Leopold and Princess 
 
368 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Charlotte, 2000 yards of silk manufactured by the 
 tradesmen of Spitalfields were ordered by them; 
 and the example was regarded as carrying a sub- 
 stantial influence throughout the gentry, especially 
 when it was understood that the Prince Regent 
 had given his commands that additional silk should 
 be used in the decorations of some of the rooms at 
 Carlton House, in order to promote the same laud- 
 able end. Their hearts being lightened and made 
 chearful by these means, they went to Brighton 
 better qualified to receive the joys of the intended 
 festivities with truer zest than otherwise they could 
 have done. Previous to their setting out, the Arch- 
 duke Nicholas of Russia, who was perfectly inti- 
 mate with Prince Leopold, went to Claremont to 
 make a visit. In the morning the Grand Duke 
 had been to see the Queen's Riding House, and 
 appeared delighted with the agility and execution 
 that the horses used in their several evolutions, and 
 after breakfast, he went to Esher, attended by the 
 Russian Ambassador and a Russian Count ; his re- 
 ception was warm and cordial. A dinner was 
 made ready, and his Imperial Highness spent the 
 day with his friend Prince Leopold, sleeping at 
 Claremont that night. He returned to town early 
 the next day^ and went in the evening to Covent 
 Garden Theatre, where he sat in the Regent's box. 
 The object of this illustrious visiter's journey to 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 36() 
 
 England was to see its curious manufactories and 
 the progress made in the arts, with which sort of 
 diversions his Imperial Highness gratified himself 
 every day, viewing the different machineries and 
 institutions of the country, attended by the ingeni- 
 ous Sir William Congreve, a gentleman fully com- 
 petent to elucidate the most intricate of machinal 
 structures. With the satisfaction and regard shown 
 him the Grand I>uke was highly pleased, and bore 
 away with him hence the good opinion and wishes 
 of the nation, having endeared himself exceedingly 
 by his condescending manners, and the propriety 
 that he conducted his behaviour under, during his 
 stay in England ; and soon after his return to the 
 continent he obtained the hand of a Prussian Prin- 
 cess, and met in her an amiable and accomplished 
 consort, In the meantime, her Majesty had been 
 prevented by the great heaviness of the atmosphere 
 from taking at Brighton her accustomed airings, 
 but notwithstanding dull and cold mornings, the 
 Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of 
 Clarence, and Princess Sophia of Gloucester, ac- 
 companied by the Lady Isabella Thynne, gave im- 
 portance to the Steyne promenade by their presence 
 The two first attracted great numbers to the spot 
 of the most distinguished, who were desirous to 
 pay every token of respect to the virtuous pair. 
 In the afternoons his Royal Highness the Prince 
 3b 
 
370 LIFE OF THE 
 
 would take a walk without any attendants, to ex* 
 amine the improving plans that were carrying for- 
 ward ; and would go over the pleasure grounds of 
 the Pavilion apparently in excellent health and 
 good spirits. The Regent having considered the 
 many cases of extreme distress that were communi- 
 cated, or that he might have witnessed, in the most 
 humane and charitable manner, he directed that 
 all the spare provisions should be applied to the re- 
 lief of the indigent people near, and to the credit of 
 the royal household no waste was made, but every 
 the most trifling article looked after, and the kind 
 and benevolent intentions of his Royal Highness 
 were fulfilled as closely as possible, taking care of 
 those bits and scraps winch, however insignificant 
 and unworthy notice in the eyes of one that is not 
 pressed by hunger, have a quite different effect 
 with those that are, and frequently substantial relief 
 is administered by such means as cost nothing, 
 merely by seeing that what commonly is thrown 
 away, should be kept and given to an object that 
 may crave it. Out of the bones soup was made, and by 
 this the fountains of succour were enlarged greatly. 
 The domestics ought to be much commended for 
 the readiness and zeal with which they set about 
 retrenching as soon as Sir Benjamin Bloomfield 
 had communicated the Prince's wishes : they did 
 certainly form a speedy change of manner, and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 371 
 
 dropping the former carelessness of management, 
 economized with uncommon nicety, and went as 
 far as they could to forward the laudable scheme 
 of his Royal Highness. By this means the Regent 
 gave lustre to his dignity more satisfactory to his 
 own feelings than all his splendour otherwise was 
 able to impart Prince Leopold and Princess Char- 
 lotte did not reach the Pavilion till near seven 
 o'clock, when a large party of nobility sat down to 
 dinner with the Queen and the Royal Family who 
 were at Brighton; the Regent himself was occupied 
 in London upon public business, and did not ar- 
 rive among them till night. The next morning 
 the Queen and Princess Elizabeth, she came from 
 Windsor to take the turn of Princess Augusta, en- 
 joyed an airing in a carriage ; Princess Charlotte 
 and her royal consort went afoot along the East 
 and West Cliffs, and generally during their stay- 
 had recourse to exercise of the same description. 
 Their feelings must have received no common gra- 
 tification upon the loud and enthusiastic cheers 
 which were heaped upon them when they were re- 
 cognized by the crowd. Added to the universal 
 tokens of attachment and esteem that her Royal 
 Highness met in her perambulations, her heart 
 must have been in a particular manner cheered and 
 delighted by the joyous intelligence that she re- 
 ceived of her mother's condition, which foreign 
 
372 LIFE OF THE 
 
 scenes and changes of place rendered in a great de- 
 gree comfortable, and perhaps pleasant. Not long 
 before this time, the Princess of Wales had been to 
 see the Ex-Empress of France, Maria Louisa, and 
 report had it that a partial fondness was conceived 
 by each of them at their first meeting. Such 
 pleasing accounts must have given extraordinary- 
 pleasure to the Princess, whose constant and warm 
 affection for her parent had always glowed in her 
 virtuous bosom, and she was thereby prepared to 
 enter with her whole mind into the sportive glee 
 and festivity of the Regent's court. But this mode 
 of spending her time did not banish the more 
 agreeable concerns that were connected with her 
 happy circumstances as a wife. Prince Leopold's 
 birth day was to fajl on the 16th of December, and 
 his faithful consort determined to keep it in a way 
 that would evince her domestic happiness, and con- 
 tent. In order to this, no inducement could prevail 
 upon her to continue at her illustrious father's 
 longer than the 15th; and no sooner was this 
 intimation made public, than all the curiosity that 
 the people had already shown to see their Royal 
 Highnesses was redoubled, and every body was 
 anxious of adding to the happy feelings of the dis- 
 tinguished pair, by testifying their good wishes 
 in loud and continued acclamations. On Wednes- 
 day the 11th, as Princess Charlotte and Prince 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 373 
 
 Leopold were making through the streets of Brigh- 
 ton, the crowd that gathered about them, consist- 
 ing chiefly of young men and young women, be- 
 came so very great, that a police officer, who was 
 in attendance, struck several with his cane, being 
 obliged to do so in order to effect a passage for the 
 Prince and Princess. The Prince in a very ener- 
 getic manner desired the officer to forbear molesting 
 the people, whereupon they cried out with one 
 voice, " God bless you both ! Long live the Princess 
 and the Prince!" This unbounded applause was con- 
 tinued with encreasing ardour, on the following days 
 whenever their Highnesses made their appearance. 
 They reached Claremont House on the evening 
 of the 15th, and all was in great hurry and motion 
 to celebrate the following day. The assembly was 
 by no means numerous, for although many of the 
 first rank and quality would of course be proud of 
 such a friendship, their Highnesses were very parti- 
 cular in their wish to live with the utmost privacy 
 possible, and but seldom extended their intercourse 
 amongst the great, beyond the precincts of their 
 own establishment. The natal holiday was spent 
 with much fulness of true joy at their own house, 
 the domestics all were cheered with plentiful 
 draughts, and elegant dishes; nor are the poor 
 neighbours to be omitted among those who rejoiced 
 upon this occasion, each of the women had a 
 
374 LIFE OF THE 
 
 quantity of flannel allowed her, equal to make a 
 petticoat for the widest of them, and every house 
 member of the cottages was given a quartern loaf, 
 and a leg of mutton to one, another part to another, 
 and so on, each getting a joint of meat. Thus 
 merrily and pleasantly was the day spent in mirth, 
 and that higher sort of happiness which rises beyond 
 the satisfactions of the palate, and intermingles a 
 delightful reflection, in thinking of the object that 
 makes us glad, with the ordinary pleasures of sense. 
 At the table of the Prince and Princess themselves 
 were persons who from the intimate acquaintance 
 they had with his Serene Highness must have felt 
 as if they were celebrating the very day of their 
 own birth, so much had this amiable young Prince 
 gained over the love and admiration of every one that 
 knew him, and yet a part of the esteem and affec- 
 tion was no doubt owing to Princess Charlotte, for 
 who, of what political party soever he might have 
 been, did not admire and regard with sincere de- 
 votion, the frank and good natured Princess ? 
 
 The birth-day of her Royal Highness was kept 
 at Claremont after the same way as that of her 
 consort. There had been a wish expressed by the 
 Regent that their Highnesses would repair to 
 Brighton that day, and give interest to the splendid 
 manner in which his Royal Highness intended to 
 celebrate it. But Princess Charlotte would not 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 375 
 
 consent to leave her own house and domestic friends* 
 and continuing at Claremont presided, as it were, 
 over a family table, where nothing appeared but 
 joy and gladness. If there did not exist the same 
 social cheer in the Pavilion, more elegancy and 
 sumptuousness marked the festival in that princely 
 mansion. No doubt can be rationally entertained 
 as to the beneficial results that constantly arise from 
 the exertions that are made by tradespeople in con- 
 sequence of royal entertainments ; those who have 
 occupations that produce the conveniences and or- 
 naments fit to be purchased by the great, are im- 
 mediately set to work, and on account of the in- 
 dustry thereby promoted, vice has not the room for 
 reception which it readily finds in the breast of the 
 idle, and from that source too the honest family of 
 the artist are often materially benefited, and al- 
 ways done some service. That this good effect 
 might be the more widely and substantially brought 
 about, his Royal Highness had commanded ex- 
 pressly a notice to appear upon the cards of invi- 
 tation that all would be expected in dresses of 
 British fabric. Now upwards of three hundred 
 cards w r ere circulated ; the bustle and briskness im- 
 parted to Brighton were of course truly wonderful, 
 for out of the families who were asked few declined 
 coming. The day before the celebration arrived, 
 vast crowds of nobility and persons of high con- 
 
376 LIFE OF THE 
 
 sideration came pouring into the town, coaches and 
 vehicles of every sort, horses, and footmen were 
 passing back and forward, and made the entire 
 place a very tumultuous and busy scene. The 
 company who were invited to the ball began to 
 come in about nine o'clock, and were joined in a 
 most splendid apartment by those who had dined 
 and spent the day at the Pavilion, and all now par- 
 took of refreshments of tea or coffee, to which was 
 added a quantity of the richest cakes, sweet bread, 
 and each of the most tasteful accompaniments that 
 can go to the tea equipage. When by these re- 
 freshing and wholesome liquids the party had duly 
 regaled themselves, the delights of Terpsichore 
 were courted by the exalted guests. The room 
 appointed for dancing was done off in the richest 
 style of magnificence and grandeur. The couple 
 that led the first country dance were the Lady 
 Charlotte Cholmondeley and the Duke of Clarence. 
 Prince Esterhazy danced with the accomplished 
 Miss Seymour, Lord Castlereagh danced with great 
 agility, skill, gracefulness, and spirit, to the Honor- 
 able Miss Twisselton, and his Lordship's partner 
 proved herself worthy altogether of dancing with 
 so finished a performer. Miss Jane Floyd danced 
 with Lord Clive ; Lady Maria Meade danced with 
 Mr. Leach, the lawyer; Lady Emily Bathurst 
 danced with Mr. Charles Percy; Miss Lucretia 
 
PRINCESS CHAKLOTTE. 877 
 
 Schiffner danced with Mr. Charles Whyte; Sir 
 Henry Rycroft had the honor to conduct the hand 
 of Miss Raven ; and Sir Tyrwhitt Jones that of 
 the Honorable Miss Onslow. The whole evening 
 passed in the most agreeable way imaginable; 
 scarcely had the Duke of Clarence finished one sett 
 till another was started, except a short interval that 
 was taken up in fancy dancing, and this was mark- 
 ed by the unbounded admiration of the spectators, 
 bestowing the highest and most richly deserved 
 compliments upon the execution of all the ladies 
 that performed, who did so extremely well each of 
 them that it were improper to name any one in 
 particular, indeed it were difficult to say which 
 ought to be selected for notice, for there was not 
 any one of them to whom, on the score of merit, a 
 spectator could deny that full applause was due ; 
 such was the gay and festive emulation that appear- 
 ed to go through the younger ladies, and their 
 partners also seemed eager to outdo one the other 
 in the dancing, in point both of accuracy and dex- 
 terous motion. Soon after two o'clock the distin- 
 guished party sat down to a grand and delicious 
 repast, which had been got ready specially for the 
 purpose of this night's festivity ; it consisted of 
 cold meats of all kinds and species, of the various 
 sorts of jelly and ice preparation, of liquors refrig- 
 erating and healthful of every quality, and what made 
 3c 
 
378 LIFE OF THE 
 
 the supper additionally agreeable the Prince Regent 
 was in high and cheerful health and spirits, and de- 
 lighted every body with his extreme condescension 
 and refined and pleasant discourse, for, although to 
 say it in all points of speaking, were open adulation 
 and untrue, there is ho gentleman in England 
 superior to his Royal Highness in that sort of con- 
 versation that admits of the agreeable ; as to the 
 liigher turns and the sublimity of impetuous elo- 
 quence that glows with the heat of a warm genius, 
 or with regard to the cold and subtle disputations 
 and provings of the philosopher, there seem to be 
 several now alive that have reached a high perfec- 
 tion, to these and in such respects his Royal High- 
 ness yields ; but all who have the honor and the 
 happiness of his society report his manners to be 
 the most engaging and his talk delightful, brilliant, 
 and fraught with meaning. Great allowances must 
 be made of course for the impressions unavoidably 
 stamped upon the mind by that sense of power and 
 consequence which the presence of his Royal High- 
 ness cannot fail to produce. But what must be 
 regarded as a veiy strong pledge that the Prince 
 possesses a lively and deep understanding is the 
 quality of those persons whom he takes for his 
 friends and companions, who are all of them gentle- 
 men of excellent parts, of wit and polite demeanour, 
 and some of them do really inherit good pretensions 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 379 
 
 to the name of genius. Whilst the Prince exerted 
 himself with so much cordiality and zeal to delight 
 and gratify the company, there can be no question 
 but they were affected with much pleasure. As 
 soon as they had devoted their time a little to the 
 indulgence of their exhausted frame, and recruited 
 themselves with the copious and rich banquet, they 
 one and all returned with glee and alacrity to the 
 merry dance, and kept up the gyric pastime till 
 five o'clock, when in the spirit of honest sociality 
 the whole was closed by the agreeable dance of Sir 
 Roger de Coverley, led by the Duke of Clarence 
 and Miss Sarah Caton. The company separated 
 pleased with themselves, gratified with each other, 
 and full of respectful love and thankfulness to their 
 exalted entertainer for the kind reception and 
 generous behaviour to them all. At Claremont, 
 but we have seen how the day was celebrated there 
 already, the poor man's heart was made glad and 
 the sick forgot their infirmities ; while throughout 
 the British empire, few were so insensible to the 
 blessings of divine providence in giving so promis- 
 ing and virtuous an heir to the kingdom, as not to 
 reflect with gratitude, with self-complacency and 
 all good wishes upon the subject of the day. 
 
 The approach of winter had been divested of its 
 gloom by the visits paid to her Royal Highness and 
 by her returned, and likewise her spirits were greatly 
 
380 LIFE OF THE 
 
 enlivened and animated by the journey she had 
 taken to Brighton, and the occasions of making 
 jnerry in her own house had not a little contributed 
 to give a sportive and serene disposition to her 
 thoughts. But let us not be understood as tracing 
 to physical causes the softness of her nature, the 
 humane cast which her bosom appeared to have 
 been given at its first formation. Her Royal High- 
 ness was the daughter of a Prince whom all ac- 
 knowledge to possess a warm and open heart, and 
 her royal mother was distinguished above her 
 station for the kindness of her affections, a laudable 
 propensity, that brought upon the Princess of 
 Wales the slander and sly insinuations of dark and 
 blighted, paltry and despicable wretches, who in 
 place of admiring that noble property of her's would 
 fain have turned it to her utter ruin. Was it bar- 
 ren and congealed humanity that induced the Prin- 
 cess of Wales to love and show kindness by the 
 little children of the poor in her neighbourhood ? 
 The adoption of one child was made under circum- 
 stances that bespeak her favour in the eye of those 
 who are alive to the merit of such charitable im- 
 pulses. They who have passed away their time in 
 courts of litigation, who take cognizance of the 
 the black side of man's character, are prone to carry 
 with them into society, the rigid notions that all 
 persons are driven to each particular action by a. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 381 
 
 desire of gaining some end that holds forth to them 
 the attainment of happiness. Now if a charitable 
 or a generous doing be offered to the consideration 
 of men of this mind, it of course assumes the black 
 shape of self-interest, for a narrowness in their own 
 souls prevents them acknowledging the wider com- 
 pass that bound the actions of others. Certainly to 
 a fair and unprejudiced examiner the conduct of 
 the Princess of Wales towards those who were de- 
 pendent upon her, must appear to be worthy our 
 admiration and esteem. Born of such parents then, 
 Princess Charlotte brought into the world with her 
 a kind and humane temper ; she was rightly quali- 
 fied to become an indulgent mistress and a useful 
 friend. As one day she was driving in the little 
 car along the skirts of the demesne, she perceived 
 a cottage apparently in a ruinous condition, she stopt 
 and looked very earnestly upon it, and then desir- 
 ing the servant to call out the owner of it, she put 
 some questions to the woman, who happening to 
 be a great grammarian, delighted her Royal High- 
 ness by the strangeness of her discourse and the 
 fanciful English she made use of, as well as inspired 
 with tenderness by her situation, a heart always 
 open to the softest affections. Her husband, an 
 honest diffident man, was coming to speak with 
 her Royal Highness and to acquaint her with the 
 condition of the house, but his consort prevented 
 
382 LIFE OF THE 
 
 him, and must needs address the august inquirer, 
 as being much better qualified to put the story into 
 suitable language. Pray, said her Royal Highness 
 in her usual affable and engaging manner, Pray, 
 let me know the state of your dwelling, I dare say 
 from the outside it cannot be very comfortable with- 
 in ; nor do you seem yourself (she was covered 
 with snuff) to be in the happiest circumstances. 
 Why, replied the other, again it please your Royal 
 Highness we once were people of possibility and 
 means, but misfortunes which befal the deserving 
 and the unworthy alike have suppressed us ; but 
 this I can clearly averse your Royal Highness, our 
 poverty is not owing to indigency or corpulence, 
 for we have always worked hard and attended to 
 business. The Princess afraid of turning the sim- 
 plicity of the poor woman into a theme of merri- 
 ment to the disadvantage of her kind intentions ; 
 aware that levity tends to supplant compassion, 
 she turned off, and driving directly to Claremont 
 House, left directions with the Steward to send 
 carpenters and fit persons to repair the dwelling of 
 the poor cottagers. Three days after, in going the 
 same round she was induced to stop at the house, 
 and inquire about the accommodation that was now 
 procured the inmates of it. The woman appeared 
 again before her Royal Highness, vastly improved 
 in her dress, for it seems that from the time of her 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 383 
 
 speaking with Princess Charlotte, she thought her- 
 self amply entitled to better apparel, and that no 
 impediment might lie in the way of her gentility, 
 she had actually quit the snuff, and with a magna- 
 nimity, that possessed by a general would gain the 
 name of heroism, if by a philosopher of firmness, 
 she formed a determination never to take to it any 
 more, and such was the strength of her resolve that 
 she did not afterwards indulge herself with any — 
 an example of a steady mind which they would do 
 w r ell to imitate who are attached to any practice that 
 is not so criminal as to be discountenanced by com- 
 punction of the conscience, and yet improper or 
 unbecoming, this description of habits has generally 
 been found the most arduous to overcome. How- 
 ever gallantly the cottager had subdued her pro- 
 pensity to one trick, she could not entirely leave 
 herself unrewarded ; she conceived that some re- 
 turn was due to her genius for the abstinence she 
 had used in the article of snuff; whether on these 
 principles of human action, or through some un- 
 known motive, for she was a great oddity, it does 
 not belong to us to ascertain, and therefore this may 
 be left undecided ; but so it was, she made a great 
 many trips in this conversation more than at the 
 first interview, and her Royal Highness beginning 
 to suspect that all was not right, asked her if that 
 was any particular day in her family providences. 
 
884 LIFE OF THE 
 
 O yes, may it humbly please your Royal Highness; 
 say Ma'am, said her Royal Highness. Ma'am, re- 
 turned the woman, This is the thirty second time 
 that our wedding-day has come round. With that 
 the Princess merely smiled, and slipping the woman 
 a pound, went away ; but the next morning return- 
 ed again and presented a bible to her, which was 
 productive of the greatest good to the honest crea- 
 ture, who thence forward led an exemplary life, she 
 was diligent at her business, and never noticed to 
 be afterwards in the least subdued by liquor, but 
 on the contrary became an example of industry, 
 thrift, and soberness, anl she and her husband con- 
 tinued to prosper, and acquire the esteem of all their 
 neighbours. A similar case, as far as related to the 
 house occurred soon after to her Royal Highness, 
 and with an equal degree of promptitude she di- 
 rected the workmen to set about making the re- 
 pairs that were needed. 
 
 The shooting season was one of great occupation 
 to his Serene Highness, who was always upon those 
 occasions, or almost constantly attended by his af- 
 fectionate and obliging consort. Her Royal High- 
 ness thought nothing of going helter skelter over 
 an entire bog, without suffering the Prince to lift 
 her, and was frequently covered with mud above 
 her boots, but such was her activity and chearful 
 spirits that this did not give her any cold or incon- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 385 
 
 venience at all ; she seemed quite delighted in the 
 amusement. But by some particular regard that 
 her Royal Highness had formed for the blackbird, 
 she never could bear any of them to be fired at, 
 and on the days that she did not go along with the 
 Prince, she would lay upon him a heavy injunction 
 that he was not to molest " her own birds ;" and 
 perpetually as the Prince would be taking aim, if 
 he happened to look with particular depth of eye, 
 as if he had something in contemplation which he 
 did not wish to disclose, her Royal Highness would 
 instantly seize his arm, and alarmed for the black- 
 birds, thinking it was them he meditated, begged 
 that he would forbear to level against the lives of 
 those poor things. The Prince, though an excellent 
 marksman, used to miss sometimes, and upon these 
 occasions the Princess would not fail to redicule 
 his pretensions, and to tell him that the next time 
 she would hold his arm for him herself. 
 
 The days that the Prince and Princess were con- 
 fined to the house by the severity of the weather 
 were not those which they spent with the lowest 
 degrees of satisfaction and enjoyment. The Library 
 became the place of their resort, and there they gave 
 themselves up to the gratification of intellectual 
 inquiries. The Princess, who was a most accom- 
 plished and elegant reader, would entertain his 
 Sereue Highness with the choicest works in travels 
 3 D 
 
386 OPE OP THE 
 
 or history; and as the Prince himself read, she 
 marked the mistakes he made in the pronunciation, 
 and took particular pains in correcting and leading 
 him into the quantity and accent of the word he 
 went astray in. After passing the day in this 
 manner, how well were they fitted in their minds 
 to enjoy the close of it. An intelligent being is 
 not otherwise conditioned, mentally, than as he is 
 with respect to his limbs and the ligatures of his 
 body. If he do not make use of these, and prepare 
 them by fatigue for the enjoyment of ease, he can 
 receive but little satisfaction from reposing upon 
 beds of down, so with regard to the mind, however 
 delighted men's thoughts may feel while engaged 
 briskly in the contemplation of any subject, it can 
 hardly be doubted but that total inertion diffuses 
 a calm, if not more transporting, indeed transport- 
 ing it cannot be, for that would require activity, yet 
 is the pleasure of indolence a most agreeable state 
 but its power of pleasing extends not to the idle ; 
 a man must have his brain well versed and exer- 
 cised in order to enjoy it in perfection. What is 
 more provoking, more dissatisfactory, than to lie all 
 the evening and throughout the night restless in 
 bed, just thus it is always with the mind unoccu- 
 pied, a thousand disagreeable notions, too blunt to 
 engage the attention and yield pleasure to it, pre- 
 vent it from sinking into absolute inanity, and at 
 
PRINCESS CHAKLOTTE. 387 
 
 the same time no progress is made in any specula- 
 tion that can turn to good account. Of all enter- 
 tainments those of the imagination are the niost 
 pleasant, and likewise the most obvious ; they lie 
 within the reach of every body's grasp : He that 
 cannot call himself the master of an acre, may 
 nevertheless usurp the enjoyment of a large estate, 
 by merely casting his eye over it, and taking in the 
 pleasures of his sight abstracted from the desire of 
 being possessed of the property ; he may even in a 
 dungeon please his fancy with the most sublime 
 pictures, and converse with superior beings to him- 
 self, and if he direct his whole heart towards the 
 Divine Father, how gloriously may he be attended, 
 in what exalted company may his time be passed, 
 who shut out from the world is deemed by man- 
 kind a stranger to the enjoyments of life. But if 
 these sweet delusions can so strongly prevail over 
 a person, debarred of the social delights, how much 
 more efficacious in the production of felicity must 
 the understanding be rendered, when, like that of 
 Prince Leopold, an object of admiration and of love, 
 of dignity and respect, and one that bears his in- 
 terests next her heart, stays in his company and 
 keeps an intellectual fellowship with him. In per- 
 using the journals of sensible navigators or travel- 
 lers, this happy pair were carried over dangerous 
 seas, dashed upon rocks, shipwrecked, and left 
 
388 LIFE OF THE 
 
 naked and miserable upon a savage coast, and all 
 tbis without leaving their room, the story being 
 finished, all their sufferings and jeopardy over, 
 awakening from their trance, they found themselves 
 safe and comfortable, entwined in each other's arms. 
 If in this vale of sorrow and of pain, and ray of 
 brilliant hope, that happiness may be found in it, . 
 can be afforded the weak and longing eyes of one 
 that is just entering upon life, that ray can only 
 dart through such a crevice as is opened by a lot 
 like this ; where in the bloom of youth and in the 
 stage of existence most fit for the reception of real 
 enjoyment, a pair are united together in the bonds 
 of mutual affection. In these diversions of literature 
 much of their time was spent, and that the place 
 of their constant resort might be as agreeable as 
 possible and elegantly fitted up, her Royal High- 
 ness bestowed a great deal of pains in forming and 
 making decorations for the library. She had the 
 busts of Homer, Virgil, and Milton, over the case 
 that was sacred to the muses, those of Euclid, 
 Archimedes, and Newton, adorned the divisions 
 set apart for works upon the mathematics. The 
 divisions for general science had appropriate heads 
 attached to them, such as Aristotle's, Bacon's 
 Locke's, and so forth. History was not left with- 
 out its Xenophon, its Livy, Sallust, Robertson. 
 But the miscellaneous department was particularly 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 389 
 
 splendid, the venerable head of Doctor Johnson, 
 and the honest one of Goldsmith were both there 
 The tapestry was very gorgeous, and magnificently 
 embroidered, her Hoyal Highness having herself 
 either superintended the work in person, or con- 
 tributed with her own hands to embellish and 
 enrich it. The paper of the room was not gau- 
 dy, but beautiful, and the hangings to the win- 
 dows corresponded with the paper. The chairs were 
 covered with velvet, of a yellowish cast, and added 
 to a tasteful table formed of cherry tree and ma- 
 hogany, gave an air of uncommon grandeur to the 
 entire apartment. The books were chosen with 
 great judgment, it not being the humour of Prin- 
 cess Charlotte to collect a number of useless volumes, 
 but to lay up all such as might be truly useful. 
 That her own selection might be the more ac- 
 curate, she took the opinion of competent and 
 judicious persons upon the books that she thought 
 of purchasing, and looked with much deference to 
 the opinion of Doctor Short, a gentleman who well 
 merited the idea her Royal Highness had formed 
 of him, and was quite able to direct her Royal 
 Highness's choice, not only from the just decision 
 that such a person was likely to come to, but also 
 on account of the knowledge that he had of her 
 taste and way of reading, so far as her natural in- 
 clination might lead her. He was highly esteemed 
 by the Princess, she regarded him as a sort of fother 
 
390 LIFE OF THE 
 
 having been virtually brought up by him, it was 
 to this amiable and accomplished gentleman that 
 the Princess owed a great portion of her general 
 knowledge, it were improper to say all of it, for 
 her inquisitive mind was evermore in the search of 
 information and wisdom, and there were few things 
 from which she was not able to elicit instruction, 
 but to him she owed her Greek and Latin, and 
 having passed in its attaining the agreeable pleasant 
 hours of her youth, she was his debtor also for a 
 large portion of her early happiness. Except in 
 regard to works of fancy she did not seem very 
 studious about the superbness of the binding, 
 though she had them all very neat and genteely 
 covered. The collection of books at Claremont is 
 supposed to be of considerable value, and it is 
 thought to rival any private collection in the king- 
 dom, not for the rareness and scarcity of the books, 
 but the usefulness of them. The Princess adorned 
 the room that they were kept in by frequent sitting 
 in it herself, and reading, what is not always done 
 by the owners of fine libraries. 
 
 The fictitious deities who are fabled as presiding 
 over the destiny of man might be conceived to 
 have taken their residence in the peaceful and joy- 
 ous mansion of Claremont. We have considered 
 already the operation of love for her husband that 
 appeared in many parts of Princess Charlotte's con- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 391 
 
 duct, but the great and general token of her con- 
 jugal attachment was the retired and sequestered life 
 that she was eager to lead. Withdrawing from 
 bustle and tumult, she gave a speaking demonstra^ 
 tion of the sincere and unaffected love she bore and 
 continued to have for the worthy object of her 
 choice, the man whom she took from no consider- 
 ations of ambition, but who made impression by 
 the goodness of his character, and the private vir- 
 tues with which he was distinguished. She who 
 might have had all the rank and grandeur of Eng- 
 land ornamenting her abode with their constant 
 presence, preferred the pleasures of retirement and 
 home, that she might enjoy the company of her 
 beloved and amiable Prince, who to the natural 
 excellencies of a good temper and disposition^ add- 
 ed the charms of a refined understanding and a 
 proneness to oblige. Her taste was for the more 
 simple enjoyments of the world, to water her 
 flowers was a source of greater happiness to her 
 pure bosom, than the splendour and brilliancy of 
 large assemblies. Several of our noble countrymen, 
 like Prince Leopold, have turned away from the 
 follies and perturbations of a town life, and have 
 withdrawn into the country, and to themselves. 
 But no one can fail to notice the general cause of 
 this recess that they form to their minds as a foun- 
 tain of pleasure ; we may commonly discover, upon 
 
39^ LIFE OF THE 
 
 a close inspection into their character, that their 
 souls were not fashioned by nature for solitary joys, 
 but having been sufferers in gaming houses, or 
 after losing the protection or the hopes of their sub- 
 lunary greatness in the death of a minister or an 
 only son, they turn away grim and sullen, and go- 
 ing down into their country places follow with ob- 
 stinate severity a course of temperance that has no 
 virtue in it, or a virtue that is very unamiable; and 
 although they attend to business in their estates, 
 yet it is to the misery and terror of those who have 
 any business to transact with them. In discharg- 
 ing the duties of the magistrate, one may often see 
 people of this stamp, go through their examinations 
 as if they hoped to convict the wretched culprits 
 that appear before them, and when found guilty 
 these creatures can indulge but faint expectations 
 of a mitigated punishment Their countenances 
 pursed up and severe bespeak them executioners 
 rather than the expounders of the law. Far, far 
 different was the case of Prince Leopold, it was 
 not in the hope of repairing a shattered constitution 
 that he had retired to the country ; in place of re- 
 gretting domestic misfortunes he had full reason to 
 exult in his happy circumstances, and his accom- 
 plished mind was entirely calculated to estimate 
 with thankfulness to Heaven the favours that had 
 been given him, and to join in sincere and grateful 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 393 
 
 adoration to his Maker with the sweet sharer of all 
 his joys and the source of them. 
 
 Yet they did not mould their life of privacy upon 
 such stern principles as never to abate in their fond- 
 ness for being alone. Such a line of conduct could 
 not comport with the expectations of the people, 
 nor tally with the high and authorative rank they 
 held in society, On the 23d of January, a numer- 
 ous dinner party were entertained at Clarernont; 
 consisting of Earl Liverpool, Viscount Castle- 
 reagh, Viscount Sidmouth* Mr. Huskisson, and 
 several other public men. The observers of poli- 
 tical action regarded this dinner as having con- 
 nected with it certain matters of consequence, and 
 nearly affecting the private happiness of her Royal 
 Highness. But the interpretation dissolved away 
 in obscure hints, doubts and conjecture, and no 
 grounds at all seem to have existed for the invita- 
 tion of the party, save what private friendship sug- 
 gested. That there were no reasons for opposing 
 without proof the private nature of the meeting, is 
 pretty clear from the circumstance that Lady Cas- 
 tlereagh was of the party ; although it must be 
 owned that her Ladyship's presence did not mili- 
 tate against the furtherance of political measures, 
 for she was with her Lord at Vienna, and not 
 deemed worthy of being secluded from that grand 
 scene of state business and public treaty. This was 
 3 E 
 
394 LIFE OF THE 
 
 however owing to her unwillingness to part with 
 his Lordship for so long a time, having gloried in 
 her wedded condition for many years and received 
 all the marks of love and friendship from that noble- 
 man which it is within the power of a husband 
 to show, they are by all parties allowed to be a 
 happy couple. They both stayed over night with 
 the Prince and Princess, so did Mr. Huskisson, and 
 left Claremont the day following soon after break- 
 fast, and returned to town. 
 
 About the latter part of January, Prince Leo- 
 pold and Princess Charlotte did what must exceed- 
 ingly endear them to the Irish people. The times 
 were growing worse and worse every day, business 
 seemed to be quite stagnant, nothing was under- 
 taken in building, or those operations that give em- 
 ployment to the industrious poor. It has long been 
 customary for sturdy or adventurous persons to 
 quit Ireland in pursuit of greater encouragement 
 to their labours and skill, and a vast body of them 
 were now thrown entirely without work, mere hu- 
 man forms, owing to the deadness that all sorts of 
 trade and speculation were subject to at this time. 
 Several benevolent gentlemen and ladies, as well 
 those born in Ireland, as others of a kind and cha- 
 ritable heart, set a subscription afoot for the relief 
 of the unhappy sufferers. Their Highnesses being 
 apprized of the object proposed by this charitable 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 395 
 
 society, instantly forwarded a very liberal donation, 
 accompanied with the strongest assurances of the 
 lively interest they took in the condition of the 
 poor labourers, and the pleasure they felt in antici- 
 pating the return of general prosperity. Indeed 
 the Princess lay up in her mind a determination to 
 watch the progress of manufacture, and frequently 
 inquired into the state of the kingdom with regard 
 to those who were supported by their industry. 
 For a long time, she recommended economy with 
 much earnestness and strength of argument, but 
 she latterly made considerable limitations in her 
 general doctrines of thrift and parsimony ; for it 
 struck her while the practice of these virtues "among 
 the great tended to confine them from running 
 into shameful extravagance or guilt, the poorer 
 classes of the community would thus be debarred 
 the opportunities of earning money by the work- 
 manship required for things that were superfluous; 
 her Royal Highness therefore relaxed so far as to 
 countenance the elegancies of life, but could never 
 be reconciled with the luxury of it* One great 
 method she resorted to for benefiting her country, 
 which displays the union of national spirit and hu- 
 man kindness, and this was the pride that she al- 
 ways expressed in having her apparel the produce 
 of a British workman. Whenever any attempt 
 was made to bring into vogue transmarine articles, 
 
396* LIFE OF THE 
 
 her Royal Highness constantly opposed herself to 
 the torrent of the reigning prejudice, and showed 
 plain and open displeasure at the use of such articles 
 as did not only exalt a foreign subject beyond a 
 native mechanic, but while it left the pale artist a 
 prey to deepest melancholy and want at home, 
 spread the fruits of British industry upon a thankless 
 people, and enriched the secret foes of the country. 
 These commendable views of Princess Charlotte 
 were greatly promoted, and advanced materially 
 by the considerate notices of the Prince Regent, 
 who seldom failed to signify In's commands that all 
 who attended upon public occasions would be ex- 
 pected to be dressed in the manufacture of the 
 realm. The birth-day of her Majesty afforded a 
 fine opportunity of carrying those purposes into full 
 effect ; and accordingly notice was given in the 
 court order, that all present at the anniversary festi- 
 val of the Queen should be furnished with such 
 articles only as had the time and art of a Briton 
 expended upon them ; and a strong wish was de- 
 clared by his Royal Highness that the apparel 
 should be very sumptuous and of the first quality, 
 and the desire of the Regent was met by his people, 
 who vied in the splendour of their home decorations ; 
 but none appeared moie anxious to seem highly 
 adorned with materials that were put together by 
 her countrymen than the Princess appeared to be. She 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 397 
 
 followed up the honourable intentions of her august 
 parent in their widest latitude, and surveyed her- 
 self with feelings of conscious dignity and pride in 
 her splendid costume, fitted of itself to awaken 
 complacency in the female bosom, but additionally 
 gratifying from the consideration that her own 
 country lost nothing by her grandeur, that the 
 richness of her dress was not squeezed from the 
 sweat of unrewarded industry, but while she loaded 
 herself with superb raiment, she was covering the 
 poor helpless children of an honest and laborious 
 tradesman, who otherwise might have gone naked, 
 and he that was now perhaps encompassed by his 
 friends relaxing himself in a room full of pleasant 
 companions, regaling his appetite with porter, and 
 diffusing looks of kindness around him, happy 
 within and contented with the world, he must, 
 without the employment given him, sitting in his 
 cheerless house, in place of entertaining friends sur- 
 rounding him, a woeful family, he must, unemploy- 
 ed, be thus delivered over to a state of wretched- 
 ness which described could not come within the 
 conceptions of those that never tasted adversity, 
 and as to those that have, it is not required, a state 
 of human suffering that makes a man repent him 
 of his children and regard as so many curses, the 
 kind gifts and blessings of Heaven. It is a pleasant 
 conceit very well accommodated to feed our wanton 
 
398 LIFE OF THJE 
 
 pride and vanity to suppose that men's misfortunes 
 arise from their deficiency of merit. This may he 
 one cause indeed, and it has in certain ages been 
 perhaps the only one, but there do not always offer 
 in distant ages the same means and occasions of 
 rising into notice. A country that has been for a 
 long time used to prosperity, gradually relaxes in 
 the practice of those virtues that raised it into dis 
 tinction ; and it never fails to please the descendants 
 of those who acquired their fortunes by their own 
 industry and merit to have some hereditary desert 
 attributed to themselves. Hence people whom 
 ancestorial thrift and diligence have rendered af- 
 fluent are always prone to gather credit from their 
 abundant means, and to look contemptuously down 
 upon such as are devoid of them, and so indeed it 
 must continue in man's affairs that individual great- 
 ness will be estimated by an unjust assumption of 
 kindred worth, and very probably the future exis- 
 tence of human beings, will be in no manner dis- 
 criminated from the present more widely than by 
 the appropriation of those rewards which belong 
 distinctively to each, without any commixture of 
 borrowed favour ; but this doctrine is so very re- 
 pugnant to those opinions that direct, and most 
 properly, prudently, and wisely direct the transfer 
 of property from father to son, that when the ec- 
 clesiasticalgovernment became united with temporal, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 399 
 
 to speak plain, the Roman church allowed of saints 
 soon after dominion was united with spiritual 
 offices and would have it believed that these by 
 their kind interposition could be of great service 
 to their humbler friends, whose failings would be 
 covered by the protecting arm of those that had 
 pretensions to a plentiful share of grace ; of this 
 description of ill grounded opinion is that which 
 acknowledges supernumerary goodness, an idea 
 rendered quite absurd by the explicit statement of 
 our duties to be found in Holy Scriptures, showing 
 us after all that we can do, " unprofitable servants." 
 Some considerations of this kind might lop our 
 thoughts of many foolish and vain notions that do 
 little good to ourselves, and make others very miser- 
 able. Wealth and honour have too many prevail- 
 ing charms in them not to gain over veneration or 
 respect, and it is constantly paid with a willing 
 mind when it is not rigorously exacted. But an 
 inoffensive behaviour in the great did not content 
 the virtuous and active spirit of Princess Charlotte; 
 she not only carried herself with extreme conde- 
 scension and benignity to whomever she approach- 
 ed, but was zealous in bettering the condition of 
 the poor. For this purpose, and not for vanity 
 sake, she attired her person in a Style of the utmost 
 splendour and magnificence, it was costly that the 
 workman might be benefited, and it was showy 
 
400 LIFE OF THE 
 
 and grand to exhibit a sample of what British in- 
 dustry was fit to achieve. 
 
 On the morning of the 20th of February, the 
 nativity of the Queen was celebrated by the ring- 
 ing of joy bells, by the trumpeter sounding notice 
 for the military to prepare for the escort, and in 
 the houses of the nobles and the gentry the bustle 
 and briskness of the servants, the conjectures and 
 the anticipations of the families imparted a gay 
 seriousness to the anniversary. The Queen's Palace 
 in St. James's Park soon became the congregation 
 of those whose employments did not interfere with 
 their curiosity ; vast crowds collected, and every 
 eye was intently fixed upon the fashionable people 
 who repaired to Buckingham House to pay their 
 devoirs to her Majesty, and each one exerted all 
 the little wit and genius that he had in discussing 
 the merits of a pretty face, and the propriety of a 
 well shaped hoop. About a half hour past three 
 o'clock the Prince Regent arrived in a splendid 
 carriage, and with a numerous retinue of footmen. 
 The Duke and Duchess of York came in state, so 
 did the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Prin- 
 cess Sophia of Gloucester, and the Duke of Sussex. 
 Her Majesty had been there prepared for the re- 
 ception of her visiters at two o'clock. The branches 
 of the Royal Family were with much respect 
 greeted by the people, but the loudest acclamations 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 401 
 
 attended the Princess and Prince on their arrival; 
 and whether it was in order to come hastily back 
 again to see their friends, which consisted of every- 
 body, or from what cause soever, Princess Charlotte 
 and her consort paid their congratulations and im- 
 mediately withdrew. Upon the reappearance ^of 
 their Highnesses the utmost efforts were used in 
 all quarters to heave from the depth of their heart 
 the expressions of the people's love and duty, and 
 thus amidst the applause and blessings of the pub- 
 lic this happy couple drove to Camelford House, 
 and the next day set off for their beloved privacy 
 at Claremont. 
 
 Her attention to the persons occupied in culti- 
 vating the estate was attended with great benefit 
 to themselves* and high internal satisfaction to the 
 Princess, as was evident by the pleasure that ap- 
 peared in her eyes when she thought they were go- 
 ing on well. Several poor old men, beyond the 
 season of life to be actively employed, and yet from 
 their infirmities in want of something to cherish 
 them, and keep the vital flame from suddenly going 
 out, were, at the express desire of her Royal High- 
 ness, summoned to Claremont from the neighbour- 
 ing parts, and set upon gathering the useless stones 
 that might lie on the walks, in gravelling them, 
 and in weeding the grass plots. To these her 
 Royal Highness behaved with considerate and 
 3f 
 
402 LIFE OF THE 
 
 kind familiarity ; she watched over the business 
 that they severally did, estimated the labour, not 
 by the quantity that was done of the work, but 
 according to the strength and ability of the worker. 
 A number of old women had their time taken up 
 by preparing hempen cords for the purpose of 
 tying boughs, and such uses as gardening does na- 
 turally require strings for. They were all quite 
 charmed and highly gratified by the flattering 
 tokens of esteem and favour shown them from time 
 to time by her Royal Highness. She was by no 
 means shy to correct them when she did not ap- 
 prove their way of going on ; but there was so 
 much sweetness in her severity, that even the old 
 people whose age did not enable their pursuit of 
 manly occupations used to look upon her in a ma- 
 ternal point of view ; there was in every thing she 
 said an appearance of sincerity and candour, as well 
 as of good sense and penetration, that it was utterly 
 impossible net to admire the kind and wholesome 
 monitress. " No, I tell you, you are wrong, what 
 is that you're doing, stop now, well indeed I'm 
 ashamed of you." Such free, disengaged and un- 
 constrained language impressed them all with an 
 ardent fondness for their royal guardian that rose 
 nearly to enthusiasm. 
 
 Her Sundays had hitherto been passed in the 
 afternoons at Esher church, where the Princess at- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 403 
 
 tended, and in the spirit of true piety and zeal ap- 
 peared to listen with extreme attention to the doc- 
 trines that were delivered. But, notwithstanding 
 the irreproachable carriage of their private conduct, 
 many gentlemen who hold preferments of great 
 value, are from physical causes unfit to communi- 
 cate the instruction to their parishioners which they 
 stand in need of, and which from the education of 
 church ministers might be expected to yield edifi- 
 cation and maintain the cause of Christianity. A 
 defect in the utterance and the want of teeth are 
 general obstacles to an audible delivery. So long 
 as our places in the church are suffered to be pur- 
 chased, or given away through favour only, without 
 any regard to merit or abilities, little advantage can 
 be commonly looked for in the holders of extensive 
 livings, although sometimes by a most happy coin- 
 cidence cleverness, excellency of character and in- 
 terest concentrate in the same person. But there 
 is so little substantial notice paid to able preachers, 
 and the weakness of human nature being such in 
 the firmest minds as to be in submission to the con- 
 veniences of this life, and to be influenced by them> 
 persons of good capacity do not make the endea- 
 vour to attain the persuasive graces of oratory and 
 gesture which carry so great an influence with 
 them over the hearts and sensibility of a congrega- 
 tion, when they are accompanied with an orthodox 
 
404 LIFE OF THE 
 
 faith. Many of those who come to divine service, 
 (and the many ought to be regarded more than the 
 few certainly,) have but faint ideas of the nice chain 
 of dependencies that links the different parts of an 
 elaborate discourse, and if that abstract and learned 
 oration be uttered in a tame inanimated style, what 
 is to prevent the multitude from giving admission 
 to other notions, to hinder them from thinking of 
 their own affairs I see not ; or if struggling to shut 
 out the concerns of their fortunes from a place that 
 they went to for more serious contemplation, they 
 are very apt to fall into the sin of drowsiness, and 
 gape away the hours that should be employed in 
 the melioration of their hearts, and in fixing their 
 principles. It is very difficult to prescribe a due 
 remedy for evils like these, because family influence 
 is allowed upon grounds not irrational to prevail, 
 and the only care ought to be in an opposition to 
 its dominancy or undisputed rule, and not to a di- 
 rect and perfect annihilation of it. If people of 
 ingenious minds are found without virtue, it is in 
 general owing to the necessities they are encom- 
 passed with, and when such necessities have been 
 done away one might reasonably expect to meet 
 with a sense of honour united to deep intelligence, 
 and therefore should benefices, or a great number of 
 them, be conferred by public proof of superior fitness, 
 evinced by examinations that all might attend, and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 405 
 
 where two were equal in their answering, if the 
 better man in morals should always have the elec- 
 tion, no doubt can be well made but such a system 
 would turn to the general advantage and the glory 
 of the profession. Having premised these observa- 
 tions, it is hoped that no malicious motive will be 
 attributed in conjecturing the cause of her Royal 
 Highness's absence from church, to be the diffi- 
 culty of understanding the discourses that were 
 held, contrasted to the admirable sermons, easily 
 comprehended, that her own Chaplain and her de- 
 voted tutor, the Reverend Doctor Short, was able 
 to furnish. Not but that the venerable gentleman, 
 who has had the pastoral charge of Esher for many 
 years, upwards indeed of a half century, has been 
 labouring of course under the infirmities that as- 
 sail old age, and if he has been accounted by some 
 as missing a famous opportunity to show his re- 
 spect for the royal parishioners, in not procuring 
 the services of a meritorious man, it must be ac- 
 knowledged that his time has passed away without 
 blemishes of ill doing, and it were to be desired 
 that all whom nature or a physical obstruction pre- 
 vents from edifying by eloquence, could like him 
 afford a good lesson in an unimpeachable life which 
 might safely be imitated, abounding in examples 
 of sobriety, discretion and decency. The Princess, 
 in attending to divine worship herself, was not 
 
406 LIFE OF THE 
 
 remiss in her vigilance to see that the domestics 
 likewise devoutly served their Maker on the Sab- 
 bath. Nothing that partook of giddiness was ever 
 allowed to be shown on this day at Claremont, nor 
 was any business endured that could be done an- 
 other time. Of all the pieces that were read in 
 her private chapel, those which inculcated humanity 
 appeared to take the strongest hold of her Royal 
 Highness's attention. The charitable and pious ad- 
 vice which was given had a natural tendency to 
 produce a mild and merciful disposition in all the 
 servants, and it might be truly averred that few 
 great houses in the kingdom have so many religious 
 and moral characters within them, as the servants of 
 Claremont were likely to be, and are still promised 
 to become under the care and direction of Prince 
 Leopold; and if that amiable and accomplished 
 young man is to have consolation and support to 
 bear him up against the heavy load of his afflictions 
 and deep and endless sorrow almost, the best source 
 they can be drawn from is that pure fountain of 
 divine grace and wisdom which administered sweet 
 balm to the bosom of Princess Charlotte in her time 
 of trouble, when her filial piety was brought to the 
 test in maintaining the rights and dignity of her 
 mother. The general glow of christian charity 
 that pervaded the hearts and affections of all her 
 household, was imperceptibly improved to a merci- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 407 
 
 ful attention towards the brute creation ; and this 
 indeed is a sort of humanity too, and it always 
 kindly intermingles with the emotions of pity in a 
 breast that is heated by general benevolence. In 
 the mansions of the wealthy, a number of little 
 idle fellows commonly contrive to get themselves 
 introduced, and by torturing the fowl and bird 
 nesting pass their time away. One of this species 
 of young transgressors had been employed in the 
 garden for a long time, and received frequent ad- 
 monitions from the servants to abstain from his 
 criminal and wicked practices. But these kind 
 instructions were thrown away upon him, he dis- 
 regarded the good advice that was given, and kept 
 to his mischievous course. After despoiling some 
 poor sparrow of its tender family, he was returning 
 one day in great triumph with the nest in his hand, 
 when who did he meet but the Princess herself! 
 His face conscious of his guilt turned to a flame, 
 he held his head down and endeavoured to slide off. 
 But her Royal Highness was over observant for 
 the little knave : she called him to her, and asked 
 him what was it he had got. In the meantime his 
 coat covered the article of his crime, and he thought 
 he might still escape ; but looking at the Princess 
 with all the awe and fear which an offender not 
 absolutely lost beyond redemption, will naturally 
 be sensible of in the presence of an exalted person 
 
408 LIFE OF THE 
 
 who is not more conspicuous for rank than known 
 for goodness of disposition; he was afraid equally 
 to tell the truth and to dissemble ; he did not per- 
 ceive that her Royal Highness was certain of the 
 charge he had committed to the secrecy of his coat, 
 and such notwithstanding was the force of this 
 august and virtuous lady over the mind of the per- 
 plexed and confounded criminal, that he lost his 
 readiness of invention, and was quite discomposed 
 for something to say. I see, said the Princess, that 
 your progress in vice has not reached the finishing 
 point of depravity, where there is shame there may 
 in time be a sense of rectitude. Pulling out her 
 money case, for she still carried silver in her posses- 
 sion and had not given over the practices of her in- 
 fancy when she made the bag for the indigent, her 
 Royal Highness gave him three shillings, and walk- 
 ed on ; determining however to keep an eye over 
 the future conduct of the lad. He no sooner was 
 left to his own reflection, than a crowd of ideas 
 rushed upon his imagination, and 'overwhelmed 
 it in remorse for his own misconduct, and admir- 
 ation of the kindness and gentle rebuke which the 
 Princess had given him. Immediately he went 
 back to the spot where he fcereaved the poor spar- 
 row, which had now been sitting bewailing the 
 plunder and devastation of her little domain, and 
 he replaced the nest with the most studious pains 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 409 
 
 and care, and returning, earnestly wished in secret 
 that the sparrow might not forsake her young 
 brood, but take to them again. He from that day 
 grew diligent and active in the gardener's service, 
 and did all that was in his power to commend him- 
 self to that worthy man. Bettle, that was the 
 lad's name, drew the notice of her Royal Highness 
 under more happy circumstances. Not satisfied 
 with the performance of his ordinary work, he de- 
 voted his leisure hours to finding the poultry, 
 romping with a pet sheep, and in short all his di- 
 versions took a quite different course from what 
 they previously had, his pleasures grew innocent, 
 and his occupations either useful or without culpa- 
 bility. This poor fellow was so terribly cut down 
 and depressed in spirits upon the deplorable cala- 
 mity of his adored royal mistress's decease, that the 
 news being imparted to him, after standing awhile 
 in speechless agony, he flung his hoe to the ground, 
 and in silent, thoughtful and melancholy steps took 
 leave of Claremont. Fairburn, the gardener, sent 
 for him several times in vain, but he did at length 
 return, not however till he had purchased a suit of 
 mourning for himself. By these kind and gentle 
 measures Princess Charlotte went through the duties 
 of her station as a ruler of a household, having her 
 great virtues set off with so many engaging charms 
 of address the mildness of her speed), the good 
 3 g 
 
410 LIFE OF THE 
 
 nature of her looks, and the conscious sincerity 
 that dictated her reprimands and advice, that she 
 at once reclaimed the A^cious and conciliated their 
 warm affections. No sooner were those who did 
 wrong chided by the kind monitress than they 
 came back to their duty, and thus it was the pe- 
 culiar happiness of the illustrious and distinguished 
 woman to have all her friends persons of sound 
 morality and virtuous principles ; for indeed it were 
 a hard matter to be any length of time in the com- 
 pany of her Royal Highness without betraying 
 one's self to her; the manners of the Princess 
 were quite unreserved and made others so, and 
 when she took notice of a false and improper action 
 or sentiment, she was no way backward in signify- 
 ing her observation of it, and this was done in true 
 sincerity, and the corrected aware of her good mo- 
 tives always endeavoured to conform to what de- 
 corum or the more sacred rules prescribed, but in 
 place of harbouring dislike towards the reprover, 
 she was admired and beloved for that very freedom, 
 so that her acquaintances were all either discreet 
 and upright of themselves, or presently became 
 what they ought to be, and thereby it came to pass 
 that her whole tribe of attendants and followers 
 were benefited and established in virtue, and in 
 their respect for her whom they served. 
 The old woman that kept the little school on the 
 
PRINCESS CHABLOTTE. 411 
 
 estate, often received the visits of the condescend- 
 ing Princess, and was in no small degree proud of 
 the honour that was paid to her learning and talents, 
 for the honest creature unquestionably conceived 
 herself an able adept in scholastic business. When 
 her Royal Highness met any of the little boys go- 
 ing to school or running home from it, she would 
 stop him for a short time, and bid him attend to 
 the voice of his teacher and mind his book. The 
 schoolmistress was by no means remiss in employ- 
 ing the aid of her birch to second her own efforts 
 and rivet the instruction she had dealt to her pupils: 
 the Princess used to meet some of the young 
 scholars in great tribulation, as they were resolving 
 to tell their parents upon their cruel chastizer, but 
 she seldom appeared to pity them much, no further 
 ideed than all things wretched were calculated to 
 excite her sympathy and compassion. The Princess 
 in this respect can hardly escape the imputation of 
 a harsh temper, for many an honest Englishman 
 takes it to be a high indignity, nay an infringe- 
 ment of his constitutional rights, that his son should 
 be flogged ; of this a most ludicrous instance hap- 
 pened to fall under the knowledge of the Princess. 
 Having made some inquiry into the nature of the 
 rules of the school, the woman acquainted her that 
 several parents had been to remonstrate upon the 
 severe usage their children had met with, that in- 
 
412 LIFE OF THE 
 
 particular one man, who was a great stupid fellow, 
 had been exceedingly boisterous and troublesome. 
 I own, said the Princess, that punishments ought 
 to be confined within the power of bearing them : 
 it is certainly a species of barbarousness to beat a 
 poor little child for a trivial offence or neglect to 
 a degree that will give it excruciating torture, but 
 generally speaking, I like school discipline, the 
 rigours of the school-room fit men for bearing the 
 heavier crosses and misfortunes of life, but what is 
 still more beneficial and important by far, the seeds 
 of wickedness are driven out just as they are be- 
 ginning to form themselves, and to sprout up into 
 a depraved and unhappy temper, and wholesome 
 severity, when it is thus employed in checking the 
 early prognostics of a criminal conduct, deserves to 
 be regarded with indulgent allowances. But pray 
 what objection was made by the person you alluded 
 to ? Why, your Royal Highness, he said that he 
 should not desire to be flogged himself, that he 
 knew of soldiers never mending their ways on ac- 
 count of being punished in that -manner, but smitten 
 by the disgrace they grew dead to the call of duty, 
 and seemed not to care what became of them. O 
 the foolish man, returned the Princess, since he 
 talked of being flogged himself I really think he 
 richly would deserve it. Had the soldiers been 
 left unpunished, whom he makes hardened by the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 413 
 
 sufferings they undergo, even in that case it might 
 be questioned whetberthey would not have persist- 
 ed in the reprehensible course, that drew down upon 
 them the heavy hand of the law ; though indeed 
 I must own that I do not think the flogging a pro- 
 per punishment, it is a punishment I do not like. 
 But surely had these very men suffered in their 
 childhood for the little pranks and misdeeds they 
 committed, is it probable they would have stood in 
 so much need of punishment when grown up? 
 With respect to the lowering of spirit and conscious 
 degradation which follow people through the pro- 
 gress of life who have been chastised at school, I 
 take it to be an absurd and ill grounded opinion, 
 and history opposes its authority to it, for no men 
 could have acquitted themselves more honourably 
 and herolike than those who have undergone the 
 customary severities of public schools. The Princess 
 made several most pertinent and suitable observa- 
 tions upon this subject before she departed to 
 Glaremont House, and left the good woman in 
 raptures with her excellent discretion and sound 
 sense. 
 
 Meantime the Princess went forward in arrang- 
 ing her domestic affairs in the same manner as she 
 
 o 
 
 began to do, taking down memorandums of the 
 sums of money which she expended herself, while 
 Prince Leopold kept his accounts, minuting the 
 
414 LIFE OY THE 
 
 expenditures which his Serene Highness had oc- 
 casion to make upon affairs more properly belong- 
 ing to the management and cares of men. A very 
 pleasing story is told of Princess Charlotte being 
 caught one day engaged in this way by a friend of 
 her youth whom she had not seen for a long time 
 before. When the lady entered the room she 
 noticed her Royal Highness very closely intent 
 upon her papers. As soon as the Princess saw her 
 former kind guardian and teacher, she immediately 
 arose and received her in the most affectionate 
 manner : indeed, said her Royal Highness, I feel 
 most sensibly the great vacuum in my satisfactions 
 and happiness which your not coming often to 
 see me has left. Why did you not come, did you 
 suppose that I would think no long to see you, my 
 dear lost friend as I might call you. You perceive 
 how busy I am. Do you know what I am about? 
 Well then I'll tell you what. Certain articles in our 
 living are to be duly registered by him — Oh but 
 you have not seen him yet. With that she called 
 the Prince from the adjoining room, and introduced 
 the lady to his Serene Highness, telling her that 
 she frequently had spoken of the debt she owed to 
 her assiduity and kind attention. He, continued 
 the Princess, is busy at his accounts, and not being 
 so good a hand as myself in calculation is not yet 
 done I suppose, though I have finished mine. The 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 415 
 
 Prince acknowledged that the charge was too true, 
 and begged to retire to his work ; he only therefore 
 stayed a few moments and went back to complete 
 his ledger, but he stayed long enough to impress 
 the judicious visiter with an excellent opinion of 
 him, for indeed his Serene Highness looks his 
 temper, and lets a stranger at once into the character 
 and bent of his disposition. When the Prince was 
 withdrawn her Royal Highness said that they were 
 above all things studious never to exceed their in- 
 come, that they were quite sure no anxiety would 
 come upon them on the score of tradesmen's bills, 
 for that these were regularly discharged every 
 quarter. Having past a few most agreeable hours 
 with her young friend, the lady was about to come 
 away, but had to submit to her Royal Highness's 
 kind importunities to wait dinner and continue 
 with her for a couple of days. 
 
 The Bishop of Salisbury, her tutor, having paid 
 a visit, was asked at his departure how the weavers 
 hi his place were getting forward, his Lordship re- 
 plied that he had understood their affairs were in 
 an improving condition, though many were not 
 yet provided with full employment, her Royal 
 Highness presently issued an order to a large 
 amount for a quantity of flannel, that it might be 
 distributed among the needy, and the manufacture 
 of it give work to the persons who had been for 
 
416 LIFE OF THE 
 
 some time without it. This occurrence did not 
 take place at the very period we are now got to, 
 but all the way it will be perceived that if the chro- 
 nological series of events were to be rigidly kept, 
 the same latitude could not be given for introduc- 
 ing matters where they. seemed most likely to fit 
 the time. We have just been considering the 
 economy of the Princess, and it becomes our duty 
 now to see what motives she could have for the 
 care that was used in the expenses of her living. A 
 humane and generous temper is often the most 
 averse to self-indulgence. It was obviously with 
 a view to charitable acts, to be able to give vigour 
 to the poor man's undertakings, to banish the rue- 
 mi aspect of the unemployed, that the Princess at- 
 tended to the close distribution of the income as- 
 signed her. There was of course a reason resulting 
 from the laudable pride of her Royal Highness that 
 would not suffer creditors to solicit for their money 
 a second time. Thus while she was far from being 
 loose or intemperate in her outlayings, the liberality 
 of her spirit was amply gratified* With her, charity 
 was not a dry necessary duty, but her natural in- 
 clination led her to relieve and succour the oppress- 
 ed. She did not fling away her gifts to be sure in 
 a wanton thoughtless manner, but had always pene- 
 tration enough to bestow them where they most 
 were i>eeded, and then to the best advantage. In 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 417 
 
 the beginning of her life, she met a beggar wjth a 
 numerous train of children, but they were not her 
 own, and her Royal Highness rebuked her severely 
 for pretending that they were. The woman was 
 at that time far advanced in years, and now being 
 attacked with infirmities, a petition was sent in to 
 the Princess on her behalf. The circumstance was 
 yet in the recollection of her Royal Highness, and 
 she granted a very handsome present to be made 
 the poor woman. But her tenderness was not con- 
 fined, it reached all creatures. What a miserable 
 hope of kind affections for mitigating the severity 
 of the ordinances of the state could the Romans 
 entertain under the guidance of a Prince who had 
 his chief enjoyment in the cruel and inhuman tor- 
 ture of flies and insects, who used to divert his ill 
 tempered mind in plucking the wings and tearing 
 off the feet from the little bodies of these poor ani- 
 mals ; a merciful man is merciful even to his beast, 
 is an observation sanctified by the Holy Writings, 
 and is never found to be a groundless one, but 
 every body that will cast his eyes about him in 
 society, and narrowly look into the actions of men, , 
 will perceive this inclemency to irrational beings, 
 a proof that whoever makes use of it, would be 
 alike savage to a human person if occasion offered. 
 The reader must therefore be pleased to learn that 
 in proportion to any creature's remoteness from an 
 3 ii 
 
418 LIFE OF THE 
 
 ability to redress itself, it was her way to tender 
 friendship to it on every emergency. In the sum- 
 mer nothiag delighted the Princess more than 
 gently to rescue a sinking fly from its watery grave, 
 when it had been entangled with its wing in a 
 glass, or a tea cup. She used to watch with joyous 
 feelings the return of animation to the exhausted 
 insect, and upon its entire safety appeared over 
 come with happy and transporting thankfulness to 
 the Good Genius of the little thing for the pro- 
 tection afforded it. That degraded species of quad- 
 rupeds, called donkeys, even they came in for a 
 share of her kind heartedness and sincere good will. 
 A fellow along the road was beating most unmer- 
 cifully a poor little donkey, he struck him with a 
 large oaken plane, and with his great shoe, exclaim- 
 ing blasphemously at the manlike opposition that 
 was made on the donkey's part. The Princess hap- 
 pened to be passing by at the time, and peremptori- 
 ly bade the merciless driver to desist. I think, 
 madam, cried the fellow, a man has a good right 
 to do what he pleases with his own, eh, mistress. 
 One of the footmen coming up at these words, the 
 insolent rascal was terrified : and this indeed will 
 always be found the case with those who have the 
 courage to be brutal w T here there is no danger of 
 retaliation, the very look of the sweet dignified 
 angel that bespoke favour for the man's beast would 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 419 
 
 have sufficed with any one of proper feeling to re- 
 press all disrespectful language, for although her 
 Royal Highness was perfectly devoid of arrogance 
 and pride, no person exhibited more real grandeur 
 than she did in her mien and general carriage, and 
 her voice and gesture proclaimed the superior quality 
 of the speaker. Yet was this surly wretch so far 
 wanting to grace and goodness that, unmindful of 
 the lady's presence, though ignorant of her actually 
 being Princess Charlotte, he ventured to reply with 
 course ill breeding to his admonisher. As soon 
 however as the laced servant appeared, consistent 
 with himself, the fellow pulled in his resolution, 
 and doubted the propriety of his behaviour ; but 
 what must have been his mortification, when he 
 heard her addressed by the title of " Royal High- 
 ness ;" his hair in fact stood on end with terror, 
 and his voice faltering, hardly suffered him to re- 
 ply to the Princess, who asked him if he would sell 
 the poor animal, and how much he wanted for him. 
 When the Princess had desired her attendant to 
 pay, she added a few words, turning to the person 
 that sold the ass, upon the great mercies that Heaven 
 vouchsafed in sparing the transgression of man, 
 and the little clemency that could be attained by 
 man from man. Yes, the other humbly said, all 
 that and more, my honoured Lady, is most true, 
 how much has our Redeemer done and suffered for 
 
420 LIFE OF THE 
 
 us, and how very unthankful are we for all his lov- 
 ing kindness ! I perceive, said the Princess, you 
 have learned something of divinity, your idea is a 
 very good one, I approve much of what you say 
 now, but I hope you will be able not only to see 
 what is right but to do likewise, The lucky ass 
 was ordered to be dealt with tenderly, to be well 
 fed and attended to; and her Royal TT'ghness had 
 the pleasure to find him growing quite tractable, 
 and civil, and this convinced her that he had been 
 rather high spirited than contumacious, that if his 
 instructions had been delivered him in gentle bid- 
 dings, and not left to the whip, or cudgel rather, 
 for his own finding out, he would have been an in- 
 strument in producing the poor man's happiness. 
 When we consider how trivial a circumstance will 
 ruffle the temper, and make a person, though cause- 
 lessly as completely miserable as if a serious cala- 
 mity had visited him, we must regard those indi- 
 viduals to be extremely foolish and lost to the true 
 sense of their own interest, who employ an unneces- 
 sary degree of severity towards the creatures that 
 are dependent upon them and connected with them. 
 The Princess Charlotte indeed was studious to make 
 all things smile around her through nobler motives 
 than such as might arise from a sense of her own 
 happiness. It was her generous feelings that ani- 
 mated her bosom, and gave life to every thing she 
 
PRINCESS CHAKLOTTE. 421 
 
 did, while her good nature turned the obliged per- 
 son into a glad receiver. The instance that is given 
 of her kindness towards the brute creation naturally 
 arose from her attachment and regard for all of the 
 human species. Nay, her anxiety for the universal 
 well being and comfort of the creation reached be- 
 yond irrational animals, and showed itself in her 
 fondness for flowers and the vegetable world, and 
 the pains that she took in the culture of them. 
 While at the same time her beloved husband was 
 pleased and delighted by the .constant tokens of 
 attachment and love that every little occasion of 
 this nature empowered her Royal Highness to dis- 
 play. The Prince having an enthusiastic disposi- 
 tion towards the science of botany, her Royal High- 
 ness grew so devotedly enamoured of it too, that 
 the happy couple appeared to have united their 
 very souls in mutual pleasures and pursuits. On 
 the fine evenings which were now setting in, they 
 frequently strayed out together along the fields, and 
 sitting them down upon the green expanse, would 
 examine the daisies, the blue bells, and the spon- 
 taneous productions of rustic nature ; these, while 
 they were gathering them, gave rise to a most 
 agreeable sort of emulation, which failed not to call 
 into play all their joyous sensations. Why, the 
 Prince on occasion would say, this little flower 
 brings into my recollection what 1 was reading of 
 
422 LIFE OF THE 
 
 the other day respecting such a flower, but I rather 
 apprehend that we are not to be gratified by a. sight 
 of it, for 1 do not believe that there are any of them 
 in this country. What is the name of it ? her Royal 
 Highness would reply, and being satisfied in this 
 particular, she would give very urgent and express 
 orders privately that all the flower shops in town 
 and the vicinity should be tried for procuring the 
 mentioned flowers. She loved upon these oppor- 
 tunities to surprize the Prince with tokens of her 
 ardent and fond affection ; and by showing him, as 
 if undesignedly, the very flower that he had longed 
 to see, deeply fixed in his mind the impression of 
 her true and faithful attachment. 
 
 But although much of their time was spent in 
 this agreeable manner, yet they were not profuse of 
 it ; so far indeed were they from being regardless 
 of the fleeting moments of existence, that every 
 hour had its allotted task. But the library was the 
 favourite place of resort ; it was there her Boyal 
 Highness beguiled with her Prince the most plea- 
 sant and delightful portion of her time. She parti- 
 cularly seemed prone to scriptural reading and re- 
 flection upon it, and her Sundays were constantly 
 occupied in this manner. How well prepared 
 must her mind have been by such antecedent studies 
 for the business of the ensuing week ! The works 
 of travels and voyages which fell under her con- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 423 
 
 sideration were accurately perused, and the situa- 
 tion of the different characters thoroughly entered 
 into, which is rather a strange circumstance, if one 
 takes into his account the sequestered life, with re- 
 gard to the lower circles, which her Royal Highness 
 must have led. This impediment was however 
 withdrawn from Princess Charlotte by the frequent 
 intercourse that she had with persons in the humbler 
 walks of society ; often mixing with them, she ob- 
 tained a great insight into their tempers and habits, 
 and she was never so overcome by the grandeur 
 and elegance of an exalted station as to admire the 
 gay and sprightly without diving a little into their 
 characters, and seeing whether sincerity and good 
 principles made them chearful, or that their only 
 commendation was their vivacity. She on all ac- 
 casions looked into the bent of the person's mind 
 with whom she might associate ; thence she drew 
 lessons for the direction of her own conduct, and 
 learned to estimate human life. This discrimination 
 was in common to her with her amiable grandsire, 
 who never spurned any man's society on account of 
 his low rank or narrow fortune. He is now ex- 
 cluded alike from the pains and the pleasures of 
 this life, and is nearly worn out of political re- 
 membrance ; but his private virtues, and the many 
 excellent traits which adorned his character, will 
 be long had in the recollection of his loving people, 
 
424 LIFE OF THE 
 
 who regret with deep and heartfelt sorrow the 
 state in which his Majesty has so long continued, 
 by which they are deprived of his most proper and 
 instructive example. As to his personal enjoyments, 
 they are of course circumscribed, and do not extend 
 far beyond the lowest degrees of sensibility ; but 
 his chearful frame of mind and general tranquillity, 
 notwithstanding the ailments to which we must 
 suppose him subject from his advanced years, make 
 it very evident that he has laid bye for himself the 
 happiest and most certain refuge for declining age — 
 a good conscience. However men may disagree 
 with respect to his political conduct, all are willing 
 to allow him an ample share of moral excellence. 
 He never was distinguished amongst the dissipated 
 and profligate, but although possessed of all the 
 means of gratification, furnished the people with a 
 pattern that might safely be copied, without any 
 fear of contrition or injury. His moral disposition 
 was perpetually under the guidance of his religious 
 faith. He marked the service of his Maker with 
 veneration and needfulness, and was uncommonly 
 sensible of human frailty. His humble notion of 
 his own merit appeared on many signal occasions, 
 but especially in affairs connected with public wor- 
 ship, to which he gave his constant attendance, and 
 for the purpose of listening with greater accuracy 
 to the doctrines that were delivered, generally stood 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 425 
 
 up while the sermon was preached. Any minister 
 that attempted to draw over his judgment, and pre- 
 vail upon the weakness of the king, which is com- 
 mon in our nature, was always certain to be disap- 
 pointed in his aim. It is recorded that when once 
 a clergyman had made some very elegant and win- 
 ning eulogium upon the character and conduct of 
 the sovereign, his Majesty expressed his displeasure 
 at the endeavour to gratify him by an enumeration 
 of virtues which were to be found in no created 
 being, and sent him word the day after that it was 
 his Majesty's desire that he should for the time to 
 come abstain from such improper, unbecoming 
 praises ; that his Majesty went to church to hear 
 God adored and- not himself. This was a rebuke 
 worthy of the illustrious individual that gave it, as it 
 was highly merited by the minister. FrGm this little 
 story may be gathered the true and unfeigned re- 
 gard which his Majesty always had for the wor- 
 ship and service of the Almighty. His pious dis- 
 position seemed to have descended in its full lustre 
 to the possession of his amiable grandchild ; and a 
 very warm attachment was always noticed to exist 
 between both. Of Princess Charlotte's esteem for 
 a certain member of the Royal Family some have 
 doubted, and others have maintained the feebleness 
 of it with great obstinacy, and certainly not with- 
 out offering strong reasons for their supposition, 
 3 I 
 
426 LIFE OF THE 
 
 but it has never been questioned that her Royal 
 Highness greatly venerated and respected the august 
 and virtuous monarch, whom she closely assimilat- 
 ed in many traits of her character, but in none more 
 obviously than in the decided steps that each of 
 them pursued for expelling impropriety from the 
 mode of addressing Heaven, or expounding the de- 
 crees of it. No wonder from this similarity of 
 temper that there was a warm and cordial love sub- 
 sisting between them. The affection was proved 
 on his Majesty's part by the solicitude he showed 
 in all the concerns of her Royal Highness, and she 
 even in her childhood was devotedly given up to 
 the admiration and respect for his Majesty which 
 indeed all subjects bore him, and if now and again, 
 a single individual was to be found hardy enough 
 to stretch a parricide arm against the constituted 
 powers of the kingdom, amends were presently 
 made by the glowing testimonies of true affection 
 and obedience, which such an occasion called forth, 
 so that even the exceptions must be regarded by 
 the historian as confirmatives of the general esti- 
 mation in which his Majesty was held. But who 
 can answer for the blackness of the human heart 
 or become responsible for the deeds of a maniac ? 
 When Hadfield shot at the King in the theatre, 
 she evinced deep horror and amazement to think 
 of the man's depravity, who would venture upon 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 427 
 
 an act so base and ignoble ; while she showed the 
 most heartfelt joy and gladness that his Majesty 
 had escaped the injury which was intended him. 
 But when the little Princess (little, for she was then 
 very young) had been informed that the person 
 was deranged who had been concerned in the dia- 
 bolical attempt ; as soon as this circumstance was 
 communicated to the sweet philanthropist, she burst 
 into tears, and bewailed the condition of the un- 
 happy being with the utmost tenderness and grief. 
 Nor was the affection of the grandchild lost upon 
 the delicate and sensible bosom of the gracious 
 monarch ; he delighted to speak with her, to hear 
 her read, and frequently for a length of time at once 
 kept her engaged at the harpsichord or piano-forte, 
 and her Royal Highness who had early made a 
 a great progress upon these instruments appeared 
 exceeding happy to have it in her power to delight 
 and please her venerable grandfather. She was 
 proud of the good natured little compliments that 
 he paid her, because she loved him, and therefore 
 sought his commendation the more earnestly ; it 
 being the nature of the human mind to receive 
 most comfort and satisfaction from the encomiums 
 of those whom we greatly esteem or admire. He has 
 been, under the dispensations of Providence, made 
 unfit to receive with afflicting sorrow the sad news 
 of the Princess having gone out of the world ; and 
 
428 LIFE OF THE 
 
 he may have been saved hereby another shock that 
 might have cut his heart with the poignancy of his 
 grief; and this may be the more readily conceived, 
 since it was a like occasion that already wore down 
 his spirits to the deepest stage of depression, and 
 affected him even to the upsetting of his reason * 
 for ever since Princess Amelia forsook this mortal 
 life, the powers of the venerable monarch s mmd 
 have been nearly in the same state of torpor they 
 yet remain in, to the regret of all; but if the prayers 
 of his people, and the remembrance of his virtues 
 could re-establish him, he should be quickly well ; 
 it becomes not us however to grumble at the dis- 
 pensations of the universal Lord of all things, but 
 patiently to adore his inscrutable providence, and 
 to bless his holy name for ever and ever. Such 
 was the fondness and regard of her Royal Highness 
 for this king of his people, that it was always with 
 an anxious countenance that she inquired about 
 him, and seemed for a time lost in melancholy and 
 still meditation after an unfavourable report would 
 be made. She was not however impatient, she 
 knew that in God's good time all things shall be 
 accomplished, and that human impatience can avail 
 nothing. He is equally subject to distemper whom 
 millions obey as the meanest human creature that 
 begs his morsel of bread from door to door. It 
 holds forth to us abundant motives of humility, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 429 
 
 and at the same time of resignation to what con- 
 dition of life soever it may please the Disposer of 
 events to consign us, when we see death visit the 
 palace and the hut without distinction, and all men 
 grow equally dull through sickness, and feel indif- 
 ferently the pains of disease. But when we notice 
 an exalted character of blameless morals, and of 
 piety, afflicted in this world, in place of arraigning 
 the decree that brings such things about, it behoves 
 us to look to our ways, and be prepared for the in- 
 evitable hour. The King and the Princess were 
 both truly religious ; that the sentiments of true 
 Christianity always animated the bosom of Princess 
 Charlotte, may be collected from the passages of 
 her life, where meekness was found without af- 
 fectation, and charity bestowed as if for the object's 
 sake to whom it was given, and not for the purpose 
 of gratifying the vain ambition and paltry pride of 
 the donor. No, indeed, her gifts were conferred as 
 if she granted them with her whole heart, it was 
 hence that her charity sprung, there was a mine of 
 it within her, which Princess Charlotte found her- 
 self proprietor of at an early period of her life. She 
 not only contributed liberally, and with a generous 
 profusion, but followed the benefaction with her in- 
 terest afterwards in whatever the matter might be. 
 Thus it is that in Bagnor, the name of her Royal 
 Highness will be long remembered with gratitude. 
 
430 LIFE OF THE 
 
 and dwelt upon with pleasing melancholy. There 
 she had promoted a school for the instruction of 
 children, and by her patronage, had she lived, must 
 have rendered it a flourishing establishment. Her 
 anxiety for the welfare and happiness of the young 
 was engrafted upon her by the Princess of Wales 
 in the beginning of her earthly course, and continu- 
 ed to encrease with additional strength and fresh- 
 ness. We are not so much to admire the dona- 
 tions simply, as the sincere spirit of benevolence 
 which breathed from the very heart of her Royal 
 Highness, for whatever she gave seemed to be given 
 from her entire and cordial willingness. Having 
 by this exertion of her liberal temper, used her 
 mind to the impulses of humanity, that christian 
 virtue grew into a part of her very existence, and 
 she was prompted by nature to acts of kindness, 
 one would suppose. 
 
 Numerous instances have occurred to us in which 
 the wretched were set free from pinching want by 
 this sweet and charitable Princess; but it now falls 
 under our inspection to watch the motions of her 
 maturer age, when the general claims that she 
 might have upon her loving father, by reason of 
 his affection for her, gained force on account of 
 the good sense and experience which her Royal 
 Highness acquired rapidly, as she floated down the 
 stream of time. Amongst all the objects of her 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 431 
 
 commiseration and anxiety she particularly noticed 
 with strong feelings of compassion the unfortunate 
 females whom a cruel destiny, or the workings of a 
 depraved mind had made obnoxious to the capital 
 severity of the laws. Her Royal Highness was 
 well aware that of those whom necessity has driven 
 to the commission of capital offences there are many 
 whose genuine principles would bear the test of 
 severe temptations undercircumstances more happy. 
 Upon this account she always endeavoured to learn 
 the characters of persons recommended to her notice 
 with as much accuracy as possible, and never re- 
 fused the petitions that were offered to her, and if 
 the case appeared capable of mitigation, she seldom 
 failed to exert all her influence and interest to ob- 
 tain a pardon for the unfortunate convict. Such as 
 were found guilty of forgery lay of course beyond 
 the province of her interposition; but when in other 
 prosecutions a young female had been fully con- 
 demned, it was a matter of her most anxious care 
 to press for mercy. Her Royal Highness was of 
 opinion that numberless unsuspecting creatures, 
 being first led astray by the craft and deception of 
 man, are afterwards thrown upon the wide common 
 of the world to receive the coarse chanty of an 
 unfeeling public, and at times they who are most 
 disposed to render services to the calamitous have 
 it not in their power to do it, and in such a case 
 
LIFE OF THE 
 
 the victim of misery is exposed to all manner of 
 vice, prompted as she is by her necessities and sur- 
 rounded by foul examples. Although no breast 
 could be more averse to crimes, yet her Royal 
 Highness's teemed with compassion for the criminal. 
 Not content with the dry formality of signing the 
 plea that might be set up by the unhappy, she in- 
 terested herself with great eagerness and found 
 her success productive of consequences the most 
 beneficial to those that had the sentence of the law 
 remitted them ; for being pardoned through the 
 kind exertions of her Royal Highness, they natur- 
 ally bore strong gratitude to her ; gratitude is not 
 far distant from love and admiration for the bene- 
 factor ; thus by insensible degrees the model of the 
 Princess was proposed to their imitation, the integ- 
 rity of her life, the openness of her temper, and all 
 the graces or excellencies which adorned the cha- 
 racter of her Royal Highness, tended to urge the 
 penitent and reform the vicious, as well as to 
 strengthen and support such as had already entered 
 upon the thorny, but the satisfactory career of 
 virtue. Enough has been stated already of her 
 Royal Highness to demonstrate the purity of her 
 moral feeling, the disinclination she had to foster 
 or encourage vice, but yet although active in pro- 
 moting and rewarding virtue, she was not so super- 
 cilious as to suppose herfelf beyond the necessity 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 433 
 
 of attending to the case of the wicked, and grant- 
 ing them a respite and a safe retreat from the un- 
 holy paths they were treading. With her, the son 
 and heir was always present, but the prodigal not- 
 withstanding had his fatted lamb. Like the wo- 
 man in the parable, having lost her shilling, she 
 thought it worth while to sweep the house for its 
 recovery. " Turn not thy face away from any poor 
 man, and the face of the Lord will not be turned 
 away from thee ;" so they who were sinking deep 
 in the gulf of sin and wretchedness, had a saving 
 hand stretched out to them for their help and 
 rescue, by her whose virtues, I trust, may be secure- 
 lv proposed as prototypes to the exalted ladies of the 
 world, and have by this time perhaps led her who 
 practised them to a better condition than she en- 
 joyed on earth. Upon subjects of this nature it is 
 rash to speak in a positive manner, yet in the pre- 
 sent instance deep regret may justly take possession 
 of the race of Britons that now are flourishing, since 
 from them has been snatched away as sweet a 
 pattern of the moral beauties of the soul as could 
 have showed themselves in the person of a Princess 
 or a woman ; she was the warm, the constant, the 
 faithful friend ; the religious preceptor and the con- 
 stitutional expectant of a throne. 
 
 It was about the latter end of April that the in- 
 telligence was whispered round the political and 
 3 K 
 
434 LIFE OF THE 
 
 indeed every circle, for to all her Royal Highness 
 was dear, and an object of curious inquiry, that 
 confident tokens were given towards the consum- 
 mation of the great hopes of the empire. On the 
 30th of this month, Prince Leopold repaired to 
 Carleton House, and then it is said he communi- 
 cated the joyous news to the Prince Regent, who 
 received it with all the heartfelt satisfaction which 
 the rising expectances of such a matter were fitted 
 to inspire. His Royal Highness, as soon as the 
 Prince was gone, went to Buckingham House to 
 see the Queen, and no doubt acquainted her Ma- 
 jesty with the intelligence which his Serene High- 
 ness had brought him. 
 
 This affair was supposed by many calculated to 
 heal every little variance betwixt the members of 
 the Royal Family that were residing in this coun- 
 try. The Duchess of Cumberland had arrived here 
 tinder no favourable impressions, but had by the 
 integrity of her life notwithstanding defied her 
 enemies to produce any thing that was criminal or 
 improper in her conduct beyond the common gaiety 
 and freeness of behaviour, which, however innocent, 
 is thought unbecoming in British females. Her 
 Majesty, who is aunt to the Duchess, being sister 
 to the father of her Royal Highness, wrote to her 
 before she came, signfying the retired and solitary 
 life she led herself, that as much attention, would be 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE 485 
 
 shosvn her as could be shown consistently with 
 the private habits which her Majesty wished to 
 maintain, On the continent Princesses are used to 
 receive the morning visits and attentions of gentle- 
 men, and such a practice is not deemed indecorous 
 or censurable, but here it is quite otherwise ; and 
 it may be farther observed, that her Hoyal Highness 
 having been married and the mother of children, 
 might very reasonably suppose that she was more 
 her own mistress, than royal personages of her sex 
 are otherwise allowed to be. But whatever the 
 cause has been, certain it is that the Duchess of 
 Cumberland did not meet with the hearty and 
 cordial reception which appeared to be due to her 
 dignified rank and station in the kingdom. That 
 the Queen was influenced by motives of personal 
 dislike towards the illustrious individual whose 
 society she thought fit to forego, it were unjust to 
 suppose, for what private end had she to serve by 
 it, what occasion of animosity had there been, could 
 there have been given, to excite private resentment 
 against the Duchess of Cumberland ? The fact is, 
 that from the consideration and esteem which her 
 Majesty professed towards her brother on the con- 
 tinent, little doubt can be made but it was a matter 
 of her extreme desire to be on a foot of friendship 
 and civility with her daughter-in-law, if she con- 
 ceived such familiar intercourse fitting. We must 
 
436 LIFE OF THE 
 
 therefore conclude that it was a sense of public 
 duty only that produced the reservedness of the 
 Queen towards the Duchess. The husbands mo- 
 ther and his wife seldom live on the best of terms ; 
 this is ordinarily observed to be the case in humble 
 ranks, there are exceptions, it were a dreadful thing 
 if there were not ; but even considerations of this 
 nature have frequently a great deal of admissible 
 force in things that are of serious moment, and 
 therefore the conjecture has been advanced ; there 
 are several reasons afloat without much likelihood 
 in them, and if this one be only offered among 
 them, it becomes excusable from the doubtful cha- 
 racter of the rest. The fine person and engaging 
 manners of the Duchess, the celebrity of her at- 
 tractions while Princess of Salms, the relationship 
 her Royal Highness already stood in to the Queen, 
 made several persons solicitous to bring a recon- 
 ciliation about- The Prince Regent, whose good 
 nature and desire of pleasant fellowship are well 
 known, interested himself with the utmost solici- 
 tude to effect an agreeable intercourse betwixt all 
 branches of the Royal Family; but his efforts had 
 not the success in this case which might have been 
 expected. Princess Charlotte was now regarded as 
 a very fit mediatrix, and her kind offices were 
 sought in this way accordingly. But she firmly 
 declined to have any thing to do with the dispute; 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 437 
 
 and even if she had strove to unite the discordant 
 minds, is it a certain matter, that harmony would 
 have been the consequence of her interposition. 
 We have more than once had occasion to see the 
 distance which her Royal Highness kept towards 
 the leading people of the time, not from any un 
 sociable temper in the Princess, but as such inter- 
 course must have interrupted her sweet enjoyments 
 of a pleasing recess, where without noise or bustle, 
 she desired no grandeur, -but was studious only of 
 domestic happiness and repose, spreading that bene- 
 ficence around a narrow circle which could not have 
 reached the wide circumference of an extensive so- 
 ciety : there was a fullness in her comforts that did 
 not accord with the tinsel civility of conversation 
 merely polite. Not the system of education which 
 had been adopted with her Royal Highness, but 
 the circumstances of her life had imparted a positive 
 and decided quality to the plans that she had form- 
 ed to direct her actions by, and it was utterly im- 
 possible to shake the fixedness of her determination. 
 Not the charms of an exalted station nor the min- 
 istry of secret advisers could turn her away from 
 the course which she had adopted virtuously, and 
 which her reason approved. Every exertion there- 
 fore that was used to gain over the Princess and 
 make her a means of conciliating both parties was 
 altogether unavailing; she had chosen a line of 
 
LIFE OF THE 
 
 neutrality, and she would not depart from it on any 
 account, save the confident hope of a thing being 
 done which she was persuaded to be impracticable, 
 for she was fully aware of the nice and scrupulous 
 punctilio the Queen always adhered to. and the 
 difficulty of reconciling a lady brought up like the 
 Duchess of Cumberland, to that rigid conformity 
 with rules and etiquette which her Majesty, and 
 perhaps very justly, regarded always as important 
 and indispensible to her presence and favour. " The 
 wife of Caesar should not even be suspected." How- 
 ever contrary to the received notions the doctrine 
 may be, a great deal may be rightly said in favour 
 of a circumspect and wary conduct in those that 
 are raised by their grade in society above the 
 ordinary level, instead of the gay and vivacious 
 freedoms such persons commonly suppose them- 
 selves entitled to. The business moreover was a 
 very delicate business, and added to the unpleasant- 
 ness of managing such an affair, and the seeming 
 impossibility that it would be effected, her Royal 
 Highness was well apprized of the consequences 
 that must result to herself from becoming an active 
 party in it. In the first place she must have begun 
 a familiar correspondence with the world, and this 
 she was unwilling to do, having such abundant plea- 
 sures in the amiable society of her beloved husband 
 at home. She in the second place was subjecting 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 439 
 
 herself to the mortification of a refusal from a 
 quarter that she did not at any rate perhaps care 
 much to apply to ; and in short every view of the 
 matter was either beclouded with apparent and 
 formidable obstacles, or attended with disagreeable 
 results to her personal happiness, and although con- 
 siderations merely selfish were seldom, never, known 
 to have much weight with the amiable and worthy 
 Princess, they must still have had some influence, 
 even though unperceived by herself. Upon the 
 whole therefore she in the most delicate terms de- 
 clined to take any share in the business, and at the 
 same time acquitted herself in a manner that could 
 not be construed into any disapprobation of the 
 conduct of either. But although her Royal Highness 
 did not think it advisable to disturb her mind use- 
 lessly upon the affair, the very interesting situation 
 in which she now was placed, many looked to as a 
 source from which a universal composition of all 
 variances might naturally flow. But the general 
 expectation was disappointed and the misunder- 
 standing still continued, 
 
 It was deemed expedient for the health of her 
 Royal Highness that she should be more careful 
 in perambulating the demesne, and not for the time 
 to come go without the confines of the estate, lest 
 a cold or some unpleasant consequence should over- 
 take her. This became a severe trial to the Prin- 
 
440 LIFE OF THE 
 
 cess. She had very early relinquished the madness 
 of routs, and balls, and suppers, and withdrawing 
 from the bustle and turmoils cf the town, contract- 
 ed her whole views within the friendship and com- 
 pany of her beloved lord, and along with him walk- 
 ing over the fields yielded to her happy mind truer 
 satisfaction and more complete enjoyment than she 
 could reap from the parade and folly of grandeur 
 and show. Liberal in all things besides, she was a 
 miser of her time, the improvement of it was at- 
 tended to with unremitting pains, and even in the 
 pedestrian exercise she took with the Prince some- 
 thing was offered to their notice from which in- 
 struction and amusement were obtained. The 
 Princess was of a contemplative cast, and sprightly 
 in her imagination, so was the Prince ; and there- 
 fore even £ barren field was not without some fer- 
 tility to their inquiring minds, giving occasions to 
 admire the operations of nature, and the goodness 
 and power of the superintending providence by 
 which all things are directed and controuled. These 
 sober speculations fitted them to receive the more 
 impressive and material gratifications of rural life ; 
 to fish, to ride, and sometimes to run, chequered 
 the varied scene of connubial happiness which lay 
 in the premises of Ciaremont The virtues that 
 adorn and embellish human life are said to be the 
 offspring of a country education, where innocence 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 441 
 
 and simplicity, the daisy and the harmless sheep 
 are offered to our view when we go abroad, and 
 where unambitious friends, strangers to artifice and 
 deception, sit by our fires and pass their time in 
 diverting tales or playful tricks, who, without any 
 temptation to crime, know not of an object to en- 
 gross their desires except the satisfaction of mutual 
 kindness and beneficence. Above all things it was 
 agreeable to the Princess to remain in the country, 
 if it were only for the gentle spur that it gives to 
 piety, and the unsullied purity that may there be 
 practised. Every living thing, each animal and 
 blade of grass give farther proof of the natural con- 
 viction that wiL of itself prevail over an unbiassed 
 mind respecting the skill and wonderful power of 
 him who made them. The growing leaf, the in- 
 creasing bough, the insect advancing to maturity, 
 all display the mighty influence of the Creator, and 
 the wonderful art which he fashioned his creatures 
 with. In the hurry and warmth of company, little 
 time is allowed the reflexion to dwell upon the 
 edifying objects which use their whole powers in 
 solitude upon the fancy of the speculative. In vain, 
 however, were the sights of a rural dwelling pre- 
 sented to a person of a Harrow, selfish principle. 
 It is necessary, in order to relish the beauties of 
 nature, that one should cast his thoughts beyond his 
 immediate concerns, and deliver up his imagination 
 3 L 
 
442 LIFE OF THE 
 
 to contemplate the surrounding magnificence, as it 
 shows the glory of him who created the heavens 
 and the earth, and in his omnipotence established 
 both of them, The understanding of the Prince 
 was much beyond mediocrity, and to the solid en- 
 dowments of it was added a charming and warm 
 imagination that could delight in all things fitted 
 to awaken admiration or love. His soul was ade- 
 quate to grasp in its comprehension whatever was 
 grand, to feel surprized at novelty and to be pleas- 
 ed with what was beautiful his natural cast of mind 
 was adapted to. Since corresponding qualities 
 were in the possession of his amiable and lovely 
 bride, is it to be wondered at that their mutual 
 felicity in rambling, like two philosophers, over 
 the delightful dales and hillocks of Claremont had 
 furnished them with so much ecstatic pleasure and 
 composed joy fulness, that the close confinement of 
 the Princess cost her many a pang. But in the 
 privations of this kind to which she had now to 
 submit herself, a solace embalmed her cheerful 
 spirits while they could not be brought into play, 
 a fond hope, the maternal prospects gilded the sky 
 that was now overcast, the assured anticipations 
 that joy was at hand, the happiness that millions 
 were to find in her temporary suffering, banished 
 the approaches of gloomy sorrow, and suffered the 
 pain only to stay behind. At the fet indeed the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 443 
 
 awefulness of the occasion must have sunk her 
 courageous heart, till ever and anon gladdening hope 
 entered her bosom and lulled irksomeness asleep. 
 Vain transitory hope ! 
 
 For the purposes indeed of exercise the library 
 alone would nearly suffice, for it reaches almost the 
 entire dimension of the house. It is a room truly 
 grand, both with respect to its extension and the , 
 decorations that set it off. Here was ample space 
 for her&oyal Highness to exercise without going out 
 of doors ; but this manner of taking the benefit of 
 motion was very disagreeable to her, or rather dis- 
 satisfactory, used for a long time to enjoy the com- 
 pany of her beloved husband in traversing the 
 fields, and surveying along with him the beautiful 
 landscapes which lie before the eye of one placed 
 in Claremont, diversified infinitely, and each change 
 of place only altering the position of the groups of 
 trees, and rows of cultivated grounds that expanded 
 before them ; and not only seeing such a pleasant 
 sight imparted happiness to the innocent mind of 
 the royal spectator, but the talk that such prospects 
 afforded, the comments that passed, the arguments 
 that were held, enabled them as it were to com- 
 mingle their souls together and enjoy an intellect- 
 ual identity. 
 
 The pleasures of walking being now in a great 
 measure totally shut out from her enjoyments, she 
 
444 LIFE OF THE 
 
 had recourse to her books, and still kept up the 
 practice of her early devotion. In reading she did 
 not vainly endeavour to get over the pages of the 
 works she read, hut scanned them with critical pre- 
 cision, and marked each passage that had any thing 
 bold in it, considering upon what grounds the as- 
 sertion rested, the objections that might be made 
 to it, and the means of removing those scruples that 
 it was possible for the author to use in reply. But 
 her exalted soul disdained to criticize the mistakes 
 of a compositor, the errors of a grammatical nature 
 were, when trivial, beneath her cognizance, she re- 
 garded the writing as it affected the imagination, 
 giving up her whole heart and soul to the manage- 
 ment of her entertainer. It was of a reader like 
 this that Sterne said he would go fifty miles on foot 
 to kiss his hand. From the sources of literary 
 pastime, no one was better calculated to draw copious- 
 ly than Princess Charlotte, inured as she had been 
 to search deeply and dive into the abstrusities of 
 her book, an exercise of the mind that is doubtless 
 very fatiguing, but the labour is well paid by the 
 harvest of rich gratification that follows from it. 
 Even in her present state of privation, she had 
 divers little satisfactions and pleasures which she 
 could not have otherwise possessed, and to which 
 all must be strangers who have got no relish for 
 mental recreations. The powers of the understand- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 445 
 
 ing maintain and confirm the imaginary pictures 
 which external objects paint upon a cogitative 
 mind, and when those powers are duly cultivated 
 and improved, a spring of new enjoyments is form- 
 ed within, and renders a person less dependent for 
 his comfort upon external circumstances, and this 
 indeed is the great benefit of a refined education, 
 but is it not a great one ? — Notwithstanding the 
 confined limits that were prescribed to the excur- 
 sions of her Royal Highness, she would now and 
 again steal away to see the gothic building which 
 stands in the Claremont grounds, and is really a 
 most noble edifice, considering the size of it. Her 
 poetical mind had framed several improvements to 
 it, and she delighted to sit there above all things 
 with a book in her hand and her Leopold at her 
 side, and thus far withdrawn from the troubled 
 scenes of noise and fashion, this amiable Princess 
 gave an example of the chaster times of old Greece, 
 when sensual gratifications yielded to those of the 
 intellectual part, and she surpassed even the pre- 
 cedents of ancient philosophers; for their minds 
 could but faintly scan the Creator's power in his 
 works, and consequently they missed of those 
 pleasures that arise from the contemplation of what 
 is to ourselves vastly superior. Little and paltry 
 spirits will be apt to conceive that no great felicity 
 was to be obtained from this turn of the imagin- 
 
446 LIFE OF THE 
 
 ation, since in order to admire any other being it 
 is necessary that we should look down with conscious 
 inferiority upon our own qualities, and thus instead 
 of a new source of happiness, we only grow uneasy, 
 as is apparent from the pains that are undergone 
 by envious persons, pains that they suffer in con- 
 sequence of some excellence lying beyond the 
 ability of their attainment, they seem not to per- 
 ceive the constitutional faculties of the human soul, 
 nor to reflect upon the circumstances in which a 
 man is placed in this world, the former consider- 
 ation may be termed a proof from experience that 
 man is fitted to respect higher intelligences than 
 his own, and the latter consideration shows a ne- 
 cessity for our possessing a bent to admiration of 
 things superior, from the aptitude that such bent 
 has to render the creatures more happy and con- 
 tented with their condition, and consequently He 
 that made all beings perfect in their kind must 
 have infused at the beginning a disposition in the 
 human breast to acknowledge, and therefore to 
 respect a nobler attribute than appertains to any 
 human person. After the fall of man, when wick- 
 edness was implanted by our parents in the very 
 essence of our existence, and the mind was suffered 
 to run astray in its wild imaginings, the Heathen 
 world, though ignorant of the true Deity alto- 
 gether, yet they could not divest ^ themselves of 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 447 
 
 this quality of regarding with awe or love some- 
 thing supposed to exist superior to them : thence 
 flowed the superstition and absurdity of the Pagan 
 doctrines, finding no visible living creature greater 
 than they were themselves, they naturally cast 
 about them for an object of adoration, and either 
 took one from amongst their deceased ancestors, or 
 coined a divinity that pleased their imagination, 
 afterwards indeed they did adore living things ; 
 but we only allude to the first beginnings of super- 
 stition. The scriptural reader need not be inform- 
 ed of " the unknown God," which St, Paul met 
 with at Athens, and they whose discussive in- 
 quiries have run into the literature of all ages are 
 acquainted with numberless instances where ad- 
 miration appeared to be a natural stimulus to 
 men's minds, forcing them to look upon a 
 grander being than man himself was. If then to 
 worship the divine Framer of the world affords a 
 natural happiness, certainly the Princess did not 
 lose much even of her earthly pleasures by retiring 
 from the follies of the world constantly, and pro- 
 strating herself humbly before her God She now 
 has departed where what her conduct may have 
 been shall fall under an examiner that can judge 
 better than we can do, arid all therefore that is to 
 be done by us lies simply in a statement of her 
 actions and her thoughts, so far as the sweetest 
 
448 LIFE OF THE 
 
 countenance in the world, and the most liberal 
 beneficence are able to explain them. But as to 
 the Gothic building. It was intended to be the 
 temple sacred to her dearest recollection — the mar- 
 riage with her esteemed Prince. The appearance 
 of it is extremely simple, but there is much grace- 
 fulness and regularity about it, and such a general 
 cast in the parts that one would almost guess it to 
 have been raised for the very purpose intended. 
 The ground is elevated a little on which it stands, 
 and around are shrubs and modest groups of trees 
 disposed after the playfulness of nature without 
 the least semblance of art, so that it has all the ease 
 and beauty of nature divested of nature's wildness, 
 just like what one might conceive a place to be 
 where the inmates or frequenters had the utmost 
 enjoyments life can afford in perfection, combined 
 with the greatest innocence and simplicity. 
 
 Although circumscribed in her amusements, and 
 excluded from the comforts that she used to have, 
 she could not bring herself to forego the celebration 
 of her wedding day. A dinner was given at Clare- 
 mont, followed by a concert. The guests were 
 not many, but all of them cordial well-wishers to 
 the illustrious couple ; amongst them were the 
 Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Esterhazy, 
 Count Lieven and his Countess, Lord and Lady 
 Castlereagh, Lady Harrowby, Lady Susan Ryder, 
 
PRINCESS CHAKLOTTE. 449 
 
 Miss Mercer Elphinstone, and Doctor Short. The 
 very interesting situation of her Royal Highness 
 imparted a consequence to the assemblage, and 
 filled their thoughts with a train of agreeable ideas. 
 The virtues which distinguished the Princess, the 
 happy condition that Providence had now allotted 
 to her, and the amiable qualities of his Serene High- 
 ness presented to the company objects of proud 
 contemplation, furnishing all present with a feast 
 more delightful than the viands were capable of 
 giving them. Their conversation was of the most 
 lively turn, the engaging manners of each individ- 
 ual contributed to diffuse self-complacency and 
 happiness to every member of the party : the good 
 nature and openness of the Duke, Prince Ester- 
 hazy's excellent understanding, Lord Castlereagh's 
 knowledge drawn from every corner of the globe, 
 it were improper to comment upon, because those 
 who have heard of these their properties need no 
 information on the subject, and they who have not, 
 would only suppose the writer to be what is called 
 "a hireling," an imaginary being made use of in- 
 differently by authors ministerial and authors con- 
 traministerial ; and in truth no such person exists 
 at all. If the men at the head of the government 
 encouraged a poor genius now and again, I do not 
 think it would be objected to by sensible persons ; 
 they keep up a vast standing army that only tends 
 3 M 
 
450 LIFE OF THE 
 
 to strip the people of their moral principles, and 
 cripple the freedom of action, whereas a few able 
 penmen might be competent to set those matters 
 in a clear light, which appear but obscurely in St. 
 Stephen's ; and to buy a vote is ten times more 
 sinful than to pay a kind author, for the one com- 
 promizes the rights of the constituents for a con- 
 sideration that he might do very well without, the 
 latter persuades the people, and even though he 
 occasionally deceived them a little, a question may 
 arise whether the guilt of employing him for an 
 improper end would not be sufficently covered by 
 the very charity itself which there is in making a 
 comfortable man out of one that was quite the 
 contrary. But if the observations that are now 
 made about the talents of the guests at Claremont, 
 seem to be rather obtrusive, let it be remembered 
 that the happy occasion of their meeting will na- 
 turally dispose the mind to be in a state of love to 
 all mankind, and deadens the many lively sallies 
 which political characters are apt to raise up and 
 have played against them. As to the ladies, 
 Countess Lieven is well known to be a woman of 
 excellent wit and vivacity which the Lady Castle- 
 reagh fully equals, and adds a large portion of good 
 humour to all she does, though what is this in fact 
 but vivacity, or, to speak more comprehensively, 
 cheerfulness in general. Amidst their glad and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 451 
 
 playful festivities had the thought obtruded that be- 
 fore the revolution of the day's rejoicings, the great 
 object of their love and dutiful attachment should 
 have ceased to exist, what a sad and mournful 
 countenance would their happy one have taken in 
 exchange ?— Life and Death had already entered 
 upon their operations, they contended for the con- 
 quest with keen rivalry, but Life withdrew from 
 the field to Heaven with the prize, and the sting 
 of Death became a trophy of Salvation. The nation 
 has lost in the departed excellence a pattern of all 
 the qualities which are best fitted for a regal person, 
 openness and sincerity, charity and universal kind- 
 ness, steadiness of principle united with a ready 
 acquiescence in the decision of others when her 
 judgment was persuaded of its fitness ; and her judg- 
 ment was always open to persuasion. To deplore 
 the removal of such a being from the earth is cer- 
 tainly laudable; for according to all the rules of con- 
 jecture her place is not very likely to be soon sup- 
 plied again. We may indeed find a young Prin- 
 cess equally beautiful, and even liberally disposed 
 towards persons in poor circumstances, but her 
 Royal Highness had a combination of the most 
 amiable and engaging qualities, as well as those 
 that impart dignity and splendour to the owner of 
 them. Added to this the great national character 
 of the British was in her personified : that moral 
 
452 LIFE OF THE 
 
 feeling and turn of spirit which uplifted this country 
 above all the regions of the world besides, yielding 
 the fruits of independence, urging the exertions of 
 genius, and setting men upon all the methods of 
 activity that procure real comfort and honourable 
 distinction in life. When a person of any condition 
 displays properties like these, ail the neighbourhood 
 is benefited where he resides by the influence of 
 them, not only by the good which these beneficent 
 dispositions do actually themselves produce, but 
 likewise in the propagation of virtue by means of 
 the example, which they who admire it will natur- 
 ally be disposed to copy. 
 
 Four days afterwards their Highnesses were 
 favoured with a visit from the Regent : he did not 
 stay very late ; an early dinner was prepared for 
 his Royal Highness and he soon after came back to 
 town. 
 
 The want of rural exercise which her Royal 
 Highness had been long used to, began to make 
 visible havoc upon the lively temper of her mind, 
 and she was growing somewhat thoughtful and 
 sedate, even occasionally to a degree of depression. 
 It was therefore suggested that she ought to come 
 up to London for a few days, and her Royal High- 
 ness consented to the proposal. The first day 
 after their Highnesses came, a visit was made by 
 them to her Majesty, whom they likewise went to 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 453 
 
 felicitate upon the return of her birthday, which 
 was celebrated in the evening of it, by the Prince 
 Regent with a party of fashionable people, and 
 amongst the rest Prince Leopold and Princess 
 Charlotte were to have been there, but they did 
 not go, on what account has not been yet ascer- 
 tained thoroughly, though no reason- can be offered 
 stronger than the prudence and expediency of her 
 Royal Highness keeping herself as retired as pos- 
 sible from bustle of every sort; and this receives 
 farther confirmation from the return of the royal 
 pair that day to Claremont. That any family dis- 
 pute was in the affair of their absence is mighty 
 reasonable with those who would fain be accounted 
 men of quick parts and penetration, and rather 
 than not discover an opening to the mysteries of 
 royal occurrences, do not strain very much to force 
 one ; but the Prince Regent had acquainted their 
 Highnesses that he w r ould pay them a visit in the 
 course of the week, and it is therefore improbable 
 that any misunderstanding whatever subsisted be- 
 tween the branches of the family. His Royal 
 Highness, according to his premise, came to Clare- 
 mont cm the 22& of the month (May,) and after 
 partaking of their Highnesses' dinner, he returned 
 to Carlton House. Lord Keith had attended him 
 to Claremont, but did not leave it with the Prince, 
 having remained there till the day following. Their 
 
454 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Highnesses were induced to leave their delightful 
 residence again on the occasion of the arrangements 
 about to be concluded for the purchase of Marl- 
 borough House, It had already been referred to 
 the opinion of the Chancellor whether or no it was 
 in the Duke's power to make any sale of the pre- 
 mises, and his Lordship was convinced of the le- 
 gality of his so doing; but there still was some 
 strong doubt respecting the length of time for 
 which the Duke might grant the lease of the house, 
 and before this could be decided, some delay was 
 necessary for the examination of the documents 
 connected with its former disposal. The Princess 
 however was desirous of inspecting the place before 
 she entered upon the occupation of it, and it was 
 for this end that the Prince and she left their 
 charming retreat. Upon inspection the house was 
 found to be in all respects very appropriate and 
 large enough, and no inconveniences appeared to 
 be attached to the rooms, the other parts also cor 
 responded with the wishes of the intended occu- 
 pants. The day after their arrival, numerous friends 
 called to see and make their respects to them. In 
 the afternoon they visited her Majesty and the 
 Princesses ; and in the evening went to the opera 
 house. The Duke of Gloucester called next morn- 
 ing and remained with them for a considerable 
 time; the Duchess was hindered from coming along 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 455 
 
 with her consort in consequence of some illness 
 that had attacked her Royal Highness a short 
 period before, and which she was not yet entirely 
 freed from. They went to Carlton House in the 
 afternoon to see their illustrious father, and staid 
 with him for a couple of hours. Then they repair- 
 ed to York House to make their compliments to 
 the Duchess of York, and leaving that about six 
 o'clock came to Camelford House, where they dined. 
 The Princess was very uneasy to get back again to 
 Claremont, but her Majesty having advertized the 
 public of the drawing-room she was determined to 
 hold on the 26th of June, three days after they 
 came to London, the Prince prevailed upon her 
 Royal Highness to wait till the drawing-room was 
 over. He did not however insist her to accompany 
 him ; insist, for she never seemed to be at all fond 
 of attending crowded assemblies: indeed, consider- 
 ing the intense heat of the weather, the Princess 
 could not with any sort of prudent care for her in- 
 teresting situation, go into a place filled with a 
 multitude. The Prince went alone to the drawing- 
 room, while his amiable wife was satisfactorily em- 
 ployed in renewing her anteconnubial acquaint- 
 ances, in calling up the fond remembrances of her 
 early days, and seeing the eyes that used to beam 
 upon her with so much love, respect and duty. 
 Upon the return of his Serene Highness from the 
 
456 LIFE OF THE 
 
 drawing-room, and after a visit was over which the 
 Duke of York paid them, they sat down to dine, 
 and immediately dispatching the banquet, they 
 hurried away to their abode at Claremont, which 
 her Royal Highness was most steadily enamoured 
 of, and could never quit the fond object of her 
 local attachment without some regret ; indeed cir- 
 cumstanced as she was now, it had been highly 
 improper to suffer an intended removaldnto Suffolk, 
 which was going to occur about this time, for the 
 purpose of the Prince's personal attendance upon 
 the regiment that he had got the colonelcy of r the 
 5th Dragoon*Guards, the Princess Charlotte's regi- 
 ment. The chief body w r ere lying then at Ipswich, 
 and a mansion was taken for the space of two years 
 in the neighbourhood of the town, called Rendles- 
 ham Hall ; but their Highnesses did not go to it. 
 Indeed that would have been a dangerous thirag, 
 for the opinion of the physician relative to the ac- 
 couchement of her Royal Highness was, that it 
 might take place in October. The departure was 
 consequently postponed, and no doubt the Princess 
 was heartily glad of it ; for although every place 
 where his Serene Highness might be could not feel 
 unpleasant to her, yet Claremont liad so many 
 pleasing ideas to excite in her mind, that it is no 
 wonder she preferred it to all the world besides. 
 Such was the force of her affection for Claremont, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 457 
 
 that the suggestions made upon the expedient 
 plan of coming to London previous to her confine- 
 ment, and to remain in it during the continuance 
 of it, was entirely ineffectual, her Royal Highness 
 could not be induced to leave her groves and mea- 
 dows which the many many happy hours she had 
 spent in walking over, in company with her beloved 
 lord, had greatly endeared to her, to the exclusion 
 of all the places under the sun. Report has it that 
 an offer was made of Buckingham House to be 
 used against the approaching event, but the offer 
 was declined ; this has been asserted, and perhaps it 
 may be true, and as such a statement did actu- 
 ally appear, it is fair to give it. Her Royal High- 
 ness could not think of quitting Claremont, and 
 seemed to become more attached- to the spot, the 
 nearer the hour advanced that was to seal her sub- 
 lunary happiness or mortal destruction. With 
 respect to the offer, it were wrong to indulge the 
 conjectures that might either way be framed, but 
 1 can see no cause, I own, to question it ; they who 
 seem so very much interested to make it out that 
 there was no concern apparent in certain quarters, 
 about the sweet Princess Charlotte, ought not to 
 grudge their opponents this pitiful concession that 
 the use of a residence in town was offered to her 
 Royal Highness, because in truth the favour is not 
 3 N 
 
458 LIFE OF THE 
 
 a great one, and neither adds nor takes away from 
 the state of the question in other views of it. 
 
 Her Majesty on the 29th of July came to Clare- 
 mont for the last time, accompanied by Princess 
 Augusta and Princess Elizabeth. They had an 
 early dinner got ready for them, and immediately 
 after they had partaken of it, the royal visiters went 
 back to Windsor. 
 
 Her Royal Highness made her last appearance 
 in public on the 5th of August, at a splended party 
 given in honour of the Prince Regent's birth, by 
 the Countess of Cardigan. It was intended by her 
 Ladyship that they should dine under the open air, 
 but the weather had been for a few days previous 
 so very uncertain that this plan was given up, and 
 therefore the large drawing-room of her superb 
 mansion was turned into a dining parlour, and de- 
 corated with whatever fancy could invent and art 
 achieve. But notwithstanding her Ladyship's pre- 
 cautions the day turned out to be remarkably fine, 
 the grass however was too moist to admit of the 
 entertainments being conducted according to the 
 schemes which had been at the first proposed. About 
 two o'clock the company began to collect, and at 
 three the royal assemblage commenced arriving^ 
 closed with the carriages of her Majesty and the 
 Prince Ilegent, Prince Leopold and Princess 
 Charlotte came in an open conveyance, and were 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 45$ 
 
 greeted by the spectators with loud and reiterated 
 cheers. The state of her Royal Highness rendered 
 it proper to withdraw as early as possible from the 
 erowd, and accordingly after paying their congra- 
 tulations upon the auspicious cause of the meeting, 
 the Prince and Princess left the party, and returned 
 to Claremont for dinner. Her habits now became 
 more domicile than ever, and her Hoyal Highness 
 engaged her attention in conversing with her illus- 
 trious husband and the select company that about 
 this time visited their country residence. The 
 amiable disposition, and polished mind of the Lady 
 Susan Ryder, eldest daughter to the Earl of Har- 
 rowby, had gained the perfect esteem of Princess 
 Charlotte, and the most intimate connection subsist- 
 ed between them that it was possible for two fe- 
 males to maintain. This accomplished young lady 
 was about to enter into the marriage state with 
 Lord Elrington, a nobleman worthy of such a bride; 
 and her Royal Highness felt deeply interested for 
 her happiness and comfort. She made Lady Susan 
 several presents, among others a Brussels icice dress 
 of £300 value, and it was in this that her Ladyship 
 gave her hand to the deserving suitor. In the de- 
 lightful conversations that were held between them, 
 the mind of her Royal Highness was gratified and 
 composed, her spirits were supported without too 
 much elevation, and she that was completely mis- 
 
460 LIFE OF THE 
 
 tress of attainments in the higher range of literature, 
 finding the like qualifications possessed by her 
 friend, enjoyed in perfection all the rational de- 
 lights of mental exercise. The Prince himself used 
 to join in the subject, and add much to the happi- 
 ness of the dialogues. The hours formerly devoted 
 to the speculative pursuits of botany were now 
 spent in perusing such authors as at once yielded 
 instruction to the understanding, and tended to 
 light the fancy. But of all books that were now 
 repaired to for solace and comfort, there was one 
 that her Royal Highness perused with a pleasant 
 anxiety, and gained more important and sweet in- 
 formation out of it than all others were capable of 
 producing : " and rightly deemed the book of God 
 the best." 
 
 Prince Leopold's anxious concern for the great 
 treasure of his life did not suffer him, as the time 
 advanced, to remain contented with the condition 
 of her Royal Highness so much but that he was 
 eager to be assured about the expediency of going 
 to London, that all the medical assistance might 
 be procured that could be. Having had the pro- 
 priety of such a measure strongly enforced by one 
 of the persons whom he referred to, he went to 
 town and examined Marlborough House with the 
 utmost nicety, but found none of the rooms were 
 in so perfect a state as was to be wished for the ac- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. t 461 
 
 4 
 
 commodation of one in her Royal Highness's cir- 
 cumstances. -After consulting some judicious 
 friends it was finally determined that it were as 
 well for the Princess to continue in the country, 
 the more on account of the predilection which her 
 Royal Highness had herself constantly expressed 
 for Claremont. The arrangements however were 
 definitively settled for the occupation of Marl- 
 borough House, £3000 a year being the rent pro- 
 posed by the Duke, which exceeded their High- 
 nesses' offer by £500 : the Duke's demand was at 
 last complied with. Upon a survey of the repairs 
 needed for the completion of the house in such a 
 style as comported with the rank of the illustrious 
 pair that intended occupying it, the expenses were 
 calculated at £10,000. But notwithstanding the 
 directions given for the purpose of fitting it up, the 
 possession has again reverted to the Duke, now 
 that the Prince has lost the great object of all his 
 grandeur and splendid views. Instead of Marl- 
 borough House, a place has been taken for his 
 Serene Highness in Grosvenor Square, as we shall 
 presently see. 
 
 The determination of her Royal Highness to 
 make Claremont the seat of her accouchement, was 
 attended with some little inconveniences to the 
 great officers of the crown, who about that time are 
 usually in the country. It was fixed however that 
 
462 LIFE OF THE 
 
 they should be upon visits in parts not far distant 
 from the Princess, and thus they might enjoy at 
 once the recreations of the country, and be able to 
 fulfil their official duties. What must have dis- 
 tressed her Royal Highness at this time, Prince 
 Leopold was occasionally seized with indisposition 
 of a rheumatic kind, which he first caught by travel- 
 ling in an open carriage when he left Brussels upon 
 the joyous summons given to him, announcing the 
 declaration of the Prince Regent's full permission 
 and wish that his Serene Highness should repair 
 to England to claim the hand of the sweetest 
 young lady, and the most mighty of all the Prin- 
 cesses in the world. It was scarcely to be wonder- 
 ed at that love, ambition, and all the excitements 
 of mortal ardour should operate so strongly upon a 
 young man of a sanguine disposition, as to make 
 him adventure more than cold prudence dictated. 
 The affection was confined principally to a severe 
 head-ache, in remedy whereof some teeth had been 
 drawn, and his Serene Highness gained much relief 
 from this being done : his general health indeed 
 was uncommonly good, but these sudden attacks 
 were still exceedingly provoking, for they prevented 
 him from joining in such little pastimes as would 
 amuse the fond partner of all his joys and sorrows 
 The person who had long practised among the 
 higher circles as an accoucheur was Sir Richard 
 
PUXNCESS CHARLOTTE. 463 
 
 Croft, Baronet, a relative and the heir of the great 
 Sir Herbert Croft, who was a distinguished friend 
 of Doctor Johnson, and had written a life of Young, 
 which is inserted among the works of Johnson, and 
 it bears a strong resemblance to Johnson's style and 
 manner. Sir Herbert had entered the temple, and 
 intended to be called to the bar, but he relinquish- 
 ed law for divinity, and was ordained. His sermons 
 were exceedingly well written, and he proved to 
 be an active and a serviceable clergyman ; not loit- 
 ering away his time, nor only occupying it in the 
 requisite discharge of his function, but going 
 farther, he was reaUy a man of some benefit and 
 usefulness. Upon his death, Mr. Croft became a 
 baronet, being the next heir to that dignity. His 
 rank in the world had not been always the same, 
 nor his practice abundant. While he was yet but 
 a student, and was attending the lectures of the 
 celebrated Doctor Hunter, he lodged at the house 
 of Mr. Denman, who was then only an apothecary 
 and received into his family young men to board 
 who were undergoing the courses of Doctor Hunter. 
 Mr. Denman was held in high estimation by the 
 doctor, and he considered his talents so very respect- 
 able that when the Duchess of Newcastle was leav- 
 ing England in a delicate state of health, and in- 
 quired of him for a proper medical gentleman to 
 attend her, being in a progress to her confinement, 
 
464 LIFE OF THE 
 
 he recommended Mr. Denman with much warmth, 
 and accordingly Mr. Denman was employed. Hav- 
 ing returned from Portugal, where he had been 
 with his noble patient, the death of his patron left 
 an open in the higher sort of practice, and Mr. 
 Denman was so very assiduously served by the 
 Duchess, who had received every benefit from his 
 skilful attendance abroad, that he actually succeed- 
 ed to the lucrative employment of accoucheur 
 amongst the first of the nobility. In order to 
 justify his pretensions to such high honours, he 
 commenced the reading of lectures upon the sub- 
 ject of midwifery, and obtained a great deal of 
 credit by the judiciousness of them, and very de- 
 servedly too, for they continue to this day the best 
 treatise upon that difficult branch of physical know- 
 ledge : a degree was moreover conferred upon him, 
 and he became the first practitioner of his line. Dur- 
 ing this interim, Sir Richard had begun to carry 
 on the mixed business of an apothecary and surgeon 
 in a country town, and was- doing pretty well, but 
 conceiving himself qualified for distinction in a 
 larger place, he repaired to Oxford, and continued his 
 profession with some success; afterwards coming 
 up to London, he called upon his old friend Mr. 
 Baillie, who had attended Hunter's lectures along 
 with him, and had also been his fellow lodger at Mr. 
 Denman's. The two voung friends went to see 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 465 
 
 Mr. Denman's family, which happened to consist, 
 among other branches, of two daughters both twins, 
 and fine young women both ; the two visiters re- 
 newed their old acquaintance with the young ladies, 
 and the result was that they led them one each to 
 the altar of Hymen. Mr. Denman was now grow- 
 ing rich, and his professional calls becoming more 
 numerous every day, he introduced his son-in-law. 
 Young Mr. Baillie being the nephew of the cele- 
 brated Mr. Hunter, and of excellent natural parts, 
 aided by an honest roughness, yet tender way of 
 speaking, he was getting forward rapidly in his 
 general business, while Mr. Croft was insensibly 
 enlarging the circle of his, Mr. Denmari proposing 
 to be in readiness upon any emergency. Thus did 
 Sir Richard get forward in life, and the many 
 private virtues that embellished his character will 
 take away grudge that he prospered so well. His 
 only fault as an accoucheur that has been ever laid 
 to his charge, with any appearance of truth, was that 
 of nervousness, but that, it must be owned, is a 
 most dangerous quality in any one of his profession; 
 there are no faults indeed that an accoucheur can 
 possibly have that, in the course of natural events, 
 are so apt to prove ruinous as that of nervousness 
 is calculated to do : for in cases of this nature, the 
 way that is least advisable may be followed steadily, 
 and yet perfect success attend the adoption of it, 
 3 o 
 
466 LIFE OF THE 
 
 but no matter how well concerted any plan may 
 be, terror, confusion, irresolution, and so forth, are 
 very very dangerous. Upon the whole, however, 
 the professional attainments of Sir Richard have 
 been always spoken of with much respect by per- 
 sons whose good opinion it was worth while to 
 cultivate and honourable to merit; the little tincture 
 of envy that must be expected in the observations 
 of medical critics, except of those who are person- 
 ally attached to a man of extensive practice, ought 
 always to mitigate in our minds the severity of 
 their inquiries into his failures. The character of 
 Sir Richard, generally speaking, stood highest 
 amongst the upper classes of society, and his family 
 connection in the healing art attached much credit 
 to his professional abilities, and gave an air of nature 
 to what must necessarily have been only an acquire- 
 ment. Having all these favourable circumstances 
 to notice, he was of course pitched upon as the 
 most fit and eligible person for assisting in an affair 
 of such importance as the delivery of the heiress to 
 the British throne, who was apparently the last 
 branch of the Royal Family resident in England, 
 and brought up after the custom and manner of the 
 British people, from whom any expectation of pos- 
 terity could be well indulged. 
 
 Next to the appointment of a physician, was 
 that of a wet nurse. Numerous applications were 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 467 
 
 made for this office, but the letter of a young wo- 
 man who lived in the neighbourhood of Claremont 
 was deemed worthy of particular attention. She 
 was the wife of a respectable man, he was of good 
 habits, and she already the parent of three promising 
 children. Her letter was addressed to Sir Richard 
 Croft; it was worded with extreme simplicity, and 
 yet was so very full and clear as showed that she 
 was quite sensible of all the things required for the 
 situation she sought to obtain. Sir Richard sent 
 for ihe young woman, and she was by him intro- 
 duced to a number of medical gentlemen, who were 
 in the habit of attending the Royal Family, and 
 had upon this occasion formed themselves into a 
 kind of board. Before them she was very minutely 
 examined, and gave the most explicit and satisfac- 
 tory replies to all the questions that were put to 
 her. The doctors were so entirely pleased with 
 Mrs. Griffiths, that was her name, that they were 
 about singly to state, I suppose, their conviction 
 they had of her fitness to the task ; but through 
 a caution commendable in professional men, they 
 began to converse in French ; hereupon Mrs. Grif- 
 fiths said that they possibly might wish her to 
 withdraw, as that tongue was not altogether un- 
 known to her; thinking that their discourse was 
 held in French for the purpose of conversing upon 
 p^offovq which they did not wish her to understand. 
 
468 LIFE OF TH£ 
 
 She did retire for a little, and upon her return was 
 acquainted, that if the appearance of her family 
 corresponded with what they had seen and observed 
 of her, she should be recommended. She had scarcely 
 left the medical gentlemen when she had a message 
 from Princess Charlotte, desiring to see her. The 
 Prince and Princess passed three hours with her 
 when she came to Claremont, and took particular 
 notice of her and of her children who went with 
 her, and to these the Princess gave an abundance 
 of sweet things. Prince Leopold even took one of 
 the rosy cheeked babies upon his knee, and fondling 
 it for a while, uttered many pretty and engaging 
 compliments, saying among other things, " Well, my 
 little friend, you and I shall be nearer acquaintances." 
 The young woman was quite subdued and enchant- 
 ed with this condescension, affability, kindness and 
 good nature. It happened that Mrs. Griffiths was 
 then about to be confined herself; she was told by 
 the Princess that if she would remain at Claremont, 
 every accommodation would be made for her, but 
 that she was at perfect liberty to determine for 
 herself. She however did not take the proffered 
 civility of her Royal Highness, declaring that she 
 had rather go back to her husband's boose, whither 
 she accordingly went, and was there in a few days 
 made the mother of a fourth child, a fine thriving 
 boy, and had the satisfaction to find that every day 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 469 
 
 inquiries were made after them both by the Prin- 
 cess. Considering the wide difference that chance 
 or providence has made to exist between the ranks 
 of men and women in this world, a sort of charm 
 hangs upon our bosoms when we sigh in sympathy 
 with an exalted mourner, the sgB is of a more deep 
 and sepulchral tone than one which is heaved for the 
 less distinguished child of misfortune, and perhaps 
 such a disposition is hot inconsistent with propriety 
 and justice, for the calls of life, the intrusions of 
 other cares, tend to drive away the imaginary por- 
 tion of every calamity. But surely this poor wo- 
 man ought to be allowed the full measure of her 
 woe. She lost the source of probable happiness 
 and prosperity; her influence with the Princess 
 may well be conceived adequate to have provided 
 amply for all her fiiends; what the actual pay for 
 a female infant is, has not been ascertained, but the 
 nurse of a male is entitled to £1,500, and afterwards 
 £200 a year. The woman who was nurse to the 
 Princess herself is still alive : her son is a lieutenant 
 in the navy, and she continues to enjoy an annual 
 income of £100. The warmness of friendship which 
 glowed in her Royal Highness, the interesting 
 purpose for which Mrs. Griffiths was to have been 
 employed, can leave no doubt of her heavy and 
 afflicting loss. 
 
 The condition of Princess Charlotte was now 
 
470 LIFE OF THE 
 
 the object of public curiosity all the country over, 
 and whatever related to her was heard with greedi- 
 ness and attention, but at the same time all was 
 hope, there was no apprehension, no horrific dreams 
 of terror, no forebodings of alarm. When any im- 
 portant measure of state is in agitation, all men 
 have their respective opinions, and love to hold to 
 them, some are sanguine in their expectations of a 
 happy issue to the scheme when once it is resolved 
 upon, others doubt of its success, while there are 
 not wanting many to hang down in woeful looking 
 forward to impending disaster ; but the constitu- ' 
 tional strength of the Princess, the excellent spirits 
 she had kept up all along, and the wish, perhaps, 
 that it should be so, led the people to think of 
 bonefires rather than the sable trappings of mortal- 
 ity : but they were notwithstanding anxious to 
 learn all that they could respecting her Royal High- 
 ness, and scarcely a turn in her conduct was suffer- 
 ed to escape publicity, if it had any thing in it at 
 all beyond the most trivial incidents that befal 
 those ladies who rising in the morning design to 
 go to bed at night ; but indeed the least of any of 
 her Royal Highness's actions had an originality, 
 and an attracting grace, and her more important 
 deeds possessed a boldness of virtue that could not 
 permit her to pass the day without something that 
 claimed attention ; but such particulars were not 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 4?1 
 
 the desired ones ; the people of England were not so 
 wrapt up in themselves as only to care about Prin- 
 cess Charlotte so far as her conduct was suitable to 
 the great public duties that awaited her perform- 
 ance, for the various private deserts that embel- 
 lished this distinguished personage had lowered our 
 respect for her into love, and we were more curious 
 to learn all about her as a woman, in short than as 
 a Princess. Every account that related to her way 
 of life was of greater value than her sayings or do- 
 ings with the bulk of the people. On the 21st of 
 October, her Royal Highness rose in the morning 
 about nine, exceeding well in health, and delighting 
 all she met with her agreeable and sweet salu- 
 tations. She sat down to breakfast with the Prince 
 at ten ; and the day being very captivating, her 
 Royal Highness walked about the pleasure grounds, 
 attended by her affectionate consort, and after the 
 walk she got into her garden chair, and took an 
 airing in it for about an hour, examining the pro- 
 gress made in the plans she had struck out for the 
 improvement of the garden ; the Prince being with 
 her all the time. The day following was spent in 
 nearly a similar way. Her Royal Highness, ac- 
 companied by Prince Leopold, took a walk, and 
 drove in her chair for a while, then she returned 
 into the house, and the Prince went out to divert 
 himself in shooting, coming back at five o'clock; 
 
472 LIFE OF THE 
 
 soon after which dinner was served up to them and 
 the principal persons who were at Claremont in at- 
 tendance upon them. As they were eating fruit 
 after dinner, it is said that the Princess while eating- 
 caught Sir Richard Croft looking earnestly at her, 
 and she taking the proper notice of it, smiled and 
 observed " Ah, doctor, I know what you mean." — 
 Soon after eleven o'clock the Princess left her 
 friends and withdrew to bed. The day following 
 was uncommonly clear and pleasant, the sun was 
 out in his full meridian splendour by twelve o'clock, 
 and her Royal Highness being still in the posses- 
 sion of the most excellent health, determined to 
 persevere in her little exercises with the Prince, 
 having her own inclinations supported by the perfect 
 concurrence of Sir Richard Croft. She this day 
 went to see the Goihic structure that mention has 
 been made of, and looking wistfully at it upon her 
 departure, seemed loth to leave the delightful spot; 
 she left it then for the last time that she was ever 
 to leave it. The rain that came on a little past 
 one o'clock obliged the party (some of their suite 
 were along with their Highnesses,) to go hastily 
 into the house ; but the Princess experienced no 
 inconvenient consequences from the rain. The 
 shower was all over by two, and Prince Leopold 
 set out again upon his shooting expedition. The 
 day after was not so favourable, the morning was 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 473 
 
 cloudy, and rain was every minute threatened to 
 fall heavily, it dropped now and again till eleven 
 o'clock, when a great shower, which was spent by 
 one o'clock, cleared the atmosphere of its muddy 
 particles, and the Princess ventured abroad into the 
 garden at two, attended by his Serene Highness, 
 and as she was passing by her plots of flowers, she 
 talked a great deal, moralizing often, and she dwelt 
 with peculiar energy upon the perishableness of all 
 things beneath the sun, but expressed her hopes 
 that now since the light of Christianity was aug- 
 mented by the discoveries and labours of the learn- 
 ed, men would no longer indulge in vain transitory 
 expectations of worldly benefit, so far as to sacrifice 
 the grand concerns of their everlasting existence ; 
 the goods of this life, she continued, are short, pre- 
 carious, and the more known the less are they 
 esteemed, but piety gives fulness of joy to the soul, 
 raises the views above the paltry prospects of the 
 earth, and conversing with Heaven, the more in- 
 timate and constant our duties and speculations are - 
 with things above, the more the mind is de- 
 lighted and improved. Every body was charmed 
 with her agreeable instructions, and one would 
 hnve thought that she had some presentiments of 
 her approximating dissolution, but that her cheer- 
 ful frame of mind and unaffected assurance in the 
 mercy and saving grace of the Redeemer had chased 
 3 p 
 
474 LIFE OF THE 
 
 away her melancholy. Sweet monitress, art thou 
 gone, and hast thou left us for ever ! They came 
 back to Claremont about three o'clock. The 25th 
 was not a very fine day, and her Royal Highness 
 spent the greater part in her own chamber reading, 
 but she was no way dull. Saturday, the day after, 
 she rode in the chair, and examined the improve- 
 ments that were making in the farm-yard, accom- 
 panied by the Prince and some of the attendants. 
 Her Royal Highness then took a general airing 
 through the grounds ; and in the meantime mes- 
 sengers arrived at Claremont from Oatlands with 
 the Duchess of York's inquiries after the Princess. 
 The next day was the Sabbath ; her Royal High- 
 ness heard divine service read by the Rev. Dr. 
 Short, and was associated in her devotions by all 
 the persons that resided in the house. After the 
 holy duties were discharged, her Royal Highness 
 with the Prince and Dr. Short went to see the 
 grotto, which had been greatly beautified since 
 the royal dwellers had come to Claremont. She 
 presently got into a flow of high spirits, and walk- 
 ed in the shrubbery without any signs of indisposi- 
 tion or fear. Indeed the usual habits of the Prin- 
 cess never at any period of her life betokened more 
 vigorous and perfect health. It is very common 
 and the most generally the case that females in her 
 circumstances enjoy a lightsomeness of heart and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 4?5 
 
 gaiety of temper more strong than the natural ha- 
 bitudes of their mind : to counteract these, recourse 
 is had usually to the letting of blood ; and one may 
 easily conceive that the aliment which her Royal 
 Highness took had a tendency to exhilarate her 
 spirits to a high degree of elevation, and such me- 
 thods were adopted with the Princess as appeared 
 to the physicians most likely to prove beneficial, 
 the letting -of blood was no doubt the chief expedient 
 that was resorted to. All the preparatory things 
 were done at Claremont with great regularity and 
 dispatch ; the horses were kept saddled night and 
 day for carrying expresses to the cabinet ministers. 
 Such was the state of affairs at Claremont. 
 
 The branches of the lloyal Family were occu- 
 pied in a way that showed how little anxiety for 
 the result was given into by them, or, to speak 
 with more appropriateness, the freedom from doubt 
 or uncertainty that their minds maintained, for in- 
 deed they did not contemplate the danger at all, 
 never thought of it, but so far were they from ap- 
 prehension that her Majesty had her plans formed 
 for visiting Bath, Princess Elizabeth was engaged 
 in making preparations for going there too along 
 with her royal mother ; the Prince himself had his 
 mind engaged in contemplating the pleasures oi 
 the field at Kagley Hall; his own happy tempera^ 
 m'ent leads him to expect all things good, and the 
 
476 LIFE OF THE 
 
 accession that was about to accrue to his worldly 
 splendour, and the posthumous reputation of his 
 descendant kings, such considerations were upper- 
 most in the thoughts of the fond father ; and in the 
 possession of these high cheering prospects before 
 him he left London for the seat of the Marquis of 
 Hertford's, Ragley Hall, where he proposed to him- 
 self a great deal of amusement and pleasure. 
 
 Sir Sichard Croft advised her Royal Highness to 
 take gentle and short walks, as usually she had 
 done, and not to intermit on account of her health, 
 provided she felt no disinclination herself to exer- 
 cise. Upon all of these occasions she was attended 
 by her faithful and attached husband, and that 
 constantly made her egress the more pleasant, as 
 well as to come into the house again was wished 
 for, since they could then sit and talk with less in- 
 terruption. 
 
 The month of November set in with extreme 
 mildness and serenity, and on the first day in it 
 the Queen and Princess Elizabeth left Windsor for 
 Bath, where her Majesty was advised to remain 
 for a time, to drink the salubrious waters of that 
 city, to antidote some affection that troubled her, 
 which astringents, like the Bath waters, are cele- 
 brated for expelling. Sir Henry Halford went 
 with the Queen. The favourable state of health 
 that Princess Charlotte enjoyed took away all care 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 477 
 
 and anxiety from her Majesty respecting her grand- 
 daughter, and she probably expected by change of 
 place to beguile the time away till she was advanc- 
 ed another link higher in the chain of parentage, 
 till she became a great-grandmother ; for as to utter 
 indifference being the cause, it is surely cruel to 
 suppose it, and may be those very persons whose 
 uncharitableness impels them to take such opinion, 
 would be strangers themselves to anxiety under 
 the like circumstances ; not that her Majesty might 
 have shown no more concern, but there is a doubt 
 whether her departure at the time did not assume 
 much of its precipitation from a desire to employ 
 her thoughts in another way till the affair was all 
 over, and in an ambiguous case the kind indulgence 
 that we should wish to have given ourselves ought 
 by us to be extended to others. 
 
 The clearness of the sky enabled her Royal High- 
 ness, who was always a lover of nature, to gratify 
 her view with the sinking beauties of the year, 
 and her prospects made up of a serene atmosphere 
 and leafless trees formed a kind of reflected picture 
 to her own state ; — while verging to the pains of 
 travail, her mind, luminous and brightened by the 
 peace that virtue gives, beatified the critical season, 
 just as the world without her was irradiated with 
 a clear sun, that imparted an artificial brightsome- 
 ness to the fall of the year, 
 
478 LIFE OF THE 
 
 a The heavy month November came, 
 Predicted in proverbial fame 
 
 On chearfulness to frown. 
 By dismal clouds and fogs impure, 
 The light of nature to obscure, 
 And weigh the spirits down. 
 
 " But traitor like, she smiled serene, 
 Arm'd with a dagger held unseen 
 
 To pierce Britannia's breast. 
 Britannia, prostrate on the ground, 
 Weeps o'er the deep, the sudden wound, 
 
 With pain and woe opprest. 
 
 t( O gloomy day ! whose rueful shade 
 Saw Charlotte and her infant laid 
 
 Among the silent dead. 
 No matter hence how dark thy skies, 
 Thy future anniversaries 
 
 Shall point us to her bed. 
 
 " And when we hear thy tolling bell, 
 Truth shall in mournful accents tell, 
 
 How vain are all things here. 
 The hopes and prospects built on earth, 
 Like Autumn leaves are scattered forth. 
 
 And part us in despair. 
 
 " But while sad thoughts our minds possess, 
 And cast us into deep distress, 
 
 The proof of kind regret, 
 That perfect Wisdom has decreed 
 Some good should every ill succeed, 
 
 Let us not quite forget." 
 
 From the commencement of this month, her 
 Royal Highness led a life of complete seclusion ; 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 479 
 
 even her most intimate and beloved acquaintances 
 did nothing more than leave their names. She, 
 the fond awaiting mother, was employed along 
 with Mrs, Griffiths in doing up the dresses that 
 might be wanted for the little visiter that was ex- 
 pected to salute the longing people of the British 
 isles. Her demeanour was composed and cheerful, 
 but not giddy : for she had entirely thrown herself 
 upon God's mercy through Christ, and was prepared 
 to meet either destiny with a thankful and content- 
 ed spirit. She had indeed so long used herself to 
 rely upon divine aid, and had implored the Maker's 
 blessing upon whatever she did, that her piety hav- 
 ing entered into the contexture of her very soul, 
 was in a manner constitutional with her Royal 
 Highness. But the last opportunity that her 
 Royal Highness had of attending divine worship, 
 and pouring out her heart in company with her 
 domestic friends, was destined to be the 2d of No- 
 vember. After the solemn, and to the Princess the 
 joyous engagements of the sabbath were over, she 
 and the Prince took the customary perambulation 
 along the shrubbery walk. 
 
 It has been asserted that a fortnight had now 
 elapsed beyond the time that in the regular course 
 of nature her Royal Highness ought to have been 
 delivered in ; but this protraction did not at all 
 augment the apprehended difficulty of managing 
 
^0 LIFE OF THE 
 
 her Royal Highness, for her health continued to 
 be perfectly good, and her spirits quite tranquil 
 and composed, added to the excellent constitution 
 which her Royal Highness naturally had, every 
 regimen was observed that accorded with medical 
 science, and Sir Richard Croft resided for three 
 weeks in Claremont House without interruption, 
 previous to her Royal Highness's confinement. On 
 Monday the 3d her Royal Highness did not appear 
 altered from her looks on Sunday, but the day after, 
 Tuesday the 4th, the Princess exhibited marks of 
 her situation drawing near to a crisis. ' About three 
 o'clock in the afternoon Sir Richard thought the 
 time was arrived for summoning the officers of 
 state, and accordingly messengers were sent off to 
 them, announcing the expected event. The first 
 arrival was that of Lord Bathurst from Putney, at 
 a quarter past five, next came Lord Sidmouth from 
 Richmond, at a quarter before six; at six the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London 
 from Fulham, from the Bishop of London's seat ; 
 at half past seven the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 reached Claremont from his place in Downing 
 Street; and lastly the Lord Chancellor from Bed- 
 ford Square, at a quarter before eight. Doctor 
 Bailie came likewise to Claremont the same even- 
 ing. The uneasiness of Prince Leopold may easily 
 be imagined to have been very distressing ; they 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 481 
 
 indeed were so whose interest in the affair was only 
 concerned with regard to the love and esteem the 
 character of the Princess had with them acquired, 
 for it had gathered from all sorts of men, the best 
 opinions. The whole of the morning, Kingston 
 was greatly alive ; it was at one time reported and. 
 assuredly believed that a young Prince was born, 
 and the Mayor of the town actually dispatched the 
 high constable to make the needful inquiries. Al- 
 though the answers given to the questions that 
 were asked at Claremont upon these points set 
 aside of course the credulity in the past rumours, 
 because that the replies denied the truth of them' 
 but so much cheering information was at the same 
 time given as laid the people open to the reception 
 of similar ones : for Sir Richard declared that the 
 labour pains were as favourable as possibly they 
 could be. Sir Richard, however, wrote to Doctor 
 Sims, a medical gentleman of high reputation, re- 
 questing his presence at Claremont, that thus he 
 might, seconded by so able a man, do all for the 
 precious trust that he had to discharge, which hu- 
 man skill and practice were adequate to accomplish. 
 On Wednesday before two o'clock a. m. Doctor 
 Sims arrived at Claremont. Sir Richard wished 
 Doctor Sims to enter the Princess's apartments 
 along with him as soon as he came, but Doctor 
 Baillie and Doctor Sims were of opinion that her 
 3 Q 
 
482 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Royal Highness might be thrown into agitation by 
 the appearance of a stranger, and so Mr. Sims would 
 not go into the chamber. Sir Richard was all anxiety, 
 and his mind on the alert every moment, but no 
 artificial methods appeared to him requisite, because 
 however slowly the Princess was going on, still 
 some progress was making ; and till twelve o'clock, 
 noon, of Wednesday, this appeared to be the case 
 so evident that Doctor Sims, whom Sir Richard 
 often advised with, agreed that it were most proper 
 to give nature its own way. About five, a bulletin 
 was issued, signed by the three doctors. This was it. 
 
 " Claremont, Nov. 5. Half past 5. p. m. 
 " The labour of her Royal Highness the Princess 
 Charlotte has considerably advanced within the 
 last three or four hours, and will it is hoped within 
 a few hours be happily completed. 
 
 M. Baillie. 
 R. Croft. 
 J. Sims." 
 At half past nine, the next report was given thus. 
 
 " Claremont Nov. 5. Quarter past 9- Eve?iing. 
 
 " At nine o'clock this evening her Royal High- 
 ness the Princess Charlotte was safely delivered of 
 a still born male infant, and her Royal Highness is 
 
 going on favourably. 
 
 M. Baillie. 
 
 R. Croft. 
 
 J. Sims." 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.; 483; 
 
 The child was given immediately to Mr. Baillie and 
 Mr. Sims, and they with all the powers of art that 
 in them lay attempted the reanimation of it. But 
 all their efforts proved ineffectual. 
 
 While Sir Bichard continued with the Princess 
 he did not see any thing that was calculated to 
 awaken alarm, but her Boyal Highness appeared 
 perfectly composed except in that she talked a great 
 deal. Matters however stood so promisingly, that 
 another bulletin was issued at ten, worded in the 
 following enheartening manner. 
 
 " Clarem6nt t Nov. 5. 10 o'clock p. M. 
 
 " At nine o'clock this evening her Boyal High- 
 ness the Princess Charlotte was delivered of a still 
 born male child. Her Boyal Highness is doing 
 extremely well. 
 
 M. Baillie. 
 
 J. Sims. 
 
 B. Croft." 
 
 Lord Sidmouth, according to the customary po- 
 liteness, acquainted the Lord Mayor with the result 
 in this letter : 
 
 " Claremonty Nov. 5 half past 9. p. m. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " I have the honour to inform your Lordship, 
 that at nine o'clock this evening, her Boyal High- 
 ness the Princess Charlotte was safelv delivered of 
 
484 LIFE OF THE 
 
 a still born male child, and that her Royal High- 
 ness is going on favourably. 
 
 I have the honour to be, my Lord, 
 
 Your most obedient Servant, 
 
 Sidmouth. 
 'The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor." 
 
 Such was to this time the dissatisfactory, yet not 
 lamentable issue of the business. It was discovered 
 manifestly that the infant was alive till the period 
 of its birth, and it was found to be of complete and 
 excellent shape. What the feelings of the tender 
 parent were when she was informed of the sad 
 news that her child lived, not it is hard to conceive, 
 it may indeed be doubted whether the feelings 
 maternal are not in such a case as powerful as any 
 that could regard the existence of a parent herself, 
 that is to say, whether she would be more deeply 
 afllicted by the certain knowledge that her own . 
 dissolution was immediately to follow the birth of 
 her living child, or, although she might become 
 well again after all her pains that the infant which 
 caused them was dead ; this it were hard to de- 
 termine, doubtless the excellent spirit and resolu- 
 tion of the Princess was put to a severe test, when 
 the gloomy communication was made to her that 
 the child was still born : she is said to have turned 
 her eyes up to Heaven, and in pious agony to have 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 485 
 
 exclaimed — " It is the will of God !" — As to the poor 
 Prince, he was not so much cut down by the cala- 
 mitous intelligence that he had no son alive, as he 
 was consoled by the assurances of the favourable 
 state of his beloved consort ; " Well," he cried, « I 
 am thankful that the Princess is safe, God be prais- 
 ed for that." When his mind was fully satisfied 
 that his beloved consort was in a favourable way, 
 he retired to rest, his spirits indeed were exhausted, 
 and his limbs were as much overcome as if he had 
 been after a long journey; for during the preceding 
 days he had not enjoyed any refection, constantly 
 up and agitated for the safety and ease of her Royal 
 Highness. When the symptoms of a dangerous 
 nature were announced, he was ready to attend 
 among the first. 
 
 About eleven o'clock, the Princess seemed in- 
 clined to sleep, and as nothing serious had occurred 
 to give any uneasiness, it was thought that a little 
 sleep would prove exceeding beneficial to her ; and 
 under all the circumstances, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury and others of the State Officers left 
 Claremont. The physicians also lay down in the 
 perfect confidence of her Royal Highness being in 
 a favourable way. But wakening up about twelve, 
 some gruel was offered to her, which the Princess 
 in attempting to swallow found herself unable, and 
 instantly became very uneasy and discomposed. 
 
486 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Immediately Mrs. Griffiths the nurse desire ■-■ 
 the medical gentlemen should be apprized of it ; 
 they instantly dressed, and Sir Richard Croft dis- 
 covered upon going into the room that her Royal 
 Highness was seriously unwell ; he desired Mr. 
 Baillie and Mr. Sims to join him in consultation : 
 thus three of the most eminent of the faculty unit- 
 ing all their powers of judgment, attended her Royal 
 Highness, but human ability is weak, the Princess 
 not only grew not more tranquil, but her disorder 
 encreased; at first it was supposed that the difficul- 
 ty of swallowing was to be attributed to some tem- 
 porary obstruction that would be presently removed, 
 but the pain in her chest was now added, and a 
 pledge of coming mortality, a still more certain and 
 alarming sign, her Royal Highness complained of 
 being chilly, and of all the indications of sickness 
 that of shivering has something in it which affects 
 a person that looks on much more than any other. 
 What then must the feelings of the poor Prince 
 have been, who, before he had closed his eyes in 
 sleepless repose, summoned again to the bedside of 
 his dearest earthly possession, his true and lovely 
 » wife, loving him and beloved of him, what a woe- 
 ful scene had the poor Prince to witness now, ag- 
 gravated as his grief was by the previous hopes of 
 being doubly blessed, blessed with a living promis- 
 ing son, and blessed again because the Princess was 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 487 
 
 blessed. He was now to hover in rueful condol- 
 ence over the sweet countenance of his angel wife, 
 implant the kiss of sorrow, yet of consolation upon 
 her trembling lips, and speak comfort to her soul, 
 an office not without some mixture of happiness 
 and enjoyment, for the very pain that we endure 
 at the sight of misery in those that are dear to us 
 imparts a fulness of sorrow that has the pleasure in 
 it of satisfied woe, of perceiving that the distress 
 we feel is due; such transient gleams of happiness 
 might thus have passed over him in the midst of 
 his afflictions, his grief was the grief of disappoint- 
 ment, there was not in it the acuteness of anguish ; 
 for why, because she lived, she lived in whom was 
 bound up his mortal happiness, he hoped to console 
 her mind and apply lenitives to her distress, and 
 the task was a solemn and a sorrowful one, but 
 not without its portion of felicity, and his endea- 
 vours were sure to be assisted with the Princess's 
 own thoughts, and although lamentation might for 
 a while be indulged by the fond mother, still her 
 christian fortitude was very strong, and she had 
 before her every prospect of a happy life in the 
 company of the husband that was dear to her heart. 
 The Prince's anxiety was equalled by the return 
 of affectionate condolence shown him by her Royal 
 Highness, who seemed to feel as if on his account 
 above all others the dreadful calamity that had 
 
4»88 LIFE OF THE 
 
 visited them. Her eyes were kept steadfastly fixed 
 upon the Prince, she looked at him as if it was with 
 him she would wish to be well and happy, she gave 
 him frequently her hand, and seemed to gather 
 some relief from the circumstance of uniting his 
 hand with her's ; I feel, she said upon the first in- 
 timation she had of the child being still born, I 
 feel, she said, this affliction, because the people will 
 be vexed and distressed generally at it. I am sorry, 
 deeply so as a mother may well be. But, raising 
 her sinking voice, I feel it heavily, Oh I feel it for 
 my husband's sake. Her Royal Highness continu- 
 ed to speak a great deal, more indeed than the 
 medical attendants supposed advisable. She became 
 however more composed towards her latter end, 
 and uttered many delightful ejaculations, which 
 gives us cause to believe that she felt a conscious- 
 ness of God's tender mercy through Christ, for 
 never could a mortal being more strongly testify 
 his faith than the sweet Princess Charlotte did con- 
 tinually. A few seconds before her Royal High- 
 ness expired, she grasped with extreme earnestness 
 the hand of her beloved Prince, she held it for a 
 while, regarding him with mute attention, then 
 lifting her eyes up towards Heaven, her head sink- 
 ing on her bosom, the Princess drew a gentle sigh 
 and was no more. 
 
 Let the man now who proposes to himself a chain 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 489 
 
 of happiness extending to the end of life, contemplate 
 the havoc which a single day sufficed to bring 
 about in the happiness of Claremont, and how im- 
 portant in the comparison must appear that resting 
 place for men's eternal happiness, where there is no 
 comfort to be taken away, but where joy abideth 
 for ever and ever. Those who throw prostrate, as 
 unworthy of their notice and pains, all the graces 
 recommended to us by the blessed pattern that was 
 set us near two thousand years ago by him who 
 united in himself the divine and human nature, a 
 man after the substance of his mother, born into 
 the world that he might only expire through an 
 inglorious mode of punishment, and had all the 
 severities of the world to encounter, and yet too 
 holy and sinless to give into vice, and study to es- 
 cape the suffering, he whom men rejected with 
 scorn and indignation, and yet took upon him the 
 very guilt of his- bitterest enemies, surely he will 
 feel mercy, and zealously strive to pacify justice, if 
 we will but turn to him and crave his protection 
 and favour. In the happy region of those who 
 have no more of their pilgrimage to make, no hostile 
 hands to do them injury, where the arrow of death 
 does not fly in the night, we may enjoy their felicity 
 without the fear of losing it ; but in this world be- 
 twixt the envy of the little, and the craft of persons 
 whose minds are contracted, he that indulges the 
 3 R 
 
490 LIFE OF THE 
 
 hope of a prosperous life is sure to be disappointed; 
 it therefore is the part of every being to conciliate 
 the approbation of his own conscience, which is the 
 best force there can be used to counteract malice 
 and suppress discontent, and to crown his worldly- 
 expectations let him build up for himself a mansion 
 in the state to come, this no man can do for himself 
 but he may pursue the hope of it being done for 
 him; the mercies of Heaven are proportioned to the 
 sins of the earth, and the great Author of the Uni- 
 verse, who was prompted by his love towards men 
 to send down hisownsonfrom the divine residence to 
 sojourn in misery here, will deal indulgently towards 
 the truly pentitent and contrite spirit, comfort the 
 broken hearted, and fill with his grace abundantly 
 those that pant after it. It being the custom to 
 speak solace to the wretched, they would advise well 
 who directed the mourner to turn his views and 
 hopes to the never failing spring of happiness and 
 joy, thence he may draw copiously, and never fear 
 that the fountain will be dried up. 
 
 Meantime the afflicted father having had intellK 
 gence that the illness of the Princess liad com- 
 menced, hastened to Carlton House, that he might 
 be at hand for the earliest news. He arrived in 
 town about four o'clock on Thursday morning, and 
 there he learned the heart rending tidings that 
 his amiable child was no more, that she was now no 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 491 
 
 more from whom he expected all that ambitioii and 
 love could admit amongst their blessings, independ- 
 ent of the glory and honour of having kings to 
 reign after him the issue of himself, the strong hold 
 which his daughter had taken of his affections, the 
 many charms and graces that adorned her, all lost, 
 perished for ever. 
 
 The crown officers reached tow nabout five o'clock 
 in the morning, and expresses were sent about in 
 all directions announcing the melancholy occurrence. 
 In his note to the Lord Mayor, Lord Sidmouth 
 thus unfolded the sad catastrophe. 
 
 "Whitehall 6th Nov. 
 
 "My Lord, 
 
 " It is with the deepest sorrow that I inform your 
 Lordship, that her Royal Highness the Princess 
 Charlotte expired this morning at half past two 
 o'clock. 
 
 I have the honour to be, &c, 
 
 Sidmouth. 
 " The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor." 
 
 And in the Gazette Extraordinary published on 
 the 4th, was the following concise but touching an- 
 nouncement of the lamentable affair. 
 
 " Whitehall Nov. 6. 
 
 "Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte 
 Augusta, daughter of his Royal Highness the 
 
492 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Prince Regent, and consort of his Serene Highness 
 the Prince Leopold of Saxe Cobourg, was deliver- 
 ed of a still born male child at nine o'clock last 
 night, and about half past twelve her Royal High- 
 ness was seized with great difficulty of breathing, 
 restlessness, and exhaustion, which alarming sym- 
 ptoms encreased till half past two o'clock this morn- 
 ing ; when her Royal Highness expired, to the in- 
 expressible grief of his Royal Highness the Prince 
 Regent, of her illustrious consort the Prince Leo* 
 pold, and of all the Royal Family." 
 
 When these accounts reached the ears of the 
 people, they were astounded with grievous sorrow, 
 many, as is natural in such cases, disbelieved the re- 
 port for a long rime, people could not persuade them- 
 selves that the Princess Charlotte was gone, raised 
 to the highest pinnacle of terrestrial happiness and 
 bliss, her comforts equalling her grandeur, and above 
 all the sweet and noble disposition that she had al- 
 ways discovered in her actions, tended to make 
 her an object that we dreaded to contemplate the 
 losing of. There was no being but felt, or had the 
 grace to feign feeling true distress and wonder at 
 the calamitous issue of the promises to the kingdom 
 that had been given by the very circumstances 
 which led ultimately to plunge it in lamentation. 
 The Lord Mayor, immediately after receiving the 
 intimation of Lord Sidmouth, summoned a special 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 493 
 
 meeting of Aide -men, which convened at Guild- 
 hall ; and there the dreadful news being certified, 
 the Aldermen determined unanimously to stop 
 the preparations that were making in the hall 
 against the approaching Lord Mayor's Day, and 
 that the structures put up already should be remov- 
 ed. A notice was moreover framed for the sup- 
 pression of all rejoicings and merriment upon the 
 Lord Mayor's Day. And by direction of his Lord- 
 ship the great bell of St. Paul's tolled. The trades 
 people of the Royal Family simultaneously shut 
 to their shop windows. The lottery was not to 
 be drawn till the interment was over ; nor were 
 the theatres to open, nor any public amusements 
 take place while the corpse of the lamented Princess 
 remained un buried. Thus a black mantle was 
 thrown as it were over the whole country, there 
 was no joy, no gladness to be seen any where, every 
 countenance bore the marks of deep sorrow as if 
 some near friend of his own had paid the debt of 
 nature. 
 
 It will be no improper transition to pass over to 
 a cursory notice of these like calamities in the Royal 
 Family which hitherto afflicted the nation ; but 
 where shall we find the measuue of our sorrow so 
 full, where such an amiable and useful existence to 
 deplore the loss of? for she possessed whatever 
 could elevate the mind to admiration of her without 
 
494 LIFE OF THE 
 
 sinking the beholder into nothing, it being the 
 force of her great condescension to make those 
 about her Royal Highness love as well as respect 
 her, and be equally distant from servility and pre- 
 sumption. So that amongst all the disasters which 
 have befallen the family of the Monarchs of Eng- 
 land, it were hard to select an instance where the 
 loss was more acutely felt than in the dissolution 
 of Princess Charlotte. Henry 1. sustained a deep 
 w T ound in his affections by the death of his son, 
 who was shipwrecked on his way to England ; this 
 Prince however is reported to have been but a 
 doubtful character, his aversion to England he was 
 at no pains to conceal, and although a promising- 
 youth in all respects but this, the exception against 
 him herein must have suppressed the extension of 
 the king's sorrow, and fixed it with himself, for al- 
 though Englishmen are not so much enslaved by 
 nationality but that they are ready to admit into 
 their out-stretched arms a foreigner that is worthy 
 of their embrace, yet they certainly have no well 
 grounded affection towards those that evidently 
 hate them because they are English ; how could 
 they like such persons? But the wishes of the whole 
 community were for the safety and honour of the 
 son of Edward III. him that is commonly called 
 " The Black Prince." For his premature death all 
 the nation was immersed in unaffected grief and 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 495 
 
 melancholy, but yet in his case, one comfort at the 
 time arose that he had left a son behind him who 
 might inherit the virtues of his father, for it was 
 thought then that he who was afterwards Richard 
 II. would approve himself worthy of his illustrious 
 parentage, and although he did not, still the vir- 
 tues of the father led men to hope all things fav- 
 ourable of his son, and the strength of this pleasing 
 anticipation was sufficient to allay the rising de- 
 spair that was gaining upon the people. As to the 
 eldest son of Henry VII. ; he was certainly a young 
 Prince of great sense and merit, but loved military 
 power too much to prove a monarch of service to 
 his successors, for it is a lamentable fact than when 
 once an attachment to the army has been permanent 
 in the affections of a sovereign to the other objects 
 of his people's benefit that should claim his con- 
 cern, it is seldom, or ever that the spirit is abated; 
 on the contrary we see by the history of other na- 
 tions that the flame of martial glory is ever prone 
 to become higher and higher. We should observe 
 however, that the parsimoniousness of Henry VII. 
 had so far reduced this military tendency by the 
 abolition of useless commands, that the people 
 longing for a return of parade and bustle, were for- 
 ward enough to admire the heroic properties of this 
 Prince, and consequently their grief was very acute 
 when he was taken away from them ; it was how- 
 
496 LIFE OF THE 
 
 ever assuaged in no small degree by the pledges of 
 future greatness which his brother, afterwards 
 Henrv VIII. presented the nation with in his per- 
 son. This young Prince was highly accomplished, 
 and master of a large stock of deep knowledge 
 which he graced with the most comely make and 
 appearance that the human form could have, and 
 however ill he turned out, his rising Adrtue augur- 
 ed most fair, and had it not been for the impetuo- 
 sity of his passions, indulged and cherished by a 
 servile tribe of flatterers, he might have proved as 
 great a blessing to those he governed, as he had 
 been remarked for an eccentric wickedness among 
 •governors. So that the persons then who had the 
 discernment to see through character, and not weak 
 or credulous to be dazzled out of their discretion, 
 did not regret the departed Prince much more 
 than they reckoned upon all things favourable from 
 the merits of the one that was preserved to them. 
 Upon the demise of Edward VI. all hearts were 
 sorely touched, but the national grief was consider- 
 ably mitigated by the length of time that he was 
 apparently hastening to the sepulchre, he was not 
 cut off in the bloom of youth, but in the precocity 
 of old age, his October began in the Spring of his 
 existence; and when he did quit the theatre of 
 this mortal life, the happy reign of Elizabeth ren- 
 dered it a questionable point whether it was not all 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE, 497 
 
 for the best, he might have lived to an advanced 
 period, and the able and sound female monareh that 
 came after him might have been thereby precluded 
 from benefiting the country by her glorious admi- 
 nistration. The eldest son of James L who died 
 early, had engaged the good will and admiration of 
 all his contemporaries, but like the son of Henry, 
 and indeed in a still greater degree, he was given 
 up to military notions, that might have illustrated 
 the power of the kingdom more than promoted its 
 happiness and liberties. But in these instances the 
 loss was in no case so well calculated for public re- 
 gret, and lamentable, as in that of our beloved and 
 dear Princess Charlotte. They had severally their 
 merits and excellent properties, but her Royal 
 Highness possessed every thing that was noble, 
 christian and humane, her spirit was high, and 
 humble were her prepensions, her charity was un- 
 common for one reared up in plenty and a stranger 
 to want, and yet there was no ostentation, no vain 
 glory in her, she had good qualities* but was never 
 in pain to set them off, she was virtuous without 
 the incentive of obtaining praise, and yet she was 
 fully alive to commendation, and always seemed 
 to be pleased with any encomiums that were be- 
 stowed upon her when she thought herself deserv- 
 ing of them. Such transcendent virtues could not 
 fail to attach very close a people like the British to 
 3s 
 
498 LIFE OF THE 
 
 those who possessed them, but when these proper- 
 ties were affixed to a lovely young woman a sort of 
 private affection, as she was a virtuous female, was 
 mixed up in our respect for her as she was a royal 
 person, and thus no death in Europe could have 
 come within many degrees of the deep impression 
 which the untimely end of Princess Charlotte made 
 upon the minds of all. 
 
 The first thing done by the Prince Regent after 
 the woeful news was told him, he dispatched tne 
 Duke of York and Lord Bathurst to Claremont to 
 offer the afflicted husband apartments in Carlton 
 House, that his feelings might be spared the sad 
 pain of seeing all the dismal remembrances of his 
 recent happiness before him, so soon after that hap- 
 piness was crushed eternally. This was the con- 
 siderate thought which struck his Royal Highness 
 when the tidings were brought to him t T iat all was 
 over. He was then just setting out for Claremont, 
 having been assured that the Princess was doing 
 as well as possibly could be expected, and however 
 devoid of perfect satisfaction the .Whole communi- 
 cation might have been, still there was much com- 
 fort in the state of her Royal Highnes^'s health, 
 and there was room for indulging hope : but now 
 what remained of that sweetner of human calami- 
 ty ? nothing. No more the pleasant countenance 
 of the charming daughter was to give a cheerful 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 499 
 
 salutation at the father's visiting, there was at once 
 an end of her and of her issue. His Royal High- 
 ness behaved in a manner that showed the feelings 
 and the fortitude of a man ; he struggled to hide 
 the violence of keen affection, but he laboured in 
 vain, his thoughts agitated his entire frame and 
 threw him into a paroxysm of agony, but his Royal 
 Highness being cupped and having had some blood 
 let, grew much better, or rather composed the tu- 
 multuous raging of his distressed mind. 
 
 Her Majesty was very speedily apprized of the 
 delivery of the Princess, and although the tidings 
 were far from being matter of joy, yet the consol- 
 ation that her Royal Highness was going on so 
 happily relieved the anxiety of the Queen, and 
 made the disappointment tolerable. It was but a 
 quarter of an hour after the messenger arrived that 
 the Queen had appointed the time for receiving the 
 address of the corporation of Bath. When the de- 
 putation, headed by the Marquis of Camden, had 
 paid their compliments, they repaired to the public 
 hall to dine together ; the party consisting of the 
 most distinguished persons at that time in Bath, 
 and among others of the Duke of Clarence, who 
 had come along with his royal mother, of Sir Henry 
 Halford, and of all the chief attendants upon her 
 Majesty; but as they were engaged at the enter- 
 tainment, impressed by the late news they had 
 
500 LIFE OF THE 
 
 heard without pleasure or much pain, a letter, a 
 mortal letter was delivered into the hands of $ir 
 Henry Halford, he after reading it over, gave it t© 
 the Duke of Clarence, and his Royal Highness 
 with looks of ineffable grief, rose up and departed 
 from the assembly, When the Duke was seen 
 thus suddenly withdrawing, all present feared the 
 worst; and they quickly received a confirmation 
 of what they apprehended from the faltering lips 
 of the Marquis of Camden, who proposed an im- 
 mediate stop to the festivities of the day, and, actu- 
 ated by one mind, they got up all, deeply absorded 
 in silent distress, and quitted individually the room, 
 as if each had been summoned to behold the corpse 
 of his wife or of his child. The express of the 
 dreadful circumstance was dispatched for her Ma- 
 jesty at Bath, by Lord Sidmouth before six o'clock 
 on Thursday morning, as soon as his Lordship had 
 reached town, but with great prudence the letter 
 was to be given to General Taylor, and he was to 
 be made acquainted with the melancholy nature of 
 it before it was put into her Majesty's hand, that 
 whatever favourable incident might occur to pro- 
 mote the breaking off, should not lose its influence 
 by a forward way of making the dismal communis 
 cation. Upon the coming of the messenger, her 
 Majesty was at dinner with Princess Elizabeth, the 
 Dowager Countess of Ilchester and several other 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 501 
 
 attendants. One of the pages was requested to 
 call out the General, but he knowing such a thing 
 ,to be contrary to etiquette was unwilling to do it 
 at first ; he was at length prevailed upon to tell the 
 General that he was wanted upon some urgent 
 business, he complied, and went into the room 
 and told him. General Taylor, himself over- 
 powered by the distressing information, was at a 
 loss for means to impart it to her Majesty ; but 
 adopting the best plan he could think of, he desired 
 that the Countess of Ilchester should by called out. 
 As soon as her Ladyship re-entered the room, the 
 Queen changed colour; Oh \ cried her Majesty, I 
 know, I know some fatal thing has happened, and 
 looking with extreme penetration and agonizing- 
 earnestness at the Countess, heard the direful news, 
 and for a while was without motion, then she placed 
 her hand before her eyes, and heaved a convulsive 
 sigh. Princess Elizabeth shrieked, and all was 
 every where deep sorrow and lamentation in this 
 house of mourning. Her Majesty and the Princess 
 retired to bed. I know that people have some of 
 them, it is hoped a few only, considered the grief 
 of the Queen to be very moderate, but there is a 
 pleasure in cruelty which leads us to indulge it, 
 and is apt; to transport us beyond reason and truth: 
 let it be so, but charity will always accompany a 
 good mind, and dispose it to favour. Her Majesty 
 
502 LIFE OF THE 
 
 was desirous of setting out immediately from Bath, 
 but was really unable to go till the following day ; 
 she took no breakfast till a late hour, and even then 
 eat hardly any thing, but was much relieved by the 
 letters that she wrote to Prince Leopold, and the 
 afflicted father. 
 
 [Taken from a respectable Newspaper.^ 
 
 * The Prince Regent was relieved in body by 
 the operation of cupping, but his mental sufferings 
 appeared to be as acute as ever. On the 9th, at 
 half past seven, his Royal Highness received a visit 
 from the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, who, 
 on receiving the lamentable information, immedi- 
 ately set off for town. The Duchess, on her arrival 
 at Carlton House, partly on account of the shocking 
 event of the death of the Princess, partly on wit- 
 nessing the deep affliction which seemed almost to 
 overwhelm her royal brother, was so dreadfully agi- 
 tated, that it became necessary to detain her Royal 
 Highness ; and, after some time, she was prevailed 
 upon to retire for the purpose of repose. The Duke 
 of Gloucester then proceeded to Claremont. The 
 Prince Regent, in the mean time, having been ap- 
 prized of the effect which their mutual calamity 
 had produced on the Queen and Princesses at 
 Windsor, determined to repair thither, in the hope, 
 perhaps, of finding some alleviation, however slight, 
 for his affliction, by sharing it with those scarcely 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 503 
 
 less interested in it than himself. His Royal High- 
 ness went alone, and travelled with the blinds of his 
 carriage down. 
 
 " In the more immediate vicinity of Claremont, 
 the symptoms of sorrow were most strongly marked. 
 The houses of Esher and Kingston, where prepa- 
 rations had been made for bonfires, on the safe de- 
 livery of the Princess, were actually shut, as if a 
 death had happened in almost every family there. 
 Her safe delivery had been announced at Esher, 
 and the bells immediately set up a merry peal, and 
 they were actually ringing when the dreadful news 
 of her decease arrived. It came upon the inhabitants 
 of Esher like a thunderbolt, or like the sudden 
 ravage of an earthquake ;— it was felt the more as 
 it came unlooked for and unexpected. Grief and 
 consternation were imprinted upon every counte- 
 nance — the mother looked as if she had lost her 
 child, — the husband as if he had lost his wife, — 
 the brother as if he had lost a sister, — and all 
 looked as if they had lost a friend. It was in the 
 immediate vicinity of Claremont that her virtues 
 were best known ; it was there that her real worth 
 was duly appreciated. The eminence of her station 
 while she lived, was such as to attach the utmost 
 importance to her minutest actions. How much 
 more then must her death fix attention ; and if, as 
 there is every reason to believe, the qualities of 
 
504 LIFE QY THE 
 
 her heart, and the powers of her understanding 
 were calculated to adorn the station for which she 
 appeared destined, and to promote the happiness 
 of those whom she was to govern— how must her 
 loss exact sorrow and regret ! One of our best 
 historians, in speaking of the premature death of 
 an heir- apparent to the British throne, says, " Con- 
 temporary historians are fond of dwelling on the 
 virtues of this Prince." It is, indeed, only from 
 contemporary writers, or contemporary opinion, 
 that the characters of persons born to high rank, 
 but who have not been spared to act their parts 
 in the theatre of public life, can be known to pos- 
 terity. That the station of the Princess was the 
 most eminent to which mortals are born, or can 
 aspire, is undeniable; and, it is therefore fitting 
 for posterity to know, that the promise and earnest 
 which she had afforded of a capacity to fill that sta- 
 tion with usefulness and honour, was evinced by 
 the unqualified grief of all her countrymen for her 
 loss. Such a period of sorrow and dismay has but 
 rarely occurred in the history of the nation. Some 
 events are magnified by those among whom they 
 take place, for the same reason that objects appear 
 greater in proportion as they are near; but the 
 present, lamentable as it is, being still more likely 
 to affect in its consequences, than in its immediate 
 occurrence, cannot well be overvalued by contem- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 505 
 
 poraries. Let the nation well consider how pos- 
 terity may have to speak of the event in their nar- 
 ratives. Among any people, with whom the law 
 of primogenture prevails in the claims to the crown, 
 an uninterrupted succession from father to son, or 
 from father to daughter, in direct descent, is of 
 great importance to public order. At all events 
 then, a turn in the succession must here occur. 
 May the new one, from whomsoever it springs, 
 still lead to national honour and prosperity ! But 
 it is interesting to know, that she to whom we have 
 for twenty years looked for a continuation of the 
 old line, was not likely to fall below its most valu- 
 able antecedent members in solid virtue and worth ; 
 and, that the British nation, both personally and 
 politically, loved her whilst living, and lament her 
 when dead. 
 
 " From these reflections (and similar ones that 
 crowd upon the mind on every view of this melan- 
 choly subject), we turn to that now desolate man- 
 sion, where perhaps the most hopeless — hapless man 
 in the country at the present moment, the wretched 
 Prince Leopold, lies in all the agony of his grief. 
 Let not the disappointment be mentioned of that 
 hope and promise of being the root from which the 
 future sovereigns of the freest nation upon earth 
 were to proceed — " Thou shalt have Kings of thine 
 own, tho' thou be none" — but of the utter defeat 
 3 T 
 
506 LIFE OF THE 
 
 and destruction of all those prospects of domestic 
 happiness, which not a month since appeared so 
 bright and unclouded. On that day three weeks we 
 find him accompanying the Princess in one of those 
 rides she took about the grounds of Claremont, con- 
 versing, as we may easily conceive, upon the future — 
 sketching plans of domestic happiness in their new 
 characters of father and mother— fancying them- 
 selves already surrounded by their offspring — pur- 
 suing the story of their happy lives long into the 
 future — and promising themselves 
 
 ''That which should accompany old age, 
 As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends/ 
 
 All these things we may well imagine to have been 
 the subject-matter of their converse. And now, 
 three weeks only elapsed — nay, not so much ! 
 
 " His Serene Highness was beginning to assume 
 a settled kind of composure when the circumstance 
 of the embalming of the body of the Princess so 
 horrified him, that he appeared to shun every con- 
 solation which was offered to him. The body of 
 the Princess was indeed embalmed before Prince 
 Leopold was aware of the operation ; for it was 
 supposed, that he might be the more affected by it, 
 as the ceremony, though observed from time im- 
 memorial, with respect to the corpses of the Eng- 
 lish Royal Family, is unknown in most of the 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE- 5QT 
 
 foreign courts, and is, in fact, under all its circum- 
 stances of mangling, as well as useless indecorum, 
 revolting to the heart. When his Highness was 
 at last informed of it, he heard it with much agita- 
 tion ; and from that moment he regained not the 
 composure which he had at least seemed to acquire* 
 
 " It has been stated that his Majesty gave di- 
 rections, on the demise of his beloved daughter 
 Amelia, that the barbarous practice of embalming, a 
 relic transmitted to us from the age of the grossest 
 barbarism, should be dispensed with, considering it. 
 as indecent and absurd. 
 
 u It might have been useful at a period when the 
 body was kept for several weeks in state, and with- 
 out being enclosed in lead. But now it can be re- 
 tained only on the score of precedent. 
 
 " On the demise of any member of the Royal 
 Family, it is the duty of the Serjeant Surgeon of the 
 King to embalm the body. Accordingly Sir Everard 
 Home had an audience of the Prince Hegent, on the 
 Thursday morning ; and on the following day he 
 repaired to Claremont, accompanied by Sir David 
 Dundas and Mr. Brande, to perform the melancholy 
 task, in which they were assisted by Mr. Neville 
 the surgeon to the household at Claremont. At 
 the same time it has been understood that to sa- 
 tisfy the anxious and tortured feeling of all those 
 who most tenderly loved the Princess, as well as 
 
508 LIFE OF THE 
 
 to justify the medical practitioners, it was deter- 
 mined to ascertain the proximate cause of her sud- 
 den demise. The following is an accurate statement 
 of the appearances obese gentlemen observed : — 
 
 " The membranes of the brain presented their na- 
 tural aspect. The vessels of the pia mater were 
 less distended with blood than was to be expected 
 after so severe a labour. The ventricles of the 
 brain contained very little fluid. The plexus cho- 
 roides was of a pale colour, and the substance of 
 the brain had its natural texture. 
 
 " The pericardium (the region of the heart) con- 
 tained two ounces of red-coloured fluid. The 
 heart itself and the lungs were in a natural state. 
 The stomach contained nearly three pints of 
 liquid- The colon was distended with air. The 
 kidneys and other abdominal viscera were in a na- 
 tural state," 
 
 The foregoing narrative throws very little light 
 upon the immediate cause of the death of the Prin- 
 cess. The fluid found in the pericardium might 
 have obstructed the due action of the heart ; but it 
 is not easy to account for its presence there, nor to 
 conceive that so large a quantity could have been 
 effused during the short space of time that super- 
 vened to delivery, before the breathing became im 
 peded. The quantity of the blood which was 
 found in the womb might have induced exhaustion; 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 509 
 
 but this opinion can only be conjectural, as it is 
 impossible to draw any certain inference from the 
 rather indefinite expression "considerable," con- 
 tained in the Report of the surgeons. Conjecture, 
 indeed, has been busy, and a number of casual cir- 
 cumstances has been brought forward to account 
 for the dissolution ; some of which are ungenerous- 
 ly and unguardedly, not to say maliciously calcu- 
 lated to attach blame to the medical attendants ; 
 but we must consider such expositions as unjust to 
 the individuals concerned, and in no degree ho- 
 nourable to the profession. We have been inform- 
 ed that the whole of the Royal Family are liable to 
 the spasms of a violent description ; and to this 
 hereditary predisposition, and the increased excit- 
 ability of the amiable sufferer, owing to the tedious 
 nature of the labour, are we left to ascribe an event 
 which has destroyed the flattering hopes of the 
 nation. 
 
 Such being the statement of the case, let us ex- 
 amine how far it justifies the proceedings of those 
 to whom the management of it was confided. In 
 pursuing this inquiry, we follow, as the best guide, 
 the two eminent professional gentlemen who edit 
 the " London Medical Repository ;" and if this be 
 censurable in the opinion of some, a counter balance 
 to the dissatisfaction of these will be found in the 
 certain assurance that all judicious men will be well 
 
510 LIFE OF THE 
 
 pleased to see us take such competent peisons to 
 direct us. We are told in the first place that her 
 Royal Highness was in perfect health previous to 
 her confinement ; that her spirits were excellent, 
 and her mind anticipating no evil. Here then 
 there was nothing to dread, nor can we discover 
 any reason for such an anxiety on the part of Sir 
 Richard Croft, as should have made him foresee 
 the necessity of a consultation. The high rank of 
 the patient did not render her situation the more 
 precarious ;* and although a matter of mere pru- 
 dence, and to lessen his own responsibility, Sir 
 Richard might have had some of the principal ac- 
 coucheurs in attendance; yet, if such a circumstance 
 had been known to the Princess, it would undoubt- 
 edly have diminished her confidence in her ac- 
 coucheur ; and probably have produced a state of 
 mind, unfavourable at all times in her situation. In 
 the case of any other female, Sir Richard would 
 have felt himself fully adequate to his task ; and 
 why, it may rationally be demanded, should the 
 confidence of a man in himself be diminished, be- 
 cause the person he has to attend holds the most 
 elevated rank in society? The progress of the 
 
 * It is reported of the crafty Napoleon, that when he saw the aixou- 
 cheur of the Empress Maria Louisa begin to be nervous, he clapped 
 him on the shoulders, with this admonition, " You have a woman in 
 
 your hands/' 
 
PRINCESS CHAKL0TTE.* 511 
 
 labour, after it commenced, was slow, but it pro- 
 ceeded regularly ; and, although Sir Richard Croft 
 found it necessary, to call Dr. Sims into attendance 
 in case a consultation should have been found to 
 be requisite ; yet, so little was it then required, that 
 Dr. Sims was not introduced into the lying-in room. 
 The animadversions that have been made upon this 
 part of the proceedings, have been loud and severe* 
 but surely the opinions of Dr. Baillie and Dr. Sims, 
 and that of Sir Richard Croft also, who were upon 
 the spot, and thoroughly acquainted with every 
 circumstance connected with the case, must be re- 
 ceived with more confident trust than the opinions 
 of persons wholly ignorant of the particulars, and 
 misled by their imaginations or the floating rumours 
 of the moment. Every one, although not of the 
 the profession, who has been frequently in lying-in 
 rooms, must be satisfied that no prognostic of danger 
 can be founded on the tardiness alone of a labour, 
 unless the period it occupies far exceed the length 
 of Princess Charlotte's. After the birth, when the 
 irregularity in the process of nature, which had 
 supervened, was discovered, the separation of the 
 after-birth was undertaken according to Dr. Sim's 
 advice, and the propriety of the measure was evi- 
 dent from the consequences. The labour was ter- 
 minated without any untoward circumstance. The 
 sickness and spasm upon the respiratory organs 
 
512 LIFE OF THE 
 
 which succeeded, could not have been foreseen, nor 
 can their appearance be accounted for by any thing 
 immediately connected with the accouchment 
 When they unfortunately made their appearance, 
 the state of the case was of a nature which required 
 the most prompt assistance ; and accordingly we 
 find Dr. Baillie and Dr. Sims at the bed-side of the 
 patient ; and can it be supposed, as we have before 
 said, that whatever skill, judgment, and experience 
 could accomplish was not attempted. It is true, 
 we have not been informed of the remedies which 
 were employed; but can we doubt of their having 
 been the most proper, when the patient was in 
 such hands ; Let us suppose, for the sake of argu- 
 ment, that the Princess had been in other hands, 
 that the same circumstances had occurred, and that 
 further advice had been deemed essential, who of 
 the profession was the most likely person to have 
 been called in ? Does not the idea of Dr. Baillie 
 instantly present itself to the mind : and if his ad- 
 vice, when so demanded, would have been consi- 
 dered as the best, whatever, might have been the re- 
 sult, was it less valuable because he was upon the 
 spot ; and can we admit, what almost involves an 
 absurdity, that he would be less energetic in this 
 case than in others ? Thus we must admit, that 
 the best assistance was procured that the country 
 could afford ; that every thing was done which the 
 
PRINCESS CHAULOTTE. 513 
 
 skill of the physicians could dictate ; and will any 
 member of the profession who regards candour take 
 upon him to say, that in a similar case, were it 
 now before him, and the result equally uncertain, 
 he could positively save the patient ? That the 
 better informed and the reflecting part of the com- 
 munity will be satisfied with the plain statement 
 of the facts, there can be little doubt : but to sup- 
 pose that the prejudiced and the ignorant shall be 
 silenced, would be to hope for what has never yet 
 occurred. But if the ability and attention of the 
 physicians be admitted, is the profession itself to be 
 undervalued ? That may be the case with those 
 who consider the science of medicine, as consisting 
 merely of a catalogue of specifics, each of which is 
 capable of removing some particular disease : but 
 it ought to be generally known, that the more able 
 and experienced a physician is the less reliance does 
 he place upon the specific effects of remedies. The 
 great object of the real physician is to discover the 
 proper indications that suggest the' use of the re- 
 medies ; it is this which the science teaches him, 
 and in which the excellence of the art is fixed. But, 
 although the remedy which is administered may be 
 the best adapted to secure the intention of the pre- 
 scriber, and the symptoms agreeably to which it is 
 applied be clearly and unequivocally ascertained ; 
 and, although success may have followed its use in 
 3u 
 
514 LIFE OF THE 
 
 every other case, in which it has been as clearly in- 
 dicated, yet, no physician can venture positively to 
 assure the patient of the certainty of the same re- 
 sult in his particular ease. But the art of medicine 
 is not to be disparaged because it wants perfection; 
 the benefit which mankind have received from it 
 should not be concealed. It often averts approach- 
 ing evils ; it often turns aside the fatal dart already 
 levelled at the victim ; and when it does fail, no- 
 thing more is proved than that the highest efforts 
 of human skill come infinitely short of infallibility. 
 It is of great importance to impress upon the fe- 
 male mind that the state of pregnancy is not a state 
 of disease ; that the process of childbirth is a natural 
 operation, very rarely attended with danger in a 
 healthy and well-formed woman ; and that even in 
 cases of deformity, the resources of nature are cap- 
 able of meeting obstacles, apparently insurmount- 
 able. The case of the Princess cannot be quoted 
 in opposition to these truths. It is an anomalous 
 case, which goes for nothing, when weighed against 
 those which have been illustrated by the experi- 
 ence of centuries. But, at the same time, those 
 about to be mothers should be informed, that im- 
 patience arid irritation may render an operation 
 otherwise safe in itself, critical and uncertain, where- 
 as nothing contributes so much to facilitate it and 
 ensure the safety of both mother and child, as 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 515 
 
 patience, fortitude and composure of mind, second- 
 ed by entiie confidence in the medical attendant. 
 -And yet it must be acknowledged that it is not in 
 the power of a woman, particularly one that is de- 
 licately brought up, to overcome the terrors and 
 starts of apprehension that will rise whether she 
 will or no in her mind ; every person therefore 
 round her ought to be cheerful, and never look at 
 her with a desponding or awful eye, for the confi- 
 dent expectation that others entertain or seem to 
 entertain, gives her the best prop to rest upon and 
 strengthens her spirit, whereas a gloomy counte- 
 nance evidently put on for her precious sake by her 
 relatives or friends is enough to frighten her into 
 dreadful anticipations, and make her quite nervous, 
 and nervousness is a cruel enemy to the safe passage 
 through her travail. Gentlemen of all professions 
 are so fond of mystery making, that we are not 
 generally to look for a free and unfettered behaviour 
 in a physician, but when a carelessness of manner 
 happens to be associated, with a real thoughtfulness 
 in him, every body ought to cry up his fame and 
 recommend him to practice, not only as a thing 
 that is due to individual merit, but through the 
 laudable motives besides of preserving lives of 
 worth, or even such as are of little value, because 
 the worst of us may in time be good for something. 
 Let us take notices of this kind with caution not- 
 
516 LIFE OF THE 
 
 withstanding, for a physician may be a very able 
 man in his line, and yet have no marks of his skill 
 in his manner of behaving himself, that indeed is 
 possible. 
 
 An urn was made for the reception of those parts 
 which were separated from the body for the purpose 
 of embalming. When the operation was over, the 
 body was enclosed in several wrappers made stiff 
 with wax, and these were covered with an invelop 
 of blue velvet tied with white ribbands. The peo- 
 ple were in general very much dissatisfied with the 
 process resorted to of embalming the Princess, and 
 the obvious reason was the violation of that decent 
 respect for the body of a deceased person which 
 the common flock of mankind feelingly wish to be 
 shown it The great industry employed in search- 
 ing out the time it was first practised in seems to 
 be altogether unnecessary to prove the folly and 
 weakness of keeping up the custom. The earliest 
 traces are to be found amongst the Goths, a bar- 
 barous tribe or rather race of mortals who over-ran 
 the civilized world, and turned the refinements of 
 ages into utter barbarism and confusion, and formed 
 abject slaves out of the dainty characters that had 
 made in thosedays very splendid appearances. Altho' 
 nothing sanctioned by such a people can be much 
 to the credit of it, what it may be soever, notwith- 
 standing we should not be hasty in consigning all 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 517 
 
 things to the score of reprehensibility which were 
 done by these Goths, for they were a rough and 
 manly generation, and consequently may have 
 possessed some shining virtues among them, or at 
 least their customs might be taken in a light that 
 evinced them to have one good property or other : 
 as in the present case to embalm a body was to 
 preserve the earthly relic of a friend, and rescue 
 his tabernacle from ruin and decay. But the nature 
 of the operation is itself sufficient to make the act 
 odious in the eyes of the discerning and sober, for 
 the spark of animation being once out, all that re- 
 mains for us to do is to commit dust to dust, we, 
 revering the mind of the dead, will naturally ab- 
 stain from showing indifference to the sepulchre of 
 the body, but it is hard to conceive the benefit 
 that can arise from any artificial preservation of it. 
 Extremes are nearly allied, that is, a high degree of 
 refinement and an absolute grossness of manner; 
 politeness smooths the words of a speaker, and 
 imparts a gloss even to his vices, the bending of 
 one's opinion to the opinion of another, or the flex- 
 ibility of an overstrained courtesy seems to imply 
 this adaptation of a refined understanding to be at 
 once cruel and engaging, to be brutal without 
 having any fierceness, and to be pleasing and yet 
 pernicious. So that it is with this fashion of 
 embalming as it is with other things, it may be 
 
518 LIFE OF THE 
 
 good or bad, for all the arguments that the usage 
 of it among barbarians can afford us either way ; 
 only indeed if it be meant by the frightful name of 
 Goths, and by an artful association of the practice 
 and the Goths going together, that there is betwixt 
 them a kind of prescriptive union, that is ingenious 
 enough, we must admit, for an additional detestation 
 against it is thereby framed in our minds, and al- 
 though we may want the impulses of a humane 
 disposition, and feel not displeased with the rite in 
 itself, yet being alive to what is terrible, the word 
 Goths may have its use; but it is not however 
 likely to become a usual practice, and will in all 
 probability be confined to persons of the Royal 
 Family, On the continent they seldom or never 
 embalm, and therefore the Prince Leopold was 
 quite shocked by the circumstance. The feelings 
 of the Prince had already sustained such a deep 
 and heavy pressure, and it being well understood 
 in certain quarters that an embalment would take 
 place, it is said, with much considerateness a mes- 
 sage of a most pressing and kind turn was sent to 
 him to come to Carlton House till the corpse was 
 entirely ready to proceed to the interment ground; 
 but the Prince preferred remaining. His royal 
 father-in-law penned and dispatched a most affecting 
 letter to him, assuring his Serene Highness of his 
 full conviction that he had always behaved to his 
 
PRINCESS CHABLOTTE. 519 
 
 beloved daughter in such a manner as to call down 
 his most cordial approbation and esteem, and to fix 
 his paternal affection deep in his heart towards him. 
 This was of course soothing and pregnant with 
 many thoughts that tended to abate a little the 
 dreadful calamity he had met with. The Prince 
 Regent carried his solicitude beyond the precincts 
 of his own family, and the unhappy gentleman who 
 was employed in the affair of such untoward issue, 
 had the consolation of receiving the same day a 
 note from Sir Benjamin Bloomfield written in thesq 
 terms : 
 
 "Sir R. Bloomfield is honoured by the com- 
 mands of the Prince Regent to convey to Sir 
 Richard Croft his Royal Highness's acknowledg- 
 ments of the zealous care and indefatigable attention 
 manifested towards his beloved daughter during 
 her late eventful confinement, and to express his 
 Royal Highness's entire confidence in the medical 
 skill and ability which he displayed during the 
 arduous and protracted labour ; whereof the issue, 
 under the will of Divine Providence, has over- 
 whelmed his Royal Highness in such deep afflic- 
 tion." 
 
 "Carlton House, Nov. 8tk, 1817." 
 
 It was very laudable in those who made known 
 to the Regent the melancholy that Sir Richard 
 
520 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Croft suffered to come upon him from the moment 
 of his patient's dissolution, and which continued 
 till his own pitiable yet dreadful end with very 
 little interruption. Be left Claremont however on 
 Thursday night, and recommenced his former en- 
 gagements amongst the higher classes of society, 
 but his spirits were evidently much depressed. At 
 the time people were taken up too wholly with 
 the affliction of Claremont House to mind the 
 sighing heart that heaved in anguish elsewhere. 
 Prince Leopold justly deserved the sympathetic 
 curiosity that existed, to know in what manner he 
 was likely to carry his grief, whether he would 
 sink totally under it was even a question, and the 
 circumstances of exalted rank and immense income 
 were looked upon as inadequate to work out for 
 him any effectual solace. Inquiries were constantly 
 made after him and bulletins were signed by his 
 physician to satisfy the fond inquisitively of those 
 who came to Claremont. This was the first : 
 
 "Novctnber Sth. 
 
 " The Prince had some sleep in the night, and is 
 as well as cm be expected this morning." 
 
 And although his Serene Highness walked out 
 into the garden attended by Doctor Short, yet he 
 was hardly able to support himself all the following 
 day. In the evening Mr. Banting, who belongs to 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 521 
 
 the house of France and Banting of Pall Mall, 
 arrived at Claremont to begin the needful arrange- 
 ments for the burial. That every thing might be 
 kept from the eye of the Prince which by any 
 means could, the implements of sepulture were 
 brought in the back way, and as little confusion 
 and noise made as possible. The coffins, for there 
 were two, the inside one of mahogany, the outer 
 one of lead, these the men carried with the utmost 
 gentleness into the chamber of death, but a while 
 ago ringing with the voice of chearfulness and 
 felicity, now a cold and dreadful silence reigned in 
 it throughout, and the lifeless body of a young 
 woman of the greatest merit as of the highest rank, 
 into this room the coffins being carried and laid 
 upon tressels the men that had borne them with- 
 drew, and then began the solemn office performed by 
 poor Mrs. Griffiths, Mr. Neville, one of the surgeons 
 attached to the household, and Mr. France, the 
 undertaker ; and others were besides present, al- 
 though they did not take any part in the last act 
 of personal attention they could ever show their 
 sweet mistress, namely to close her up in her last 
 mansion against the resurrection of all mankind, 
 when we hope that she who always had her affec- 
 tions placed on things above, will rise to a glorious 
 eternity through the infinite mercies of God and 
 the grace of his blessed Son. It is unnecessary to 
 BX 
 
522 LIFE OF THE* 
 
 say that some of those present were overwhelmed 
 in the deepest affliction and misery, the tears that 
 copiously flowed down their cheeks attested the 
 reality of their sorrow, and it is to be supposed 
 that if they hearken to the voice of instruction, and 
 turn their hearts to him by whose decrees every 
 tiling shall be done, they may hereafter enjoy the 
 amiable society which now they deplore the loss of. 
 
 On Sunday morning his Serene Highness heard 
 divine worship, which was performed by Doctor 
 Short, and attended by all the household. 
 
 The Duke of York likewise called this day to 
 :see his afflicted friend, and remained with him for 
 a considerable time, The Duke of Gloucester like- 
 wise called upon the Prince. The Duke had come 
 to London that morning accompanied by the 
 Duchess from Weymouth, where they had been 
 when the disastrous news reached them, and having 
 received it, they immediately set out for town, 
 arriving at half past seven. When the Duchess 
 first saw the Prince Regent (it was to Carlton 
 House they drove,) her feelings were altogether 
 subdued, and she sank down in a state of insensi- 
 bility; so that it was judged advisable that her 
 Royal Highness should withdraw to bed and en- 
 deavour after some repose ; for this end his Royal 
 Highness urged her very much to stop, and she 
 consented, while., as we have seen, her illustrious 
 consort repaired to Claremont. 
 
PUXNCESS CHARLOTTE. 52S 
 
 The Prince Regent went to visit the Queen and 
 Princesses, travelling all the way to Windsor with 
 his carriage darkened. In the meantime vast 
 numbers of persons of distinction called at Carlton 
 House to inquire after the Regent's health and the 
 general answer was that his Royal Highness was 
 as well as could be expected. 
 
 After the Duke of Gloucester, who had staid 
 with the Prince Leopold for three hours, was gone 
 away, the Duchess of York arrived from Oatlands, 
 and remained with his Serene Highness a long 
 while, condoling with him for the loss they had in 
 common sustained. The Prince retired to bed on 
 Sunday night in a more tranquil state of mind 
 than since his calamity, and was rather more settled 
 through the sleep he took than yet he had been. 
 A bulletin was issued on Monday morning signed; 
 by Doctor Stoekmaiv 
 
 "November WtL 
 
 "His Serene Highness the Prince Leopold has 
 passed the night rather calm, and is somewhat 
 better this morning." 
 
 It was this day that the Prince Regent, after 
 condoling with his royal mother and the aunts of 
 the Princess Charlotte, went to Claremont to see 
 his bereaved son-in-law ; his Royal Highness was 
 strongly advised to put his journey off fur a few 
 days, but he thought it as well to go then, and be- 
 
524 LIFE OF THE 
 
 sides longed to pay that mark of regard to the Prince 
 which he knew would be peculiarly acceptable and 
 beneficial to him at this critical time. He remain- 
 ed for several hours in privacy; they vented their 
 mutual griefs. 
 
 One member of the Royal Family, the Duke of 
 Sussex, from the line of politics which he had long 
 pursued, was not on those terms of friendly inter- 
 course with the customary visiters at Claremont, as 
 to think it becoming to hasten thither in person, 
 knowing besides that numerous calls must be made 
 now upon his Serene Highness, he sent his name 
 and most affectionate inquiries after the illustrious 
 mourner ; and indeed the Duke himself was a very 
 distressed one, for he was always known to bear 
 the greatest esteem and love for his engaging niece. 
 It is a most difficult thing to handle a matter of 
 this kind with the needed delicacy, some how or 
 other the dry and vexatious disputes of politics 
 having effect upon such occasions is apt to excite a 
 harsh and crude idea in a reader's mind, but there 
 are those nice shades of punctilio winch they only 
 know that feel them, and without the least obdur- 
 ateness determine a man's actions in the most deli- 
 cate cases. 
 
 As to the Princess of Wales [\t were better to 
 leave her feelings to ;:he conception, than to intrude 
 upon her sorrow by describing the outward evi- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 5%5 
 
 dences she showed of it when her disaster was un- 
 folded to her; it is said that she fainted away several 
 times, well * indeed she might. From the great 
 distance that this unfortunate, or at least unhappy 
 Lady is at, and the suspicion that ought to be at- 
 tacked to those accounts of her that reach us, he 
 that suspends his judgment on his own sensations 
 will be as near the true impression which the tidings 
 made upon her, as he could be by any of the state- 
 ments come to hand. Poor woman, she has lost her 
 daughter, her only child and hope in this world ; 
 and, if tne little airiness of disposition laid to her 
 charge be correctly represented, unless she be con- 
 stitutionally weak and unreflecting, this heavy af- 
 fliction must expel that giddiness for ever from her 
 mind. 
 
 As soon as accounts of the dreadful calamity 
 reached Ireland and Scotland, public grief burst 
 out in the same degree as in the capital and else- 
 where in England, These extracts from two papers 
 of each nation paint the distress that was felt, and 
 it is becoming to present them, 
 
 Dublin Nov. 10th. 
 
 It is with the deepest sorrow that we have heard 
 of the death of her Royal Highness the Princess 
 Charlotte. We never remember to have seen a 
 heavier gloom than this sad catastrophe has thrown 
 over the public countenance in this metropolis. The 
 
526 LIFE OF THE 
 
 chief topic of discourse, or object of attention, seems 
 to be the national loss. Shortly after the arrival of 
 the dismal news of the Princess's death, the Bight 
 Hon. Robert Peel sent the following letter to the 
 Lord Mayor, to communicate the occurence : — 
 
 " Mv r cmn "Dublin Castle, Sunday Morning. 
 
 " I have the very painful task of informing 
 your Lordship, that a messenger arrived this morn- 
 ing with the melancholy intelligence of the death 
 of her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte. I 
 enclose a copy of the Gazette Extraordinary which 
 was published in London. I have the honour to 
 be, my Lord, your very faithful Servant, 
 
 R. Peel. 
 "To the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor." 
 
 It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce 
 the melancholy event of the decease of the Princess 
 Charlotte, which took place at Claremont at half 
 past two o'clock on Thursday morning, after her 
 Royal Highness had given birth to a still born 
 infant son. We must suffer our readers to collect 
 the particulars from the statements of the London 
 papers, and the official documents, all of which we 
 copy in the fullest detail. The accounts of this 
 double-headed calamity were received in town 
 yesterday, and certainly no circumstance which has 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 527 
 
 occurred within our recollection ever caused to the 
 public feeling so general and agonizing a shock. 
 The sensation which was produced was not simply 
 that of disappointment, or pity, or grief — it had in 
 it much more of consternation ! Every countenance 
 expressed astonishment and anguish — every indi- 
 vidual felt as if suddenly overwhelmed by >some 
 deplorable misfortune — every family seemed as if 
 it lost one of its dearest members. We know, in 
 short, no event which could at this time produce 
 such intense emotion, as was exhibited in every 
 quarter of this city, from the moment at which the 
 lamentable tidings were made known. The people 
 appeared to be wholly unprepared for such a visit- 
 ation. The soundness of the Princess's constitution, 
 the great regularity of her life, the excellence of 
 the arrangements which it was believed had been 
 made for her confinement, and the high professional 
 character of her medical attendants, had nearly 
 obliterated all apprehension of the heart-rending 
 catastrophe which has happened. We will not at- 
 tempt to express what we feel upon this occasion 
 ourselves. Independent of the important political 
 considerations to which so heavy a national inflic- 
 tion must give rise, it is impossible to contemplate 
 a domestic calamity of so affecting a description 
 without sensations of the profoundest regret. To 
 see a sensible, amiable, and accomplished female, 
 
528 LIFE OF THE 
 
 with such brilliant prospects, such endearing con- 
 nexions, and such excellent dispositions, snatched 
 away from this life almost as soon as she had begun 
 to enjoy it — to see the heiress of a throne, the hope 
 of an empire, the only child of a Prince, and the 
 benevolent wife of a doating husband, carried off 
 at a moment's warning, in the very morning of her 
 days, in the full possession of youth, and health, and 
 happiness, is a lesson too awful and too afflicting 
 not to touch the most obdurate heart. Distressing 
 and melancholy as is this deeply to be deplored 
 event, we could scarcely have imagined that it 
 would have made such an impression on the public 
 mind as it appears to have done ; an impression 
 which absorbs all other subjects, whether of local 
 or general interest- All places of public amuse- 
 ments in this city have been, for the present, closed 
 by order of the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor. The 
 opening of the theatre is also deferred. Freeman's 
 Journal, 
 
 Never, we are persuaded, had the journals of the 
 empire a more melancholy task to perform than 
 that which the decree of an inscrutable Providence 
 inflicts, in compelling them to announce the death 
 of the Princess Charlotte of Wales. We do not 
 lay claim to more feeling or sensibility than our 
 contemporaries, but we certainly never put together 
 an article with such a sinking of spirit as we feel 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 529 
 
 at this moment. The death, indeed, of this Prin- 
 cess is a circumstance which 5 whether considered as 
 a Divine visitation upon the charities, and hopes, 
 and prospects of domestic life, or as a more extend- 
 ed and awful dispensation upon a mighty and most 
 powerful people, in the complete and peaceful 
 possession, and in the ample exercise of all the at- 
 tributes of empire and command, is such a one as 
 must make an impression as general and as me- 
 lancholy, as it is likely to prove lasting and event- 
 ful, even far beyond the period of the existing ge- 
 neration. As a private calamity there is no event, 
 in the range of those sorrows to which human 
 nature is devoted, so deeply calculated to bow down 
 the heart with heaviness, and to impress upon the 
 mind the absolute vanity of our frail existence. A 
 young woman, in the early prime of life, and in 
 the possession, hitherto, of uninterrupted health 
 and high spirits, snatched from her family and 
 friends at that most interesting crisis, when it might 
 reasonably be hoped she was about to augment her 
 own happiness, and to bestow a pledge that would 
 guarantee, as it were, the permanence of the bless- 
 ing upon herself and upon them, is surely, without 
 contemplating any external adjunct, an affliction 
 that transcends the ordinary miseries which flesh is 
 heir to. — Dublin Evening Post. 
 3 Y 
 
530 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Edinburgh, Nov. lltk. 
 
 The most melancholy tidings announced in these 
 few words have come upon us so suddenly and so 
 unlooked for, that, while we feel with our fellow 
 citizens the extent of the public loss, we are as yet 
 unable to estimate the probable consequences or 
 remote results of this great national calamity. Our 
 readers are well aware, that the Princess was un- 
 derstood to be on the eve of giving birth to another 
 heir to the British throne ; and the medical bulletin 
 in our last publication announced, that in conse- 
 quence of the Princess being taken unwell on 
 Tuesday last, messengers were sent to summon 
 the attendance of the Privy Counsellors ; that the 
 medical gentlemen appointed to attend her Royal 
 Highness were in close attendance ; and that there 
 was every appearance of a safe and fortunate ac- 
 couchment. The subsequent details, and the me- 
 lancholy result, we need not rehearse : they will be 
 found amply and feelingly narrated in our other 
 columns. The Princess and her offspring — the 
 grand-daughter and great-grandson of our venerable 
 and beloved Sovereign, the presumptive heirs in 
 direct succession of his house and throne are no 
 more. Our aged Monarch cannot feel or know 
 the loss : but there is a father and a husband, and 
 there is a loyal people, who do feel it deeply and 
 disconsolately. The shock which this afflicting 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 531 
 
 event has given to the feelings of the nation was 
 very strongly evinced when the news reached thi 
 city on Sunday morning. Many persons who had 
 crowded to the post-office, burst into tears when the 
 death of the Princess was announced ; and an air 
 of more sad and impressive seriousness appeared in 
 the countenance of the crowds who thronged our 
 streets and places of public worship, to attend, as 
 usual at this season, the great solemnity of the 
 Christian church. This expression of the public 
 sympathy (unlike the usual mourning for Princes) 
 is, on the present occasion, not less genuine than it 
 is general. The amiable virtues of this young 
 Princess, the bright promise of her early life, her 
 connubial happiness, the edifying picture of do- 
 mestic economy, and of exemplary benevolence 
 which she held out, her well-known constitutional 
 principles, as well as the high political considerations 
 dependent on her life, all combine to render the 
 event of her death a calamity that must involve 
 the empire in universal gloom.— Edinburgh Star. 
 
 Glasgow, Nov, 11th. 
 
 "This lamentable catastrophe has already excited 
 in every part of the country so severe emotions of 
 sorrow as to divest our details of the prbper interest 
 of news ; but as our regular method is to relate 
 in this place the leading facts of every memorable 
 event, we cannot surely, in the present most mo- 
 
532 LIFE OF THE 
 
 mentous instance, wave our customary historical 
 sketch. The character of the Princess stands very 
 high in every relation. Her piety, benevolence, 
 kindness to the poor, and affection for her friends^ 
 obtained her universal love and respect. She was 
 eminently fortunate in her marriage, and was ac- 
 customed to call herself the happiest of women. 
 Though her pleasures and amusements were hither- 
 to all domestic, she gave sufficient promise, by her 
 attachment to just principles of politics, that when 
 higher aims came within her reach, she would have 
 been delighted to forward the happiness of her 
 people. In political respects her loss is peculiarly 
 lamentable. There is not a child to any British 
 branch of the Brunswick family ; and it is impos- 
 sible to avoid apprehension for the succession. A 
 marriage was some time ago rumoured between the 
 Duke of Kent and one of the Princesses of Saxe- 
 Cobourg, the sister of Prince Leopold ; and it is 
 much to be wished that so promising an union 
 should be consummated. — Glasgow Chronicle. 
 
 On Tuesday the 18th the corpse was to be re- 
 moved to Windsor, previous to the interment of it 
 the day after in St. George's Chapel ; and prepar- 
 ations were made accordingly. The great coffin 
 had a large plate upon it inscribed with this me- 
 morandum of its regretted contents. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 5S3 
 
 " Depositutn 
 
 Illustrissimffi Principissae Charlottae August®, 
 
 Illustrissimi Principis Georgii August? Frederici 
 
 Principis Walliee, Britanniarum Regentis, 
 
 Filise Unicse, 
 Consortisque Serenissimi Principis Leopold! 
 
 Georgii 
 
 Frederici Ducis Saxonse, Marchionis Misnite, 
 
 Landgravii Thurin^iae, Principis Coburgi, 
 
 Saalfendensis, Exercituum Regis Marescalli, 
 
 Majestati 
 
 Regis a sanctioribus Consiliis Nobilisslmi 
 
 Ordinis Periscelidis et Honoratissimi Ordinis 
 
 Militaris de Balneo Equitis : 
 
 Obiit Sexta Die Novembris, Anno Domini 
 
 MDCCCXVII. JEtatis Sute XXII." 
 
 (The English.) 
 
 " The Remains 
 
 Of the most Illustrious Princess Charlotte Augusta, 
 
 The only Daughter of Frederick 
 
 Prince of Wales, 
 
 Regent of Great Britain, 
 
 Consort of his Serene Highness Prince Leopold 
 
 George Frederick Duke of Saxony, ' 
 
 Marquis of Misnia, Landgrave of Thuringia, 
 
 Prince of Cobourg and Saalfeld, 
 
 Marshal in his Majesty's army, Privy Counsellor, 
 
 Knight of the Noble Order of the Garter and the Bath, &c. 
 
 She died on the 6th of November, in the year of our Lord 1S17, 
 
 And in the 22d year of her age. 
 
 There were besides corner plates bearing the 
 initials of the Princess's name, and the coffin was 
 decorated with suitable emblems, as also was the 
 
534 LIFE OF THE 
 
 urn containing the heart. The small coffin for the 
 infant had a plate with these words upon it : 
 
 The Still-born Male Infant 
 
 of their 
 
 Royal and Serene Highnesses 
 
 The Princess Charlotte Augusta, 
 
 and 
 
 Prince Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg ; 
 
 November 6, 1817. 
 
 From the London Gazette, Nov. 22d. 
 
 On Tuesday evening the 18th inst, at half-past 
 5 o'clock, the remains of her late Royal Highness 
 the Princess Charlotte Augusta and of the Royal 
 infant were privately conveyed from Claremont to 
 Windsor, escorted by a detachment of the 10th, or 
 Prince Regent's own, Royal Hussars, which was 
 relieved at Egham by a party of the Royal Horse 
 Guards (Blue), in the following order : — 
 
 A mourning coach, drawn by 6 horses, in which were the remains of the 
 Royal Infant and the Urn, attended by Colonel Addenbrooke, Equerry 
 to her late Royal Highness, and Sir Robert Gardiner, K. C. B., Aide- 
 de-Camp and Equerry to the Prince Leopold. 
 
 The HEARSE, drawn by eight horses. 
 
 A mourning coach, drawn by 6 horses, conveying his Serene Highness 
 the Prince Leopold, attended by Baron de Haidenbrock, Aide-de- 
 Camp and Equerry, and Dr. Stockman, Physician to his Serene High- 
 ness. , 
 
 A moarning coach, drawn by 4 horses, conveying Lady John Thynne, 
 one of the Ladies of the Bedchamber to Her late Royal Highness ; 
 Mrs. Campbell, one of the Women of the Bedchamber to Her late 
 Royal Highness ; and Lady Gardiner. 
 
I- 1 ' ( 
 
 
 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE 535 
 
 A mourning coach, drawn by 4 horses, conveying Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. 
 
 Cronberg, Attendants on Her late Royal Highness, and Mrs. Phillips, 
 
 Housekeeper. 
 A mourning coach, drawn by 4 horses, conveying Dr. Short, Chaplain 
 
 to His Serene Highness, His Majesty's Gentleman Usher, and two 
 
 Officers of the Lord Chamberlain's Department 
 
 Upon the arrival of the procession at Windsor, the first coach, convey- 
 ing the remains of the Royal Infant and the urn, proceeded direct to St. 
 George's chapel, were the same as were received by the Dean of Windsor 
 and T. B; Mash, Esq. of the Lord Chamberlain's department, and de- 
 posited in the royal vault : the coffin of the Royal Infant being borne 
 from the coach to the vault by four, and the urn by two, Yeomen of 
 the Guard. The hearse proceeded into the front Court of the Lower 
 Lodge, and the body was placed under a canopy in the apartment pre- 
 pared for its reception. 
 
 His Serene Highness was received and conducted to his apartments by 
 Sir George Nayler, Knight, and Hale Young Wortham, Esq. the King's 
 Gentleman Usher in Waiting, attended by the officers of the Lord 
 Chamberlain. 
 
 On Wednesday evening the 19th inst. soon after 
 8 o'clock, the remains of her late Royal Highness 
 were removed from the lower Lodge to St. George's 
 chapel, in the following order : — 
 
 Servants and Grooms of her late Royal Highness and of his Serene 
 
 Highness, on foot, in deep mourning. 
 
 g Servants and Grooms of the Royal Family, the Prince Regent, £ 
 
 2. and their Majesties, on foot, in full state liveries, with 3. 
 
 « crape hat-bands, and black gloves, four and four, jj 
 
 s <» 
 
 g» bearing flambeaux. ■* 
 
 a The full band of the Royal Horse Guards Blue. 
 
 | THE HEARSE. 3 
 
 » * 
 
 o (Drawn by eight of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent's £ 
 
 §• black horses, fully caparisoned, =■ 
 
 IF each horse attended by a groom in full state livery.) 
 
536 LIFE OF THE 
 
 His Msjesty'g body carriage « 
 
 J (Drawn by a fuD set of his Majesty's horses, each horse attended £ 
 
 ^ by a groom in full state livery,; g 
 
 ? conveying » 
 J His Serene Highness the Prince Leopold, 
 
 I Chief Mourner, § 
 
 | and | 
 
 • Their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of York and Clarence. - 
 
 ? Supporters to the Chief Mourner. jf 
 The carriages of the Prince Regent, the Royal Family, and the Prince 
 Leopold, each drawn by six horses, closed the procession. 
 
 The whole procession from the lower Lodge to 
 St. George's Chapel was flanked by the military, 
 every fourth man bearing a flambeau. 
 
 Upon arrival at St. George's chapel, the servants, 
 grooms, and band, filed off without the south door. 
 
 At the entrance the Dean and Canons, attended 
 by the choir, received the body and the procession, 
 (which had been formed under the direction of Sir 
 George Nayler, Knt. York Herald, executing this 
 part of the duty on behalf of Garter), being flanked 
 by the Foot Guards, every fourth man bearing a 
 flambeau, moved down the south aile, and up the 
 nave, in the following order : 
 
 Poor Knights of Windsor. 
 
 Pages of their Royal Highnesses the Princesses Augusta, Elizabeth, 
 
 and Sophia, 
 
 Mr. Harding, Mr. Moore, Mr. Gollop. 
 
 Pages of the Prince Leopold, 
 
 Mr. Ammershuber, Mr. Phillips, 
 
 Mr. Lyons, Mr. Fairbairn, Mr. Hewett, 
 
 Mr. Heock, Mr. Bagster, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 537 
 
 Mr. James Sims, Mr. Thomas Poole. 
 
 Mr. Henry Forschiitz, Mr. Paul Mechin. 
 
 Pages of His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester , 
 
 Mr. Hart, Mr. J. Moss, 
 
 Mr. J. Venables. 
 
 Pages of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, 
 
 Mr. Urlin, Mr. Sams. 
 
 Pages of His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, 
 
 Mr. Reblourne, Mr. Blackman. 
 
 Pages of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, 
 
 Mr. Salisbury, Mr. Gasper Perelion, 
 
 Mr. J. Ball, Mr. Patilet.' 
 
 Pages of his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, 
 
 Mr. Redwood, Mr. Jemmett, 
 
 Mr. Hutt, Mr. Robinson. 
 
 Pages of His Royal Highness the Duke of York. 
 
 Mr. Lumley, Mr. Silvester, Mr. Gibbon, 
 
 Mr. Worley, Mr. Kendal, Mr. Ffantz, 
 
 Mr. Goodes, Mr. Shell, Mr. Patte. 
 
 Pages of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, viz. 
 
 Pages of the Back Stairs, 
 
 Samuel Wharton, 
 
 Charles Becht, Benjamin Lucas. 
 
 Pages of the Presence, 
 
 Joseph Ince, Thomas Messenger, 
 
 ' John, Dobell, George Wedgberrow. 
 
 Pages of the Bed-Chamber. 
 -.Jenkins Stradling, Joseph Norden, 
 
 Robert Jenkins, Samuel Bowtell, 
 
 John Wood, Charles Dowries, Esqrs. 
 
 Pages of Her Majesty. 
 Christopher Papendick, H. F. Grobecker, 
 
 William Duncan, Daniel Robinson, Esqrc* 
 
 Pages of His Majesty, 
 Joseph Bott, John Clarke, 
 
 Anthony Healey, William Baker, 
 
 3 z 
 
538 LIFE OF THE 
 
 John Bott, Heniy Cooper, W. Snart, Esqrs. 
 
 Solicitor to her late Royal Highness, 
 
 John Smallpeice, Gent. 
 
 Apothecai ies of her late Royal Highness, 
 
 Mr. Richard Walker, Mr. E. Brande. 
 
 Surgeons of her late Royal Highness, 
 
 Mr. Neville, Mr. Robert Keate. 
 
 Rector of the Parish of Esher, 
 
 Reverend J. Dagle. 
 
 Sergeant Surgeons to the King, 
 
 Sir David Dundas, Bart. Sir Everard Home, Bart. 
 
 Physician to the Prince Leopold, 
 
 Christian Stockmar,M. D. 
 
 Physicians who attended her late Royal Highness, 
 
 John Sims, M. D. Matthew Baillie, M. D. 
 
 Sir Richard Croft, Bart. M. D. 
 
 Chaplains to her Royal Highness and to His S. H. the Prince Leopold. 
 
 The Rev. Alex. Starkey, The Rev. "William Kuper, 
 
 The Rev. J. Hammond, The Rev. Dr. Short. 
 
 Equerry to her late Royal Highness, 
 
 Lieut. Col. the Hon. Henry Percy. 
 
 Equerries to His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, 
 
 Edmund Currey, Esq. Lieut. Col. Samuel G. Higgins. 
 
 Equerries to his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, 
 
 Captain White, Lieut. Col. Count Linsingen. 
 
 Equerry to his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, 
 
 H. F. Stephenson, Esq. 
 
 Equerries to his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, 
 
 Captain Jones, 
 
 Major Frederick Poten, Colonel Charles Wade Thornton. 
 
 Equerries to his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Carr, K. C. B. 
 
 Major Gen. James Moore, Lieut. Gen. Fred. Augustus WeatheraH. 
 
 Equerries to bis Royal Highness the Duke of York, 
 
 Lieut.-Col. the Jlcn. James Stanhope, Lieut.-Col. Delancy Barclay. 
 
 Equerries to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, 
 
 Colonel Seymour, Major General Sir R. Hussey Vivian, K.C.B. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 539 
 
 Sir William Congreve, Bart. 
 
 Clerk Marshal, and First Equerry, 
 
 Lieutenant General Francis Thomas Hammond, 
 
 Military Secretary to the Commander-in-Chiei 
 
 Major-General Sir Henry Torrens, K. C. B. 
 
 Quarter Master-General, Adjutant-General, 
 
 Sir J. Willoughby Gordon, K. C. B. Sir Harry Calvert, G. C. B. 
 
 Officers of the Duchy of Cornwall, viz. 
 
 Solicitor-General, Attorney-General, 
 
 William Harrison, Esq. William Draper Best, Esq. 
 
 Lord Warden of the Stannaries, 
 
 The Earl of Yarmouth. 
 
 Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal, 
 
 John Leach, Esq. 
 
 Chamberlain to the Great Steward of Scotland, 
 
 Admiral Lord Viscount Keith, G. C. B. 
 
 Grooms of the Bed-Chamber to the Prince Regent, 
 
 Admiral Sir George Campbell, Lieut.-Gen. the Hon. Sir Edward 
 
 K.C.B. Paget, G. C. B. 
 
 Lieut.-Gen. Sir T. Hilgrove General Sir William Keppel, 
 
 Turner, Knt. G. C. B. 
 
 General Sir John F. Cradock, Lieut.-General Hon. Edward 
 
 G. C. B. Finch. 
 
 Pursuivants of Arms. 
 Portcullis. 
 G. F. Beltz, Esq. 
 Rouge Dragon, Bluemantle, 
 
 C. G. Young, Esq. F. Martin, Gent. 
 
 Treasurer of the Prince Regent's Household, 
 Lord Charles Bentinck. 
 Heralds of Arms. 
 Somerset, Richmond, 
 
 J. Cathrow, Esq. J. Hawker, Esq 
 
 Lancaster, Chester, 
 
 E. Lodge, Esq. G. M. Leake, Esq. 
 
 Privy Purse and Private Secretary to the Prince Regent, 
 The Right Hon. Sir Benjamin Blooaitield. 
 
540 
 
 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Lords of the Prince Regent's Bedchamber, 
 The Right Hon. Lord Amherst, The Right Hon. Lord Graves, 
 The Earl Delaware, Lord Viscount Lake, 
 
 Lord James Murray, Lord Viscount Melbourne, 
 
 The Marquis of Headfort, Lord Charles Spencer. 
 
 E. Townsend, Esq. Windsor Herald^ 
 acting for 
 Norroy, King of Arms. 
 The Rt. Hon. Lord Ellenborough, The Rt. Hon. Lord Grenville, 
 The Lord Bishop of Exeter, The Ld. Bp. of Salisbury, C. G. 
 
 The Lord Bishop of London. 
 The Minister of State of Hanover, and the Minister of Saxony, 
 Count Munster, Baron de Just. 
 The Deputy Earl Marshal. 
 Lord Henry T. Howard Molyneux Ploward. 
 The Earl of Chichester. 
 The Marquis Cornwallis. The Marquis of Salisbury, K. G. 
 His Majesty's Ministers, viz. 
 The Right Hon. Charles Bathurst, The Rt. Hon. W. Wellesley Pole, 
 
 The Hight Hon. N. Vansittart, 
 Lord Viscount Melville, 
 The Earl of Mulgrave, 
 The Earl Bathurst, K. G. 
 The Earl of Harrowby, 
 
 Lord President of the Council. 
 
 The Right Hon. George Canning, 
 Lord Viscount Sidmouth, 
 Lord Viscount Castlereagh, K. G. 
 The Earl of Liverpool, K. G. 
 The Earl of Westmoreland, K. G. 
 Lord Privy Seal. 
 
 The Right Honourable Lord Eldon, 
 Lord High Chancellor. 
 His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 Choir of Windsor. 
 Canons of Windsor. 
 Dean of Windsor. 
 Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, 
 The Earl of Macclesfield. 
 The Groom of the f The Lord Steward of His 
 
 Stole, J Majesty's Household, 
 
 The Marquis of J The Marquis of Cholmon- 
 Winchester. (^ deley. 
 
 The King's Master 
 
 of the Horse, 
 The Duke of Mon- 
 trose, K. B. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 
 
 541 
 
 Supporter, 
 H.Y.Wortham, 
 Esq. one of his 
 Majesty's Gen- 
 tlemen Ushers. 
 
 Ralph Bigland, Esq. Norroy, 
 
 acting for 
 
 Clarenceux King of Arms. 
 
 'The Coronet of her late Royal 
 
 Highness, borne upon a black 
 
 velvet cushion, by Col. Adden- 
 
 brooke, Equerry to Her late 
 
 Royal Highness. 
 
 Uijlie 
 J Piiv; 
 
 Supporter, 
 
 R. Chester, Esq. 
 
 Gentleman 
 
 of the 
 ivy Chamber. 
 
 Supporter, ( Garter Principal King of ArmsA Supporter, 
 W. Woods, Esq. J Sir Isaac Heard, Knt. V J. Pulman, Esq. 
 
 (^ bearing his sceptre. J 
 
 Secretary to the Lordr The Lord Chamberlain of \ The Vice Chamber- 
 Chamberlain, /his Majesty's Households 
 J. Calvert, Esq. (The M. of Hertford, K. G.) 
 
 Supporter of the 
 pall, the Right 
 
 Honourable Lady 
 Ellenborough. 
 
 Supporter of the 
 pall, the Right 
 
 Honourable Lady 
 Grenville. 
 H. R. Highness 
 
 The D. of Clarence, 
 in a long black 
 cloak, hi a train 
 borne by Rear Ad- 
 miral the Hon. Sir 
 Henry Blackwood, 
 
 THE BODY, 
 
 Covered with a black velvet 
 pall, adorned with eight 
 escocheons of her late 
 Royal Highness's arms, the 
 Coffin carried by eight 
 Yeomen of the Guards, 
 under a canopy of black 
 velvet, borne by eight Gen- 
 tlemen Ushers. 
 
 Iain, 
 Viscount Jocelyn. 
 
 Supporter of the 
 
 pall, the Right 
 Honourable Lady 
 Arden. 
 
 the 
 CHIEF MOURNER, 
 H. Serene Highness, 
 The Prince Leopold, 
 in a long black cloak, 
 his train borne by 
 Baron de Harden- 
 
 Supporter of the 
 pall, the Right 
 
 Honourable Lady 
 Boston. 
 H. Royal Highness 
 The Duke of York, 
 in a long black cloak, 
 his train borne by 
 Lieutenant Colonel 
 Armstrong, and Lieut. 
 Colonel Cooke, Xiaes- 
 
 Bart. and the Hon. brock, and Lieutenant de-Camp to his Royal 
 
 Courtenay Boyle. 
 
 Colonel Sir Robert Highness. 
 Gardiner, K. C. B. 
 Aides-de-Camp, and 
 Equerries to His 
 Serene Highness. 
 
542 LIFE OF THE 
 
 H. R. H. The Duke of Sussex, H.R. H. The D. or Cumberland, 
 in a long black cloak, his train in a long black cloak, his train 
 borne by Major-General Sir borne by General Vyse, Comp- 
 Gsorge To wnsend Walker, G.C. troller of the Household, and 
 B. Groom of the Bedchamber, Lieutenant General Henry 
 and Major Perkins Magra, Wynyard, Groom of the Bed- 
 Equerry to his Royal Highness. chamber of his Royal Hig^nessw 
 
 His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, in a long v »!ack 
 cloak, his train borne by Colonel Daltou, and Lieut.-Col. Cotton, 
 Grooms of the Bedchamber of his Royal Highness. 
 
 Lady Gardiner. Lady John Thynne, one of the Ladies of the Bed- 
 chamber of her late Roya] Highness. 
 
 Women of the Bedchamber of her late Royal Highness. 
 Miss Charlotte Cotes, Mrs. Campbell. 
 
 His Majesty's Establishment at Windsor, viz. 
 
 Groom of the Stole, 
 
 The Earl of Winchilsea, K. G. 
 
 Master of the Robes, Vice-Chamberlain. 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Vernon. Lord John Thynne. 
 
 Lords of the Bedchamber, 
 
 The Rt. Hon. Lord Rivers, The Rt. Hon. Lord Somerville, 
 
 The Rt. Hon.. Lord Amen, The Rt. Hon. Lord St. Helen's. 
 
 Grooms ol tne Bedch, mber, 
 
 Vice-Admiral the Hon. Sir A. K. The Hon. Robert Folk Greville, 
 
 Legge, K. C. B. Vice-Admiral Sir Harry Neale, Bart. 
 
 Lieut-Gen. Sir Henry F. Camp- K. C. B. 
 
 bell, K.C.B. 
 
 Clerk Marshal, and First Equerry, 
 
 General Robert Manners. 
 
 Equerries, 
 
 General George Garth, General Francis Edward Gwynne, 
 
 Lieut.-Gen. Sir B. Spencer, G. C. B. Lieut.-Gen. W. Cartwright 
 
 Lieut.- G-n. William Wynward. 
 
 Master of the Household, 
 
 Berjamin Charles Stephenson, Esq. 
 
 Her Majesty's Establishment at Windsor, vfcr 
 
 Master of the Horse, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 543 
 
 Earl Harcourt. 
 
 Treasurer of the Household, Vice-Chamberlain, 
 
 Major-General Herbert Taylor, Edward Disbrowe, Esq. 
 
 Equerries, 
 
 Major-Gen. Hon. Sir Ed. Stopford, K. C. B. Col. Hon. A. P. Upton. 
 
 Ladies of her Majesty's Bedchamber. 
 
 The Countess of Ilchester, The Countess of Macclesfield, 
 
 Viscountess Melville, 
 
 Women of her Majesty's Bedchamber, 
 
 The Hon. Mrs. A. M. Egerton. The Right Hon. Lady Radstock, 
 
 The Hon. Mrs. Courtenay Boyle. 
 
 Gentlemen Ushers. 
 
 George N. Vincent, Esq. Charles Rooke, Esq. Thomas Gore, Esq. 
 
 Ladies of the Bedchamber of their Royal Highnesses the Princesses. 
 
 Lady Mary Powlett, Lady Mary Taylor, Lady Elizabeth Montagu, 
 
 Women of the Bedchamber of their Royal Highnesses the Princesses, 
 
 Miss Disbrowe, Lady Campbell, Miss Vyse. 
 
 Attendants on her late Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, 
 
 Mrs. Cronberg, Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Phillips. 
 
 Attendants on her Majesty and the Princesses. 
 
 Upon entering the choir, the Body was placed on a platform, and the 
 
 Coronet and Cushion laid upon the Coflin. The Chief Mourner sat on 
 
 a chair placed for his Serene Highness at the head of the Corpse, and 
 
 their Royal Highnesses, his Supporters, on chairs on either side : the/ 
 
 Supporters of the Pall sat in their places near the Body, and the Lord 
 
 Chamberlain of his Majesty's Household on a chair at the feet of the 
 
 Corpse. The Royal Dukes, and the Nobility, Knights of the Garter, 
 
 occupied their respective Stalls; and the Ministers of State, Officers of 
 
 the Household, and others of the procession, were conducted to their 
 
 respective places. 
 
 The part of the Service before the Interment, and the Anthem, being 
 performed, the Body was deposited in the Royal Vault. The Office of 
 Burial being concluded, after a short pause, Sir Isaac Heard, Knight. 
 Garter Principal King of Arms, proclaimed the style of her late Royal 
 Highness as follows : 
 
 THUS it hath pleased Almighty God to take out of this transitory life 
 unto his Divine Mercy, the late most illustrious Princess CHARLOTTE 
 
544 LIFE OF THE 
 
 AUGUSTA, daughter of his Royal Highness George Prince of Wales. 
 Kegent of this United Kingdom ; consort of his Serene Highness Leo- 
 pold George Frederick, Duke of Saxe, Margrave of Misriia, Landgrave 
 of Thuringia, Prince of Cobourg of Saalfeld ; and grand-daughter of 
 his Most Excellent Majesty George the Third, by the Grace of God, 
 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender 
 of the Faith, whom God bless and preserve with long life, health, and 
 honour, and all worldly happiness. 
 
 Ail Wednesday was a day of most solemn and 
 devout observance, not only in this vast metropolis, 
 throughout all sects and denominations of Chris- 
 tians and even Jews, but throughout the whole 
 realm. The Churches were generally opened as 
 on Sunday, and were crowded in a remarkable de- 
 gree ; appropriate discourses were delivered ; and 
 in the few instances where these were omitted, the 
 cause was, that the sermon had been already 
 preached on the preceding Sunday. In one or two 
 instances, where only the ordinary service for 
 Wednesday was performed, the churches were still 
 filled in the expectation of a discourse. The 
 Lessons and Psalms were in general suited to the 
 melancholy occasion ; and affecting lectures were 
 delivered on the instability of human greatness, the 
 uncertainty of human life, and the duties to be dis- 
 charged, or the conduct to be observed, under the 
 severest of human calamities. Wherever the 
 preacher alluded personally in his discourse to the 
 deceased object whose funeral was the occasion of 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 545 
 
 their assembling together, the minds of the hearers, 
 as well as his own, were but too promptly indicated 
 by their tears. The parochial churches and the 
 different chapels under the establishment exhibited 
 the signs of public grief, by covering pulpits, desks, 
 and galleries, with the sable emblems of mourning. 
 Beside the shops being shut up with a strictness 
 equal to the observation of the sabbath, the coffee- 
 house keepers and victuallers united in the public 
 expression of feeling. The far greater part of the 
 ordinary business of the town was suspended. 
 Private houses had their window shutters closed in 
 the same way as if the master, or a near family re- 
 lation, had been lost. The day proving very fine 
 for the season of the year, vast numbers were walk- 
 ing out after the expiration of morning service ; a 
 circumstance which, instead of lessening, added to 
 the appearance of national gloom. All that custom 
 ordains as the signs of external sorrow, was to be 
 seen every where, in the public streets, in the parks, 
 and not only there, but in the more retired and 
 obscure parts of the metropolis. Unconfined to 
 those whom a change of dress is either no consider- 
 ation, or a trifling one, the same sentiment operated 
 with equal effect upon thousands whose condition 
 approaches closely to difficulty and poverty. — 
 Among those inferior classes, there were few who 
 had by them a scrap of black, or who could find 
 4 a 
 
54*6 LIFE OF THE^ 
 
 the means of procuring it, who did not eagerly put 
 on the visible demonstrations of unaffected sorrow. 
 The bells of the churches tolled at intervals during 
 the whole day. The charity children in several 
 parishes bore the signs of mourning; such as the 
 substitution of black collars or cuffs, for those of 
 other and gayer colours ; some had sable bindings 
 sewed round their caps and their badges. Many 
 of the female children wore black ribbands. — The 
 Courts of Law, the public-offices, the Royal Ex- 
 change, &c. were closed. Orders were sent to all 
 the dock-yards to prohibit the usual transaction of 
 business. British vessels, and those of all other 
 nations hoisted their colours only half mast high. 
 In the different sea-ports, minute guns were direct- 
 ed to be fired at night. 
 
 In the Cathedral of St. Paul no sermon was de- 
 livered. It is with great regret we have to ob- 
 serve, that here, in the metropolitan church, from 
 some unfortunate circumstances, Divine worship 
 was not performed in the morning. The body of 
 the Cathedral was filled early in the forenoon by 
 an unprecedented number of persons of both sexes, 
 the greater part of them of a very respectable ap- 
 pearance. The crowd became extreme ; but the 
 folding doors at the grand entrance under the organ 
 into the choir, and the iron gates opening into the 
 side aisle* of the choir, were not opened. The 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 547 
 
 crowd, who probabty expected something particular 
 at St. Paul's, were much disappointed at finding 
 their admission into the choir thus obstructed. As 
 there was a delay in the usual time of commencing 
 Divine service, great impatience arose, and of course 
 some confusion occurred. Some of the people, 
 thus for a while excluded, endeavoured to force the 
 central doors, and broke some panes of glass, and 
 by shaking the iron gates of the aisles opened them, 
 and then rushed through the different avenues into 
 the choir, which they speedily filled, taking pos- 
 session of all the seats — not only those intended 
 for private individuals, and those in the recesses 
 under the galleries, but also those belonging to the 
 Canons and the choristers, as well as the stalls. 
 The floor was soon quite crammed. It would 
 certainly have been more advisable for the officers 
 of the Cathedral to have opened the doors earlier, 
 so as to allow a gradual filling, and thereby to have 
 prevented, or lessened, the pressure consequent on 
 a sudden rush. However, this unusual occurrence 
 occasioned some agitation among the clergy and 
 the choir, and the service was yet delayed for a con- 
 siderable time. At half past twelve it did not ap- 
 pear more likely to begin. The report then being 
 generally spread, that it was not likely to take 
 place, a general disappointment became evident. 
 From the fear of the consequences of any disturb- 
 
S48 LIFE OF THE 
 
 ance, the city officers were sent for, and were di- 
 rected to clear away the crowd in the body of the 
 Cathedral, and make room in the choir if possible. 
 The officers conducted themselves with much mo- 
 deration, but their endeavours were ineffectual, and, 
 of course, it was not deemed prudent to attempt 
 any coercive measure. The people now began to 
 show many signs of dissatisfaction. The intention 
 to suspend the service being known, it was con- 
 sidered prudent to send to the Lord Mayor, who 
 was attending at the Mansion-house parish church. 
 His Lordship immediately came in his private 
 carriage to St. Paul's. He was followed by Sir 
 William Curtis and John Green, Esq, of Walbrook, 
 His Lordship expressed his wish to pay attention 
 to the comforts of the congregation. He passed 
 into the choir, and went up to the west gallery. 
 About this time, a gentleman (Mr. Atwood, we 
 understood) announced from the organ gallery the 
 suspension of the service, owing to the inconveni- 
 ent circumstances which had unexpectedly occurred, 
 particularly the filling of the stalls. He observed, 
 that under these circumstances, the service could 
 not be heard with satisfaction. Then the Lord 
 Mayor (probably not having heard the preceding 
 gentleman) spoke from the organ gallery, express- 
 ing his gratification at seeing a numerous congre- 
 gation, and his hope that the service would begin 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 549 
 
 as soon as possible. -After a considerable suspense, 
 the Lord Mayor rose and observed, that the clergy 
 and the choir had left the church, which must sus- 
 pend the service ; and therefore he hoped the con- 
 gregation would retire peaceably. Here the mul- 
 titude renewed their disapprobation. A gentleman 
 from one of the stalls said, that if the central doors 
 were opened, the stalls would be left clear. When 
 the doors were opened, the stalls were mostly quit- 
 ted. An attempt now made by the officers to clear 
 the body of the church was to little purpose, most 
 persons refusing to withdraw. Some cried out for 
 the Clergymen to apologise, some for the Lord 
 Mayor,, and some in the galleries said they had paid 
 for their seats. A gentleman then complained of 
 the disappointment of such a number of persons in 
 not hearing Divine service after waiting so long, 
 which was very improper. He did not see the 
 Lord Mayor's right to interfere. He urged strongly 
 the propriety of the service being yet commenced, 
 as due to the congregation and the memory of the 
 Princess. Sir William Curtis said, he had just 
 left another place of worship with the Lord Mayor. 
 He earnestly exhorted them all to act like Christian 
 people who feared God, and leave the church quiet- 
 ly and peaceably. Another gentleman said, he 
 thought it was wrong in the clergyman to leave 
 the church in the manner he had. Sir William 
 
550 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Curtis assured him that the Lord Mayor had done 
 every thing in his power to promote the general 
 wishes. Some gentlemen called for the Lord 
 Mayor to send for his own chaplain, but he was 
 not forthcoming. The congregation was then in* 
 formed that service should certainly begin at three 
 in the afternoon. Many remained in the church 
 till that hour, and when the doors were opened, 
 great numbers entered. The service was then ce- 
 lebrated. A funeral anthem of Handel's, and a 
 dirge by At wood, were performed by Messrs. Clarke, 
 Hawes, and the choristers. The pulpit was cover- 
 ed with black velvet, on which was the escutcheon 
 of the Princess Charlotte. There was no interrup- 
 tion to the afternoon service. 
 
 The tolling of the great bell of St: Paul's, from* 
 eight till nine, accompanied by the bells of the 
 other churches, excited much feeling in the even- 
 ing, when crowds in mourning assembled on Black- 
 friar's bridge ; and the solemn effect was increased 
 by the stillness of the river, and by the moonlight. 
 
 A Funeral Dirge written on the occasion by 
 J. Dovaston Esq. 
 
 Toll, Britain, toll 
 Thy knell the deepest, 
 
 Peace to thy soul, 
 Fair Saint, that sleepest. 
 Veil thy valour-blazon'd throne, 
 Where olive rich with laurel shone, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.. 551 
 
 Its glory's now with willows strown, 
 
 United nations spread them, 
 Cambria's triple plume of snow, 
 That danc'd in Joys elastic flow, 
 With heavy tear-drops glimmers low, 
 
 United nations shed them. 
 
 O'er Albion's bier 
 Mourn, while you show'r it, 
 
 Her rose is there, 
 Both flow'rand flow'ret. 
 Thistle, bend thy blossoms red ; 
 Thy pearly dew drops, Shamrock shed ; 
 And, neighbour L'ly, bow thy head, 
 With long, long farewel greet her ; 
 Drooping wail her obsequies, 
 Then up, and hail her to the skies, 
 And hope another bud may rise, 
 But nevei hope a sweeter. 
 
 Oh ! England's rose, 
 
 Oh ! Hope's presuming ; 
 Both thee and those 
 
 Now we're entombing. 
 Mind of Freedom, Heart of Worth, 
 To glow at Altar, Helm, or Hearth, 
 With all that promised Peace on earth, 
 
 To thee was largely given. 
 When on high, in happier day, 
 We left the laudatory lay, 
 Or blessings on thy people pray, 
 
 We'll think on thee in Heaven. 
 
 The cemetery in which the earthly remains of 
 Princess Charlotte were deposited, was built in 
 1810, by order of the King, for the reception of him- 
 
552 LIFE OF THE 
 
 self and other members of his house. This indeed 
 had been designed once for a burial place by Henry 
 VII, in which his body and the corpses of his 
 family were to be laid, and the structure was actual- 
 ly commenced : but he changed his mind, and had 
 a more magnificent mausoleum erected for himself 
 in Westminster. Cardinal Wolsey obtained a 
 grant of the old one from Henry VIII. and proceed- 
 ed to raise an enshrining edifice to hold his own 
 person when his spirit had left it, with a grandeur 
 of design, and excess of cost unknown to even the 
 churchmen of preceding times, and from this cir- 
 cumstance' it used to be called " Wolsey's Tomb 
 House ;" although it was never inhabited by that 
 Cardinal. 
 
 The death of our departed Princess grew every 
 hour upon the hearts of the community. Time, 
 which effaces common griefs, often adds strength to 
 powerful emotions, and renders them more fixed 
 and painful. The object however, which we la- 
 ment most tenderly, is not always that, the loss of 
 which inflicts upon us the most durable sorrow ; 
 since reason sometimes heals the wounded affections, 
 by enabling us to calculate and measure more just- 
 ly the value of the being whom we deplore. But 
 such was not the influence of reason or reflection 
 on the minds of the people of England. Those 
 who felt most acutely on the present occasion, were 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 553 
 
 they who thought most deeply upon the excellence 
 of what we have lost, and on the probable conse- 
 quences of this great public calamity to the highest 
 interest of the nation. Among the many points of 
 view under which it would have been our pride 
 and study to contemplate the Princess Charlotte, 
 and to point her out to the admiration of the peo- 
 ple of England, was that of her character in do- 
 mestic life. A King or Queen as such, may diffuse 
 a vast portion of happiness throughout society, by 
 the just and conscientious exercise of power; but 
 upon mankind at large the Sovereign cannot act 
 as an example, except through the medium of those 
 qualities which are applicable to private life, and use- 
 ful in humbler stations. The dissolute manners of 
 some among the upper classes in this country require 
 no ordinary antidote to their corrupting force. The 
 law, though armed with peculiar terrors, is evaded 
 by artful vice, or defied by audacious infamy. 
 Fashion tolerates and upholds her disciples ; and 
 timid virtue withdraws into herself, or ventures on 
 the stream to struggle, yield, and perish. Our un- 
 spotted Princess, in the lovely purity of her con- 
 jugal and maternal character, and in the splendour 
 and pre-eminence of her constitutional throne, might, 
 with the partner of her virtuous affections, have 
 herself supplied the defects of law, and reclaimed 
 the licentiousness of fashion. Every wife would 
 4 B 
 
554 LIFE OF THE 
 
 have gazed upon her as a bright example of those 
 duties whose performance rewards itself, and con- 
 stitutes the chief blessing of society. The loss of 
 such a model, in such an age, may be a subject of 
 lamentation to our children's children. 
 
 Turning from the painful recollection of her 
 whom we have lost, to the consideration of the ex- 
 ecutive administration aiieeted by the sad event, 
 the first, in political importance, is the succession 
 to the Throne. In a monarchy like ours, the cir- 
 cumstance is worthy our interested speculations. We 
 had fondly expected that the promising unicn of 
 the hopeful pair had removed ail apprehensions on 
 that head. We had pictured to ourselves a family 
 of J&nglish Princes, brought up under our eyes, in 
 English habits and principles ; succeeding, without 
 doubt or disturbance, to the throne of their an* 
 cestors ; and wielding the sceptre, as we have seen 
 it wielded for above half a century, by our vener* 
 able Monarch, and his son the Regent. But now 
 that the mother and child are both at once taken 
 from us, the prospect is, we regret to say, by no 
 means clear and satisfactory. The common an- 
 cestor of all the heirs, whom it is at all necessary to 
 include in this calculation, is Frederick Prince of 
 Wales, the father of our revered Sovereign George 
 III., and of the late Duke of Gloucester, the late 
 Duchess of Brunswick, and the late Queen of 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 555 
 
 Denmark ; all of whom have left representatives 
 still surviving, The act of settlement, it is well 
 known, limits the succession to the heirs, being 
 protestant, of the Eleeiress Sophia of Hanover* 
 grand-daughter of King James I. Her son George 
 I. came to the throne in virtue of this act ;" and 
 from him it descended to George II,, father of the 
 Prince of Wales, whom we have mentioned, The 
 crown descends lineally to the issue of the reigning 
 monarch, with a right of primogeniture; first, 
 among sons, and then among daughters ; and the 
 lineal descendant of any person deceased stands in 
 the same place, as their ancestors, if living, would 
 have done. With this short explanation, it is ap- 
 prehended, that the subjoined scheme will be easily 
 understood, as bringing, under one view, the ex- 
 isting individuals in succession to the throne. 
 They are arranged in th? legal order of succession ; 
 annexed are their respective ages ; and the relation- 
 ship of each to the head of the branch through 
 which they derive their title, is marked by letters 
 signifying son, grandson, great grandson, daughter, 
 grand-daughter, &c. -As some individuals derive 
 by more than one title, they are enumerated as 
 often as their rights occur, a reference being made 
 to their former places. 
 
556 LIFE 6f the 
 
 descendants of George III., eldest son of Frederic, 
 Prince of Wales, who was great grandson of the 
 Electress Sophia. 
 
 Aged 
 
 1 George Prince Regent, S. ... ... 55 
 
 2 Frederick Duke of York, S 54 
 
 3 William Henry Duke of Clarence, S. ... 52 
 
 4 Edward Duke of Kent, S. ... ... 50 
 
 5 Ernest Duke of Cumberland, S. ... 46 
 
 6 Augustus Duke of Sussex, S 44 
 
 7 Adolphus Duke of Cambridge, S. ... 43 
 
 8 Charlotte of England, Queen Dow. of Wur- 
 
 temburg, D. ... ... ... ... 51 
 
 9 Augusta of England, D. 49 
 
 10 Elizabeth of England, D. *... ■ ... 47 
 
 11 Mary of England Duchess of Gloucester, D. 41 
 
 12 Sophia of England, D 40 
 
 II. Descendants of William Henry, Duke of 
 Gloucester, younger son of Frederick Prince of 
 Wales, 
 
 13 William Duke of Gloucester, S. ... 41 
 
 14 Sophia of Gloucester, D. ... ... 44 
 
 III. Descendants of Augusta of England, Duch- 
 ess of Brunswick, elder daughter of Frederick, 
 Prince of Wales, [She died in 1813.] 
 
 15 Charles Duke of Brunswick, G. S. ... 13 
 
En. KEd&E. 
 
 PI 
 
 J 
 
 a'. * < '^s&r7s/s : >/// < }'-^ \ v <,/, ■ //< - f/j 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 557 
 
 16 William of Brunswick, G. S 12 
 
 17 Augustus of Brunswick, S. ... .,. 48 
 
 18 Frederick King of Wurtemburg, G. S. 36 
 
 19 Mary of Wurtemburg, G. G. D. ... 1 
 
 20 Paul of Wurtemburg, G. S. ... ... 32 
 
 21 Frederick Charles of Wurtemburg, G. G. S. 9 
 
 22 Frederick Augustus of Wurtemburg,G.G.S. 4 
 
 23 Frederick of Wurtemburg, G. G. D. ... 10 
 
 24 Pauline of Wurtemburg, G. G. D. ... 7 
 
 25 Frederica Catb. of Wurtemburg, wife of J. 
 
 Buonaparte, G. D. ... ... ... 34 
 
 26 Jerome Napoleon, G. G. S % 
 
 27 Carol, of Brunswick, Princess of Wales, D. 49 
 
 IV. Descendants of Matilda of England, Queen 
 
 4 
 
 of Denmark, younger daughter of Frederick 
 Prince of Wales, [She died in 1775.] 
 
 28 Frederic King of Denmark, S 49 
 
 29 Caroline of Denmark, G. D 24 
 
 30 Wilhelmina of Denmark, G. D. ... 9 
 
 31 Louisa of Denmark, D« of Holstein, D. 46 
 
 32 Christian Duke of Holstein, G. S. ... 19 
 
 33 Caroline of Holstein, G. D 21 
 
 V. Descendants of Anne of England, Princess of 
 Orange, eldest daughter of George II. [She died 
 in 1759.] 
 
 34 William King of the Netherlands, G. S. 45 
 
558 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Aged 
 
 35 William Prince of Orange, G. G. S. ... 52 
 
 36 William of Orange, G. G. G. S. ... 1 
 
 37 Frederick of Orange, G.G.S 20 
 
 38 Wilhelmina of Orange, G. G. D. ... 17 
 
 39 Frederica of Orange, Duchess Dowager of 
 
 Brunswick, G. D, >.. ... ».. 4 
 
 40 No. 15, G. G.S.I 
 
 „ ^ ~ ~ rher sons, 
 
 41 No. 16, G.G.S.j 
 
 42 Frederick William, Coun t Nassau Weilbourg, 
 
 G.S. ... ... ... 49 
 
 43 George W of Nassau Weilbourg, G. G. S. 25 
 
 VI. Descendants of Mary of England, Landgravine 
 
 of Hesse- Cassel, next daughter of George II 
 [She died in 1772.] 
 
 44 George "W iliiam, Elector of Hesse-Cassel, S. 74 
 
 45 William Prince of Hesse, G.S. ... 40 
 
 46 Frederick of Hesse, G. G. S. ... ... 15 
 
 47 Caroline of Hesse, G. G. D. ... ... 18 
 
 48 Mary Louisa of Hesse, G. G. D. ... 16 
 
 49 Charles of Kesse, S. ... 73 
 
 50 Frederick of Hesse, G.S. 46 
 
 51 Christian of Hesse, G. S. 48 
 
 52 Mary of Hesse, Queen of Denmark, G. D. 50 
 
 53 No. 29, G. G. D. 
 
 J.G.D.1 
 
 }. G. D. j 
 
 >her children. 
 
 54 No. 30, G, 
 
 55 Julia of Hesse, G. D 44 
 
rnjm*j.K,s3 univitjuuxi 
 
 Aged 
 
 56 Louisa of Hesse, G. D. 
 
 28 
 
 57 Frederick of Hesse, S. ... 
 
 70 
 
 58 William of Hesse, G. S. 
 
 30 
 
 59 Frederick of Hesse, G. S. 
 
 27 
 
 60 George of Hesse, G. S. ... 
 
 21 
 
 61 Louisa of Hesse, G. D. ... 
 
 23 
 
 62 Mary of Hesse, G. D. ... 
 
 21 
 
 63 Augusta of Hesse, G. D. 
 
 20 
 
 VII Descendants of Louisa of England, Queen 
 of Denmark, next daughter of George II [She 
 died in 1751.] 
 
 64 No. 28, G. S. 
 
 65 No. 53, No. 29, G. G. D. 
 
 66 No. 54, No. 30, G G. D. 
 
 67 No. 31, G. D. 
 
 68 Sophia of Denmark, Queen of Sweden, D. 71 
 
 69 Gustavus King of Sweden, G. S. ... 39 
 
 70 Gustavus of Sweden, G. G. S. ■ 18 
 
 71 Sophia of Sweden, G. G. D. ... . , . 1 6 
 
 72 Amelia of Sweden, G. G. D. ... L 12 
 
 73 Wilhelmina of Denmark, Electress of 
 
 Hesse Cassel, D. ... 70 
 
 74 No. 45, G. S. 
 
 75 No. 46, G. G. S, 
 
 76 No. 47, G. G. D. 
 
 77 No. 48, G. G. D. 
 
 her children. 
 
560 LIFE OF TBE 
 
 Aged 
 
 78 Louisa of Denmark wife of Charles of 
 
 Hesse-Cassel, [No. 48] D ..> ... 67 
 
 79 No. 50, G. S. 
 
 80 No. 51, G. S. 
 
 81 No. 52, G. D. 
 
 82 Nos. 65 9 53, 29, G. G. D. 
 
 83 Nos. 66 3 54t t 30, G. G. D. . 
 
 VI I L Descendants of Sophia ofJEngland, Queen 
 of Prussia, only daughter of George I [She 
 died in 1757.] 
 
 84 Frederick William III King of Prussia, 
 
 G.G.S 46 
 
 85 Frederick William, Prince of Prussia, G. 
 
 G.G.S 22 
 
 86 Frederick Lewis of Prussia, G. G. G. S. 20 
 
 87 Frederick Charles of Prussia, G. G. G. S. 16 
 
 88 Frederick Henry of Prussia, G. G. G. S. 13 
 
 89 Wilhelmina of Prussia, G. G. G. B. ... 14 
 
 90 Louisa of Prussia, G. G. G. D. ... 9 
 91. Will. Fred, of Prussia, G. G. G. S. ... 23 
 »2 Frederica of Prussia, G. G. G. D. . <. 21 
 
 93 Frederick Charles Henry of Prussia, 
 
 G.G.S ?6 
 
 94 Frederick William Charles, G. G. S. .. \ 34 
 
 95 Henry of Prussia, G. G. G. S 6 
 
 96 Mary of Prussia, G. G. G. D. ^ ... % 
 
 i 
 
► her children. 
 
 princess charlotte: 
 
 97 Frederica of Prussia, Duchess of York, 
 G.G.D 
 
 98 Wilhelmina of Prussia, Queen of the 
 Netherlands, G. G. D 
 
 99 No. 35, G. G. G. S.'l 
 100 No. 36, G.G.G.S. 
 lOlNo. 37, G.G.G. SL 
 
 102 No. 38, G. G. G. D. J 
 
 103 Christina of Prussia, Princess of Hesse- 
 Cassel, G.G.D ... 
 
 104 No. 46, G.G.G. S.l 
 
 105 No. 47, G. G. G. S. j-her children. 
 
 106 No. 48, G.G.G. D.J 
 
 107 Frederica of Prussia, Princess Dow. of 
 Orange, G. D. 
 
 108 No. 34, G. G. S. 
 
 109 No. 99, No. 35, G. G. 
 
 G.S. 
 
 110 No. 100, No. 36, G. 
 
 G. G. G. S. 
 
 111 No. 101, No. 37, G. 
 
 G. G. S. 
 
 112 No. 102, No. 38, G. 
 
 G.G.D. 
 
 113 No. 39, G.G.D. 
 
 114 No. 40, No. 14, G. 
 
 G.G.S. 
 
 4c 
 
 561 
 
 Aged 
 
 50 
 43 
 
 40 
 
 ►her descendants. 
 
£62 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Aged 
 
 1J5 No. 141, No. 15. G.) 
 
 >her descendants. 
 
 Cx. Gr. S. J 
 
 116 Frederick William of Prussia, G. S. ... 37 
 
 117 Frederica Dorothea of Prussia, Princess 
 
 ofRadzivil, G. D 47 
 
 118 No. 69, G.G.8. . 
 
 119 No. 70, G.G.G.S. 
 
 120 No. 71, G. G. G. D. 
 
 121 No. 72, G. G. G. D. 
 
 122 Charles XIII. King of Sweden, G. S. 69 
 
 123 Sophia of Sweden, Abbess of Quedlen- 
 
 berg, G.D. ... 64 
 
 From the List it will be seen, that the three 
 persons nearest the Throne, who are married and 
 have children, are the King of Wurtemburg, 
 Prince Paul his brother, and the Princess Frederica 
 Buonaparte, their sister. Although, however, there 
 is now no grandchild of George III. yet all his sons, 
 and probably more than one of his daughters, are 
 still of an age that might be expected to have off- 
 spring. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester are 
 little more than 40 years of age, and have been not 
 much above a year married ; but until a more cer- 
 tain prospect of issue from the British Branch, the 
 public attention will be turned to the two young 
 Princes of Brunswick, the sons and grandsons of 
 the two Dukes of Brunswick, who lost their lives 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 56$ 
 
 in the fields of Jena and Waterloo. These young 
 Princes were educated in England : yet that is but 
 a small alleviation of the repugnance we feel at 
 having a foreign King ; and this is a consideration 
 which enehances and embitters all the public re^ 
 grets which the loss of our own lovely and excellent 
 Princess excites. 
 
 The first wife of Frederick King of Wurtem- 
 burg, was Caroline of Brunswick. Their daughter* 
 the Princess Catherine, and the late Princess Char- 
 lotte of Wales, were of the same kin to Frederick, 
 Prince of Wales, the father of his present Majesty ; 
 both being his great grandchildren. The Princess 
 Catherine was married to Jerome Buonaparte, king 
 of Westphalia, and had a son by him. If the male 
 line of succession to the Crown of Great Britain 
 should fail, by the Prince Regent and the Royal 
 Dukes dying without issue, then the sovereignty 
 would vest in the female line ; and in that case, as 
 by the Act of Settlement of 11 & 12 William III. 
 c. 3, the heirs of the Princess Sophia, being Pro- 
 testants, are entitled to the Crown in succession, 
 and the series would be thus : — First the Duke of 
 Brunswick, son of the Duchess ; and if he had no 
 issue, the Prince of Wurtemburg, grandson of the 
 Duchess ; and if he had no issue, the wife of Jerome 
 Buonaparte, the Princess Catherine, as great grand- 
 child of Frederic, Prince of Wales ; who would, 
 
564 LIFE OF THE 
 
 by the Act of Settlement, be Queen, and her son* 
 young Jerome Buonaparte, Prince of Wales. Thus, 
 after his mother's death, and professing the Pro- 
 testant religion, he would claim the throne by here- 
 ditary right, being as nearly related by the female 
 line to the reigning family, as any other claimant; 
 since he is descended from Frederick, the common 
 ancestor to all the heirs of the British crown. 
 
 But if we carry our attention to a period more 
 near, the sudden dissolution of our promised sove- 
 reigns, according to the course of the common des- 
 tinies of mortal nature, must be calculated to give 
 the people injury and profit; injury — for the un- 
 avoidable consequence of the rapid succession is a 
 corresponding increase of the expenditure of na- 
 tional money, not merely for the purposes of coro- 
 nations but to pension the servants of the preced- 
 ing sovereigns respectively, and this we should 
 esteem a serious evil, for if the deserving only were 
 maintained in a degree of splendour beyond what 
 their own exertions in the world could have raised 
 them unto, it were perhaps not simply an innocu- 
 ous thing but also laudable, as by such means a 
 spur would be given to the activity of the virtuous, 
 but in this low estate, blinded as we are by caprices 
 the best of us must be led to our attachments more 
 by whim and incidental circumstances than by 
 other considerations ; added to the cost which the 
 
 I 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE 565 
 
 nation must be at in such a case, the successor may 
 have different political notions from the deceased 
 whom he succeeds, and thus may confusion be 
 produced in the administration. The advantages 
 however are not a few, but of them all this one 
 stands pre-eminent, the hasty dispatch which is 
 made of sublunary exaltation may inform the sur- 
 vivers that earthly happiness cannot secure men in 
 the possession of it, and presenting to our view the 
 ravages of death may enable us to lay up a treasure 
 that we may gain by when that life arrives to 
 which the end of this life provides the beginning. 
 To see how futurity is likely to work will be grati- 
 fying to those who are capable of any curiosity; 
 and therefore I set down the first fourteen princely 
 persons that are to come to the crown in their 
 order of rightful nativity, calculating the probabili- 
 ties of accession and demise according to the most 
 approved biological tablets : 
 
 
 Age. 
 
 Length of Life. 
 
 Length of Reign. 
 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Y. 
 
 M. 
 
 Y. M. 
 
 No. 1 .. 
 
 .... 56 
 
 14 
 
 4 
 
 14 4 
 
 2 .. 
 
 .... 55 
 
 14 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 3 .. 
 
 .... 53 
 
 15 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 '4 .. 
 
 .... 51 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 5 .. 
 
 .... 47 
 
 18 
 
 3 
 
 1 9 
 
 6.. 
 
 .... 45 
 
 19 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 7.. 
 
 44 
 
 19 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
566 
 
 
 
 UFE OP 
 
 THE 
 
 
 
 
 Age. 
 
 Length of Life. 
 
 Length of Reign. 
 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Y. 
 
 M. 
 
 Y. 
 
 M. 
 
 8 .. 
 
 .... 52 .... 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 9.. 
 
 .... 50 .... 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 .. 
 
 .... 48 .... 
 
 17 
 
 10 ..... 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 .. 
 
 .... 42 .... 
 
 20 
 
 5 ..... 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 12 .. 
 
 .... 41 .... 
 
 20 
 
 10 ..... 
 
 ....... 
 
 5 
 
 13 .. 
 
 .... 42 .... 
 
 20 
 
 5 ..... 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 .. 
 
 .... 45 .... 
 
 19 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 10 
 
 Thus it is not impossible but the next one and 
 twenty years may be passed under no fewer than 
 nine reigns, and of these we shall have two female 
 ones. 
 
 There was a time when the event which we now 
 deplore would have put every restless spirit into 
 motion, and set a guilty ambition upon its mur- 
 derous devices, and brought powerful pretenders 
 with their apposing hosts of vassalage into the field, 
 and enlisted towns and families under the rival 
 banners of a most destructive fray of contention, 
 and thus have broken up the whole peace and con- 
 fidence of society. Let us bless God that these 
 days of barbarism a^e now gone by. But the vessel 
 of the state is still exposed to many agitations. 
 The sea of politics is a sea of storms, on which the 
 gale of human passions would make her founder, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. '■ 567 
 
 were it not for the guidance of human principle ; 
 and, therefore, the truest policy of a nation is to 
 Christianize her subjects, and to disseminate among 
 them the influence of religion. The most skilful 
 arrangement for rightly governing a state, is to 
 scatter among the governed, not the terrors of 
 power, not the threats of jealous and alarmed au- 
 thority, not the demonstrations of sure and ready 
 vengeance held forth by the rigour of an offended 
 law. These may, at times, be imperiously called 
 for. But a permanent security against the wild 
 outbreakings of turbulence and disaster, is only to 
 be attained by diffusing the lessons of the gospel 
 throughout the great mass of our population, even 
 those lessons which are utterly and diametrically 
 opposed to all that is criminal and wrong in the 
 spirit of political disaffection. The only radical 
 counteraction to this evil is to be found in the spirit 
 of Christianity ; and though animated by such a 
 spirit, a man may put on the intrepidity of one of 
 the old prophets, and denounce even in the ear of 
 royalty the profligacies which may disgrace or de- 
 form it, though animated by such a spirit, he may 
 lift his protesting voice in the face of an unchris- 
 tian magistracy, and tell thera of their errors, though 
 animated by such a spirit, he, to avoid every ap- 
 pearance of evil, will never stoop to the flattery of 
 power, nor to the solicitations of patronage, and 
 
568 LIFE OF THE 
 
 though all this may bear to the superficial eye, a hard, 
 and repulsive, and hostile aspect towards the esta- 
 blished dignities of the land, yet forget not, that if 
 a real and honest principle of Christianity lie at the 
 root of this spirit, there exists within the bosom of 
 such a man, a foundation of principle, on which all 
 the lessons of Christianity will rise into visible and 
 consistent exemplification. And it is he, and such 
 as he, who will turn out to be the salvation of the 
 country, when the hour of her threatened danger is 
 approaching, and it is just in proportion as you spread 
 and multiply such a character, that you raise within 
 the bosom of the nation the best security against all 
 her fluctuations, and, as in every other department 
 of human concerns, so will it be found, that, in this 
 particular department, Christians are the salt of the 
 earth, and Christianity the most copious and eman- 
 ating fountain of all the guardian virtues of peace, 
 2nd order, and patriotism. 
 
 The judgment under which we now labour, sup- 
 plies, I think, one touching, and, to every good 
 and Christian mind, one powerful argument of 
 loyalty. It is the distance of the prince from his 
 people which feeds the political jealousy of the 
 latter, and which by removing the former to a 
 height of inaccessible grandeur, places him, as it 
 were, beyond the reach of their sympathies. Much 
 of that political rancour, which festers, and agitates, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 569 
 
 and makes such a tremendous appearance of noise 
 and of hostility in our land, is due to the aggravat- 
 ing power of distance. If two of the deadliest 
 political antagonists in our country, who abuse, 
 and vilify, and pour forth their stormy eloquence 
 on each other, whether in parliament or from the 
 press, were actually to come into such personal and 
 familiar contact, as would infuse into their contro- 
 versy the sweetening of mere acquaintanceship, this 
 very circumstance would disarm and do away al- 
 most all their violence. The truth is, that when 
 one man rails against another cross the table in an 
 assembly, or when he works up his fermenting im- 
 agination, and pens his virulent sentences against 
 another, in the retirement of a closet, he is fighting 
 against a man at a distance, he is exhausting his 
 strength against an enemy whom he does not know, 
 he is swelling into indignation, and into all the 
 movements of what he thinks right and generous 
 principle, against a chimera of his Own apprehen- 
 sion ; and a similar re-action comes back upon him 
 from the quarter that he has assailed, and thus the 
 controversy thickens, and the delusion every day 
 gets more impenetrable, and the distance is ever 
 widening, and the breach is always becoming more 
 hopeless and more irreparable ; and all this between 
 two men, who, if they had been in such accidental 
 circumstances of juxtaposition, as. could have let 
 4 D 
 
570 LIFE OF THE 
 
 them a little more into one another's feelings, and 
 to one another's sympathies, would at least have 
 had all the asperities of their difference smoothed 
 away by the mere softenings and kindlinesses of 
 ordinary human intercourse. It has been observed 
 by a distinguished clergyman,* that among the rich, 
 there is apt at times to rankle an injurious and un- 
 worthy impression of the poor, and just because 
 these poor stand at a distance from them, just be- 
 cause they come not into contact with that which 
 would draw them out in courteousness to their 
 persons, and in benevolent attentions to their fa- 
 milies. Amongst the poor, on the other hand, 
 there is often a disdainful suspicion of the wealthy, 
 as if they were actuated by a proud indifference to 
 them and to their concerns, and as if they were 
 placed away from them at so lofty an elevation as 
 not to require the exercise of any of those cordis 
 alities, which are ever sure to spring in the bosom 
 of man to man, when they come to know each 
 other, and to have the actual sight of each other. 
 However separated they long may have been from 
 the poor, let those that have abundant wealth and 
 live in splendid mansions, and with all the pomp 
 and greatness corresponding, fall into some direful 
 misfortune which shall bring them down to a level 
 
 • Dr. Chalmers. 
 
PRINCESS CHABLOTTE. 571 
 
 with the humblest, suppose the sudden death of an 
 only child, and the sluices of kindly feeling are im- 
 mediately raised in the breasts of persons who be- 
 fore seemed to be a species distinct from the suf- 
 ferers. If in such a case as the trying illness of 
 either head of an exalted family, the help of a 
 skilful and an experienced cottager should be re- 
 quired, with what eagerness this cottager will run 
 to impart aid-and comfort to the afflicted grandee ! 
 When in full health and vigour, and honours, and 
 all that is known in the world of exaltation and 
 luxury attend the great, the people who are with- 
 out these adventitious adjuncts are commonly in 
 their eyes beneath the regard of which afterwards 
 they prove themselves to be deserving. It is in- 
 deed the lamentable separation, the bar of dignity 
 and rank that renders the exalted — objects of awe 
 alone without any heartfelt attachment. To coun- 
 teract this unhappy remoteness in the mutual in- 
 terests of the great and the lowly 1 know not of 
 any expedient so admirably adapted as the dissemi- 
 nation of Christian wisdom, the precepts that are 
 blessed with God's grace come under the best of 
 recommendations, and it is therefore very astonish- 
 ing that men should feel the reluctance they do in 
 advancing their influence over the minds of the 
 bulk of the people. But there is a cause. In the 
 first outset of such a plan whoever sits at the 
 
572 LIFE OF THE 
 
 helm of affairs naturally turns to the episcopal dig- 
 nitaries for advice upon it, and they, being no more 
 than men, have so much mortal frailty mixed up 
 in the constitution of their religious sentiments, 
 afraid of submitting themselves to a discipline too 
 rigid as they must through a respect for public 
 opinion if the nation were universally informed 
 upon the duties of christian bishops, fond of those 
 indulgences which indeed it may not be criminal 
 to enjoy, but which they certainly could not do 
 with the same ease and self complacency if the 
 scrutinizing eyes of enlightened millions were upon 
 them, or some other imbecility incident to the most 
 worthy of human beings, they do not approve with 
 all the might of their authority in general the spread 
 of gospel information. Now although this be a 
 severe observancy upon the venerable directors of 
 the church, yet let it be considered that the princi- 
 pal censure which has been attached to them is not 
 a primary guilt upon their part, it is only a second- 
 ary one, a consequence merely of supineness, and no 
 doubt can be made, but if the instant result of a 
 careless administration of ecclesiastical matters were 
 to strike them, as it does some of them in its full 
 force, their charitable and humane tempers would 
 be deeply affected by it ; nevertheless the public 
 writers ought, as the servants of the Almighty, as 
 the subjects of a revered sovereign, and as well- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 573 
 
 wishers to the human race, to urge the necessity of 
 abolishing church traffic, and the fitness of prefer- 
 ring such teachers as deserve to be preferred by 
 superior piety and learning. A regulation such as 
 this would be productive of extremely good effects 
 in bringing the people to a due sense of the im- 
 portance attached to the country by their wealthy 
 fellow citizens, and these on the other hand would 
 be easily inclined to look with esteem towards the 
 great mass of the population, assuring themselves 
 that from them were to proceed not only persons 
 of genius for the conduct of the weightiest affairs, 
 but that their low circumstances would be most apt 
 to stimulate such to exert whatever talents they 
 might be possessed of to the glory and prosperity 
 of the empire; and the general consequence must 
 be an approximation of the different classes, and 
 therefore a sympathy produced betwixt them. 
 Whereas should the system of negotiating parishes 
 be continued and patronized, then all the comforts 
 which men of honest ambition might have other- 
 wise aspired to with much toil, and to the public 
 utility, appear inaccessible ; and few are disposed 
 to busy themselves without some benefit for their 
 trouble, since at least the public impression must 
 in such a case be hostile to the industry and vigour 
 of struggling worth, rendering despicable what 
 ought naturally to claim our utmost respect and 
 
574 LIFE OF THE 
 
 admiration. If the sweet Princess had been only 
 Spared for some years longer, we might have wit- 
 nessed some changes introduced to this effect, used 
 as her Royal Highness was to interrogate the 
 clergymen that came before her, and although it 
 was for information rather than curiosity's sake that 
 she put her question, her Royal Highness notwith- 
 standing was well instructed in her duty, and could 
 no doubt discover incompetent persons, although her 
 charitable and prudent mind was not of a cast to 
 expose any when there was no urgent need of do- 
 ing so. One of the most attracting graces which 
 reflected lustre upon the royal condition of Prin- 
 cess Charlotte was the attention that she showed 
 indiscriminately to all ranks of the people, and 
 tended to spread 3 good report of her all over the 
 entire nation. She was always ardent in the cause 
 of Christianity, the true and unfailing source of 
 every virtue that can impart strength to loyalty 
 and make the realms quiet and happy. Had she 
 been a haughty supercilious character, the manner 
 of her death and the time of it, the consignment of 
 so much grandeur and lofty hope to utter despair 
 and the idea of a beautiful and elegant young wo- 
 man being snatched away from all the pleasures 
 and joys of the world must have excited the public 
 concern, but when Princess Charlotte expired, a 
 sort of incredulous horror diffused itself, nobody 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 575 
 
 could reconcile the image of beauty and the pattern 
 of virtue, and all princely accomplishments with the 
 dismal habitation of a cemetery ; to contemplate 
 the lovely promise of future glory and power aided 
 by the disposition to scatter happy faces where she 
 approached soever, this was an exercise of the mind 
 ill exchanged for the annihilation of them. But as 
 in life she was useful to the interests of piety and 
 learning, so in her death some benefit may accrue 
 to them, and pointing our attention to affairs more 
 serious than the grandeur and exaltation of the 
 world superinduce an attachment to the dictates of 
 the wise and upright. Especially when by so esti- 
 mable an example of regard to religion and human- 
 ity, our hearts are warmed by a love of virtuous 
 thoughts and actions as often as we call up in our 
 memories the doings and the sayings of the Prin- 
 cess : many of them we have given already, and 
 there are more that will gradually be made known 
 by those round her once, who, now that she is no 
 more, will take a delight in recording what they 
 observed of her, and tell it over to their young 
 friends. Not long before her Royal Highness's 
 confinement, the Rev. Mr. Wilcox begged to have 
 an interview with her, and easily obtained it : he 
 acquainted the Princess with the distressing circum- 
 stances of a young man that lay under condemn- 
 ation, and declared his case to be such as excited 
 
W LIFE OF THE 
 
 his most ardent wish for his pardon and that con- 
 sidering it the best expedient, he had taken the 
 freedom of soliciting her Royal Highness's inter- 
 cession for the young man. The Princess assured 
 Mr. Wilcox that she would not fail to take the 
 earliest opportunity of submitting the petition to the 
 Prince Regent, and do her best endeavours to ob- 
 tain a remission of the sentence. Mr. Wilcox was 
 of course extremely grateful to the Princess, and 
 expressed his concern that the only return it would 
 be in his power to make was his poor prayers on 
 her Royal Highness'? behalf. Mr. Wilcox, inter- 
 rupted the Princess, do not call your prayers poor 
 prayers, for the prayer of a righteous man ayaileth 
 much. It was by means like these that while the 
 amiable young heiress to the British Throne was 
 mingling with none whom she did not attach to 
 her person and engage their warmest affections, it 
 was by valuing and respecting the great instructors 
 of the people that her Royal Highness is treasured 
 up in the minds of all sensible men as the best 
 promise of a happy sovereign that ever yet appear- 
 ed in England. The many admirable properties 
 which distinguish the illustrious monarch who is 
 now labouring under the infirmities of mortal ex- 
 istence, are all well known and prized by his devot- 
 ed subjects, and if the government of the country 
 could be farther improved, who was more likely 
 
PRINCESS CHAItLOTTE. 577 
 
 to accomplish it than she who had next her heart 
 the proper management of the church, which is the 
 very tie and bandage of tranquil society and moral 
 excellence of every sort, whether it be the noiseless 
 honesty that a tradesman uses in the affairs of his 
 merchandize, or the noble daring of a soldier in the 
 field of battle. 
 
 Apart altogether from the essential character of 
 the gospel, and keeping out of view the solemn re- 
 presentations of Christianity, by which we are told 
 that each individual of countless myriads carries an 
 undying principle in his bosoiii, and that it is the 
 duty of the minister to cherish it, and to watch over 
 it, as one who must render, at the judgment-seat, 
 an account of the charge which has been commit- 
 ted to him, though it is of paramount importance 
 over all that can be alleged on the inferior ground 
 of political expediency, yet, on this ground alone, 
 there is argument enough for the serviceableness of 
 such men, devoted to the labours of their own se- 
 parate and peculiar employments, giving an atten- 
 tion to the office of dealing with the hearts and 
 principles of the thousands who are around them, 
 coming forth from the preparations of an unbroken 
 solitude, armed with all the omnipotence of truth 
 among their fellow-citizens, and who, rich in the 
 resources of a mind which meditates upon these 
 things and gives itself wholly to them, are able to 
 4 E 
 
578 LIFE OF THE 
 
 suit their admonitions to all the varieties of human 
 character, and to draw their copious and persuasive 
 illustrations from every quarter of human experi- 
 ence. Give to each (but let those appointed he 
 persons of as much merit as interest) a manageable 
 extent of town, within the compass of his personal 
 exertions, and where he might be able to -cultivate 
 a ministerial influence among all its families—- put 
 it into his power to dignify the very humblest of 
 its tenements by the courteou-sness of his soothing 
 and benevolent attentions, let it be such a district 
 of population as may not bear him down by the 
 multiplicity of its demands; but where, without 
 any feverish or distracting variety of labour, he may 
 be able to familiarize himself to every house, and 
 to know every individual, and to visit every spirit- 
 ual patient, and to watch every death-bed, and to 
 pour out the sympathies of a pious and affectionate 
 bosom over eveYy mourning and bereaved family. 
 Bring every city of the land under such a moral re- 
 gimen as this, and another generation wqu Id not 
 pass away, ere righteousness ran down all their 
 streets like a mighty river. That sullen depravity 
 of character, which the gibbet cannot scare away, 
 and which sits so immoveable in the face of the 
 most menacing severities and in despite of the y ear- 
 fy recurrence of the most terrifying examples, 
 could not keep its ground against the mild, but re- 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 579 
 
 sistless application of an effective Christian ministry. 
 The very worst of men would be constrained to 
 feel the power of such an application. Sunk as 
 they are in ignorance, and inured as they have been 
 from the first years of their neglected boyhood, to 
 scenes of week-day profligacy and Sabbath profan- 
 ation, these men. of whom it may be said, that all 
 their moralities are extinct, and all their tender- 
 nesses blunted — even they would feel the power of 
 that reviving touch, which the mingled influence 
 of kindness and piety can often impress on the 
 souls of the most abandoned — even they would 
 open the flood-gates of their hearts, and pour forth 
 the tide of an honest welcome on the men who had 
 come in all the cordiality of good -will to themselves 
 and to their families. And thus might a humaniz- 
 ing and an exalting influence be made to circulate 
 through all their dwelling-places : and such a sys- 
 tem as this, labouring as it must do at first, under 
 all the discouragements of a heavy and unpromis- 
 ing outset, would gather, during every year of its 
 perseverance, new triumphs and new testimonies 
 to its power. And all that is ruthless and irre- 
 claimable in the character of the present day, would 
 in time be replaced by the softening virtues of a 
 purer and a better generation. This I know to be 
 the dream of many a philanthropist; and a dream 
 as visionary as the very wildest among the fancies 
 
580 LIFE OF THE 
 
 of Utopianism it ever will be, under any other ex- 
 pedient than the one now pointed to ; and nothing 
 within the whole compass of nature, or of experi- 
 ence, will ever bring it to its consummation, but 
 the multiplied exertions of the men who carry in 
 their hearts the doctrine of the New Testament. 
 And, if it be true that towns are the great instru- 
 ments of political revolution — if it be there that all 
 the elements of disturbance are ever found in busiest 
 fermentation, if we learn, from the history of the 
 past, that they are the favourite and the frequented 
 rallying-places for all the brooding violence of the 
 land — who does not see that the earnest pleading 
 of the Christian minister is at one with the sound- 
 est maxims of political wisdom, and that it should 
 be urged upon the rulers and magistrates of the 
 land, that this is indeed the cheap defence of a 
 nation — this the heart's blood of all its strength and 
 of its greatness ; and now that She is no more who 
 was likely to forward such commendable and glori- 
 ous measures, may the recollection of her manifold 
 and considerate beneficence advocate their promo- 
 tion. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 581 
 
 A Monody on the Death of Princess Charlotte. 
 
 Of visitations in this vale of woe, 
 That claim the sigh, and bid the tear to flow 
 O'er Joy's fresh cheek — that spread the sudden gloom, 
 And tempt to question Heaven's mysterious doom ;— 
 Say, is there aught of keener touch to try 
 The sentient nerve of generous Sympathy, 
 Than when in life's fair morn in beauty's flower, 
 When Hope's gay sunbeam gilds the flattering hour, 
 Each grace expanding, beaming every ray 
 With vernal promise of the jocund day, 
 Malignant Fate the shaft insidious aims, 
 And the cold grave its lovely victim claims ? 
 
 Oh ! yes — there is a sorrow more severe, 
 That claims from Sympathy a sadder tear ; 
 'Tis when the victim of the fateful strife, 
 To youth — to beauty, adds the name of wife — 
 Of wife ! — O ! sacred sound ! whose potent charm 
 Wakes ev'ry thought that manhood's breast should warm; 
 And, well defin'd, to female ear conveys 
 Whate'er can bliss bestow, or merit praise ! — 
 The wife ! — ah, more ! stiil dearer to the soul 
 That feels of Nature's law the blest control ! 
 The expectant mother — teeming for the birth— 
 Our promis'd immortality on earth ! 
 If> then, when hope in every pulse beats high, 
 And every thought anticipates the joy — 
 The father's joy — which thro' the anxious hour 
 Sustained his spirit with a buoyant power ; 
 If, then, long lingering pangs (O ! worst of woes !) 
 Not if i new life, but mortal anguish close ; 
 If Fate averse, to equal blight condemn 
 The promised blossom and the beauteous stem, 
 With twofold aim wing the envenom'd dart, 
 And yield to childless woe the widow'd heart ; 
 
582 LIFE OF THE 
 
 'Tis not in human sufferance to supply 
 A deeper claim to social Sympathy. 
 
 And such the doom that claims a nation's tear 
 To bathe illustrious Charlotte's early bier. 
 
 Nor mourn we thus an individual woe, 
 Nor tears alone of sympathy bestow ; 
 A Nation's fears, a Nation's sorrows swell, 
 And hear an omen in the passing knell. 
 
 For, oh ! on thee, thou blossom early shorn ! 
 Britain had gazed — as on the star of mora 
 The night- worn traveller ; and deem'd thy ray 
 The genial promise of a blissful day : 
 Well pleas'd in fond similitude, to trace 
 Eliza's image soften'd in thy face. 
 And when she saw thee blend the spirit high, 
 That beam'd imperial in thy conscious eye, 
 With the mild lustre of that genial ray 
 That gilds domestic duty's peaceful way, 
 Fond Hope was busy (Hope, alas ! how vain I) 
 To paint the patriot glories ot thy reign, 
 And hail the sainted virtues of the Isle, 
 Warm'd to new life in thy benignant smile. 
 
 But, ah! farewell the day-dreams of delight ! 
 The Boreal dawn is clos'd in thickest night ; 
 Nor aught remains, but 'mid the rayiess gloom. 
 To pour our sorrows o'er a silent tomb, 
 
 Elegiac Stanzas to the Memory of Princess 
 
 Charlottes 
 
 by mrs. eliza smith. 
 
 The Seraph was not form'd for living here ; 
 
 No — she was kindred with a brighter sky ; 
 Angels beheld — and to their stany sphere, 
 
 On glitt'ring pinions wafted her on high. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 583 
 
 Now in the realms of love, of light, and joy, 
 
 Serenely blest in her divine abode, 
 She smiles enrapturM on her cherub boy, 
 
 And humbly yields the Angel to its God. 
 
 " Fair Spirit !" from thy radiant throne look down, 
 
 Behold thy people with a pitying eye ; 
 Say thou hast chang'd for an immortal Crown, 
 
 And bid our griefs be hush'd, our murm'rings die. 
 
 And o'er thy much lov'd Consort's drooping head, 
 Shed from thy roseate wings the balm of peace ; 
 Whisper him soft, in Heaven thou'rt happy made, 
 And bid his fond regrets, his sorrows cease. 
 Westmoreland-Street. 
 
 CLAREMONT. 
 
 It was the loveliest evening of the year, 
 My chamber's casement, op'ning to the west, 
 Reveal'd, in light subdued, the orb of day, 
 Now verging to repose. I mark'd his slow 
 Descent ! A moment more, and all his rays, 
 In all their splendor, sunk beneath the wave ! 
 Yet shone the sky with many a glowing tint 
 Of gold and purple, glorious to the eye, 
 Yielding fair promise of the coming day. 
 'Twas beautiful ! 'Twas soothing to the soul 
 Of Contemplation ! Long did I gaze, and muse, 
 And, all unconscious of th* approach of night, 
 Ador'd the God of Nature in his works. 
 
 The moon had risen, and, with milder beam, 
 Illum'd the arch of Heaven. Her tender light 
 DuTus'd a soft and balmy spell around :— 
 All nature slept in quietness and peace. 
 How tranquil, how delightful was the view! 
 
584 LIFE OF THE 
 
 How bright, yet how serene, the firmament ! 
 See how those worlds of light pursue their course, 
 In trackless radiance, through the vast expanse; 
 What speaking silence, what mute harmony, 
 To soothe, to charm, to elevate the soul ! 
 
 Night's orison I paid, and sank to rest, 
 Sweet were my dreams, for sweet the waking hour, 
 And sweet the gentle close of day had been. 
 Rose to my view, in Fancy's fairy round, 
 Claremont, thy woods and groves, thy lawns and mounts, 
 Thy gay parterres, and all thy rich demesne ! 
 Thy stately mansion, with its rising fanes, 
 The seat of royal worth, and wedded love — 
 Of Britain's pride, and Britain's fondest hope — 
 Stood full before my eyes. 'Twas Nature's time 
 Of mirth, and love, and warm delight — the Spring — 
 When all is fresh and joyous to the sense ; 
 When circulates the blood in fuller streams ; 
 When every being owns a livelier thrill !— 
 Blithe was the note that burst from ev'ry spray ! 
 Blithe the response from ev'ry warbler there I 
 The bounding deer sprang frolic o'er the plain ; 
 The horse, loud neighing, snuflTd the breeze of health, 
 
 Joy'd not the lovely mistress of the scene, 
 As, with her Lord, she sped the morning walk, 
 And saw that all was happy in her care ? 
 Joy'd not that favourM youth, as on his arm 
 His soul's delight in wedded rapture hung? 
 O, yes ! their full eyes rais'd to Heaven declar'd 
 The heart's rich feeling — nature's purest glow ! 
 
 Honour'd in age, a venerable Oak, 
 The forest's stately King, rear'd high his head, 
 And widely spread his noble branches round. 
 A thousand summers might have thrown their beams, 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 585 
 
 A thousand winters might have shed their snows, 
 On his unbending- strength ; but firm he stood. 
 As though unnumber'd ages yet might roll, 
 And leave him still, rejoicing in his pride ! — 
 Beneath this ancient tree, in sweet repose — 
 The heart's lov'd converse — sat the royal pair, 
 And hail'd, and blessM, its dear delightful shade ! 
 
 Swift, as in dreams full oft, the scene was chang'd, 
 Summer's o'erpowering splendor blaz'd around ; 
 The sun's fierce influence checked the song of love; 
 And nature flagg'd beneath the heat intense. 
 But still dear Claremont, still thy groves were green ; 
 And still the princely d sveilers happy rov ^ 
 Amongst thy cool retreats. Thy lordly Oak, 
 In fuller verdure cloth'd, of deeper, hue, 
 Marking the season, darker umbrage cast. 
 
 Another change ; and, lo! autumnal airs, 
 And ripen'd fruits, and Harvest's jocund train, 
 And golden foliage, shew th' advancing year. 
 How rich the scenery glows I But, ah, it tells 
 Of chilling blasts, and wintry hours to come ! 
 
 Claremont, hpw sweet thy vales at this mild hour ! 
 How sweet beneath thy time-proud Oak to sit, 
 When nature's minstrels trill the evening lay, 
 And soothe, with unbought melody, the soul ! 
 0, envied, honour'd pair ! how swift the hours 
 -Of bliss, of love, of bland affection fly I 
 A few short years, and every graceful smile— 
 Those now so full of life, and bounding health, 
 And young ambition ! — all shall sink in death — 
 Shall moulder in the darkness of the gTave ! 
 
 While moralizing thus a sable cloud, 
 In night's deep gloom involv'd the peaceful scene, 
 And silenc'd every minstrel of the grove. 
 4 F 
 
586 LIFE OF THE 
 
 Peal'd the electric shock upon my ear, 
 And all the vision fled ! — Sudden, I Voke, l 
 And heard the beating rain, and howling wind, 
 Assail my roof. The lightning flash'd, and rolTd 
 The distant thunder through the concave dark, 
 As though ttie elemental strife would rend 
 Earth fabric to the centre I Where was now 
 The promise given — night's golden promise— of 
 A loveiy day f — So, perish oft the hopes 
 Of man, and all his fairest prospects fade ! 
 
 At length, the storm pass'd o'er; again I slept; 
 Again, O Ce<aremont, I beheld thy groves, 
 That, rich in Autumn's foliage charm'd the eye ; 
 And there, beneath the honour'd Oak were seen, 
 Each loving and beloved, the gentle pair. 
 Her head reclining on her Leopolds breast, 
 She seem'd with all earth's happiness replete. 
 Hope smii'd, and tender expectation beam'd, 
 From forth her speaking eye. That eye met his, 
 And both expressive shone, in bliss supreme. 
 
 Rapid as thought's transition burst the storm ! 
 The lurid lightning giar'd ; the thunder roll'd ; 
 Darkness and desolation roam'd abroad ; 
 The nighl-bird scream'd; the troubled watch-dog howl'd; 
 And shudd'rhig nature groan'd beneath the shock !— 
 Shelter'd that ancient Oak the princely pair ? 
 Ah, no ! 1 saw them flee 1 The lightning's flash 
 Disclosed the dire emit ! Heaven's fiercest bolt 
 Had struck the dear belov'd one to the earth, 
 And ail that erst was gen'rous, kind, and good, 
 And all that erst was lovely, breath'd no more ! 
 
 O, dread calamity ! Unmeasur'd woe ! — - 
 A father's joy, in all its pride was crush'd ! 
 A husband's hopes were wither'd in their bloom 1 
 A nation** glory blasted by the shock ! 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 587 
 
 Clakemqnt I thy walls resounded with affright- 
 One shriek of agony, and ail was mute ! 
 
 Another flash f— ? I 3aw that honour d Oak ; 
 The bolt of Heaven had reft his fairest limb, 
 And hurl'd the beauteous ruin o'er the plain. 
 His aged trunk was all that now remained ; 
 Branchless, and bare, and shattered to the stem, 
 
 With loneliness and devastation crowned, 
 Winter, in deepest horror, reigned supreme. — 
 In anguish I awoke, and slept no more> 
 Park Cottage, Ipswich. T. HARRAL. 
 
 VERSES delivered by Mrs, Baetley 3 upon the 
 re-opening of Drury Lane Theatre after the 
 Interment of her Royal Highness : they were 
 written by Mr. Thomas Campbell. 
 
 Britons I although our task is but to shew 
 The scenes and passions of fictitious woe, 
 Think not we come this night without a part 
 In that deep sorrow of the public heart. 
 Which like a shade hath darken'd every place. 
 And moisten'd with a tear the manliest face. 
 The bell is scarcely hush'd in Windsor's pfies, 
 That toll'd a' requiem through the solemn aisles 
 For her, the Royal Flow'r low laid in dust, 
 That was your fairest hope* your fondest trust. 
 
 Unconscious of the doom, we dreamt, alas ! 
 That e'en these walls, ere many months should pass, 
 (Which but return sad accents for her now,) 
 Perhaps had witness'd her benignant brow. 
 Cheer'd by the voice ye would hare rais'd on high 
 In bursts of British love and loyalty. 
 
588 LIFE OF THE 
 
 But Britain, now thy Chief, thy people, mourn, 
 And CJaremont's home of love is left forlorn ; 
 There, where the happiest of the happy dwelt, 
 The scutcheon glooms — and Royalty hath felt 
 A grief that every bosom feels its own — 
 The blessing of a father's heart o'erthrown— 
 The most belov'd and most devoted bride 
 Torn from an agonized husband's side, 
 Who, long as Memory holds her seat, shall vie;r 
 That speechless, more than spoken, last adieu ! 
 When the fixed eye long look ; d connubial faith, 
 And beam'd affection in the trance of death. 
 
 Sad was the pomp that yester night beheld, 
 And with the mourner's heart the anthem swell'd, 
 While torch succeeding torch iilum'd each high 
 And banner *d arch of England's chivalry — 
 The rich-plum'd canopy — the gorgeous pall, 
 The sacred march — and sable-vested wall— 
 These were not rites of inexpressive shew, 
 But hallow'd as the types of real woe. 
 Daughter of England ! for a nation's sighs, 
 A nation's heart went with thine obsequies ; 
 And oft shall Tinre revert a look of grief 
 On thine existence, beautiful and brief. — 
 
 Fair Spirit ! send thy blessing from above, 
 To realms where thou art c^noniz'd by love ; 
 Give to a father's, husband's bleeding mind, 
 The peace that Angels lend to human kind;— 
 To us, who in thy lov'd remembrance feel 
 A sorrowing, yet a soul ennobling zeal, 
 A loyalty that touches all the best 
 And loftiest principles of England's breast ;— 
 Still may thy name speak concord from the tomb, 
 Still in the Muse's breath thy memory bloom— 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 589 
 
 They shall describe thy life, thy form pourtray ; 
 But all the We that mourns thee swept away 
 'Tis not in language or expressive arts 
 To paint — ■ye feel it, Britons, in your hearts. 
 
 LINES on the Lamented Princess Charlotte. 
 
 And must the Bard with sighs responsive tell 
 The fate of her whom England lov'd so well ; 
 Write with his tears that Albion's brightest star 
 ^ No more with splendid beams shall shine afar : 
 That youth nor beauty could avert the doom, 
 Nor stay the summons to the lonely tomb ? 
 O, Sun ! who once, by mortal accents stay'd, 
 Thy swift wheels check'd, and Joshua's voice obey'd, 
 With Britain mourn this dire — this dreadful day, 
 And shine o'er Europe with a fainter ray. 
 Thou, Moon, resplendent planet of the night, 
 Curb thy pale car, and hide thy beam\ light ; 
 Shed starry tears for one so great, so good, 
 And mourn the fall of innocence in blood. 
 Could not the regal pomp, the scepter'd power, 
 Stay the dread tyrant for one transient hour ; 
 No weeping friends call back the fleeting breath, 
 Nor save one victim from the dart of death? 
 No, tlv ugh the Court its stateliest pomp display, 
 And shouting myriads throng the guarded way, 
 Though the tall palace pierce the lofty sky, 
 Vet must the Monarch as the Peasant die. 
 Thrice fatal hour for Brunswick s Royal Race — 
 No more fair Charlotte's form their Courts shall grace, 
 No more her voice shall charm the list Yiing ear, 
 Nor ease the child of penury and care. 
 Oh ! when this tale far distant millions hear, 
 Why will not shed the sympatliizing tear ? 
 
590 LIFE OF THE 
 
 E'en barren cliffs some dewy drops shall spill, 
 And the bleak rock its rusty tears distil. 
 
 And thou, fair' Infant, whom no cares molest. 
 From sorrow free, in Heaven's eternal rest ; 
 Thy future fame the Bard had hop'd to sing, 
 And tell the glories of his embryo King ; 
 How distant isles thy mandates should obey, 
 And either India own thy godlike sway. 
 Delusive hope ! no tarrying here below, 
 Tho' born to reign- — snatch'd from this vale of woe ; 
 Spurn'd at a throne, a bright clad cherub thou, 
 A nobler crown adorns thy circling brow ; 
 Thy beauteous form, on wings of seraph borne, 
 Knelt at the centre of the Eternal Throne ; 
 With lisping voice and zephyrs silvery lays, 
 Join'd in the general theme of lofty praise ; 
 With trembling tongue pray'd the' dear face to see 
 Of her that bore a Mother's pangs for thee *, 
 Pray'd to conduct her through the deeps of air, 
 To join with thee the bright assembly there. 
 Pity prevailed, the good, the gracious God, 
 Benignarf; smil'd, and gave th' assenting nod. 
 Thy coral lips, with grateful rapture fir'd, 
 To chaunt a nobler sor :; of praise aspir d ; 
 With raptrous joy on the kind errand sped, 
 Heaven's glories shedding o'er the dying bed ; 
 With splendor deck'd, with seraphs' glories fraught., 
 The will of Heaven's eternal Ruler brought ; 
 With gentlest breath the heavenly summons sighed 
 Thy parent smiled, obey'd her God, and died ! 
 Oh, blissful hour ! Oh, child supremely blest ! 
 To waft thy Parent to eternal rest ; 
 Guide the new Angel to her native home, 
 And bid her welcome to a nobler throne ; 
 While round her head Heaven's vivid splendors play. 
 And star-wreathed angels line the dazzling way. 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 591 
 
 And tho' full oft our trickling tears may lave, 
 With many a bitter sigh, their early grave, 
 Their favoured barks have gain'd a happier shore, 
 Around whose halcyon shades no thunders roar.— 
 Then cease to groan, nor yield to dark despair, 
 For brighter courts and fairer Worlds are there. 
 Faringdon. J. B 
 
 On the Death of Princess Charlotte. 
 
 Sad by the couch, o'er which his bride reclin'd, 
 
 O'erwhelm'd with grief and agony of mind, 
 
 Her Consort stands — and gazing o'er her face, 
 
 Still hopes in every look and glance to trace 
 
 Something like life returning — still to see 
 
 Some faint expression of reviving energy. 
 
 But, ah ! his hopes are vain — his throbbing heart 
 
 Too keenly feels the pang—" We must for ever part S" 
 
 Her eyes were fix'd where all her joys had been, 
 
 And his, returning every look, were seen 
 
 Still bent to her, while leaning o'er her side 
 
 He watch'd the painful struggles of his bride. 
 
 In vain the effort to suppress his grief, 
 
 To check the tear, that, starting, brings relief! 
 
 His the sad fate to see her sink in death, 
 
 And* fainting in his arms, resign her breath: 
 
 In vain she tries to speak — -she softly sigh'd, 
 
 And, breathing gently, in his bosom died. 
 
 AN ODE, 
 To the Memory of Princess Charlotte. 
 
 Daughter of Joy ! with Spirit pure, 
 
 And beauteous Royal Form — 
 Thy loveliness might not endure 
 
 Affection s tender storm 1 
 
592 LIFE OF THE 
 
 And Thou must feed the humble worm— 
 
 Thyself, how humble then! 
 For Death shall lay the Victor's arm 
 
 As low as those he's slain. 
 And Monarchs sink like other men, 
 
 When life's poor dream is o'er ! 
 But Thou, Beloved Child of Pain, 
 
 In Death shall bind us more ! 
 A Nation's sighs thy loss deplore — 
 
 The tear of grief is shed — 
 And all thy Spirit wooed before, 
 
 Thy Memory hath wed ! 
 Ere yet Thou till thy narrow bed, 
 
 That should'st have fill'd a Throne ! 
 In cheerless State, we see thee laid, 
 
 That yesterday but shone. 
 But Heaven's Almighty Will be done ! 
 
 We grieve — while Seraphim rejoice— 
 For Thou eternally art one 
 
 In Adoration's voice. — 
 And Leopold was thy maiden choice— 
 
 Unbiass'd by control ; 
 He shunn'd with thee unmeaning toys, 
 
 For Sympathy of Soul ! — 
 A weeping Nation may condole 
 
 His lamentable plight — 
 But Suns of Joy to Him can roll 
 
 No sunshine of delight. 
 Thou wert the Charmer of his night— . 
 
 The Beauty of his day ! — 
 And he may weep, indeed, thy flight, 
 
 That ravish'd all away ! 
 Oh ! Thou wert fair as smiling May, 
 
 With goodness all thine own— 
 And Spirit, Time may truly say — 
 
 What Royalty hath shown ? 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 598 
 
 Still do we doubt — and art Thou flown 
 
 For ever from the Earth — 
 With heavenly glory round thee thrown 
 
 To memorize thy worth ! 
 Lov'd Majesty, that blest thy Birth, 
 
 Thine exit may not know— 
 For God hath dosed its eye on mirth, 
 
 And rapt his mind from woe ! 
 But oh I tlieir bosoms' restless throe., 
 
 Save Parents — who can feel — 
 Their Child hath left a wound below 
 
 That time may never heal 1 
 
 LINES on the Death of Princess Charlotte. 
 
 Fair smil'd the prospect under skies serene, 
 And remal beauty brighten'd every scene— 
 Her magic influence Music pour'd around, 
 Whilst Joy sat listening to the soothing sound ; 
 And Love, enraptur'd, lent his potent charm, 
 Chaste Feeling's fond impassion'd breast to warm— 
 Banish'd, amid the universal glow 
 Of pleasure, seem'd each sullen shade of woe, 
 And the completion, in its utmost scope, 
 Of promis'd bliss, was reaiiz'd by Hope. 
 
 Such lately, Claremont, in thy blooming shade, 
 Such was the prospect we beheld display 'd, 
 When last returning Spring's prolific powers 
 In renovated beauty clotb'd the bowers ; 
 And all ot nappiness man here can share, 
 With Heaven's permission, crown'd the Princely Pair, 
 Who deign'd, from cares ol regal state yet free, 
 To fix their royal residence in thee : 
 Where they, indeed, did bright examples prove 
 Of wedded faith, and harmony, and love— 
 4 G 
 
594 LIFE OF thi: 
 
 While their beneficence around thee shed 
 Its cheering beams on Want's declining head ; 
 And widows — orphans, rescu'd from distress, 
 Pour d ceaseless prayers to Heaven for their success^ 
 
 But ah, mysterious Fate ! involr'd in gloom 
 Impenetrable is man's future doom ; — 
 The smiling morn, that no dark clouds deform, 
 Ere noon may lour and burst into a starm : 
 And all Spring's flowery pride, iri beauty's glow, 
 A wintry gale may suddenly o'erthrow. 
 Such awful change misfortune often brings, 
 To blast the hopes of Nations and of Kings. 
 Lamented Princess ! such the dread decree, 
 That snatch'd from our fond expectations — Thee J 
 That left a doating Husband plung'd in grief; 
 No words can paint — no medicine yield relief! 
 Who hurl'd from happiness — bereft — forlorn — 
 Affection's tenderest ties asunder torn ! 
 His brightest prospects blasted — comforts fled— 
 In speechless agony now bows his head, 
 Struggling beneath Affliction's heaviest load, 
 To learn submission to the will of God ! 
 Dromore. 
 
 THE CONSOLATION. 
 
 Ascend, bright Orb, and take your flight 
 To the blissful realms of light ; 
 Behold your Saviour and your God 
 To Seraph Angel gives the nod, 
 Fly and and receive her in your breast, 
 Waft her to her heavenly rest. 
 
 Rising from her earthly dome 
 To her blest, eternal home, 
 Heaven's golden clouds now open wide. 
 From worldly eyes her form to hide ; 
 
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 595 
 
 The Spirits bless'd ail gaz'd to see 
 Her mortal frame immortal be. 
 
 Now Angels and Archangels sing 
 A Hallelujah to their King ; 
 Celestial harps, by Cherubs strung, 
 Reverb 'r?te to their Saviour's song ; 
 The voice of God now sounds the strain, 
 Come, Charlotte, to your God again. 
 
 THE CELESTIAL ROSE, 
 
 OR, 
 
 BRITISH SIGHS; 
 
 An Elegiac Tribute, to the Memory of Princess 
 Charlotte. 
 
 The pride of British Flowers ho mors 
 
 In splendor rears its head : 
 Ah! no: Britannia's hopes' are o'er, 
 
 Her Royal Charlotte's dead. 
 Dead is the sweetest, brightest Rose 
 
 E'er grac'd or hill or dell ; 
 Whilst Britons vent, in grief, their woes, 
 
 And sighing, cry — "Farewell!" 
 
 Is death eternal ? Oh ! no, no, 
 
 Such flowers can never die ; 
 They're wafted from a soii below, 
 
 To bloom in realms on high. 
 Hark I Hark ! divine seraphic tones 
 
 The heav'nly chorus swell 
 The welcome to etherial thrones, 
 
 Whilst Britons sigh-— "Farewell !" 
 
596 LIFE OF THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE 
 
 Such bliss in a celestial sphere 
 
 Must give us sweet relief, 
 Must tend to check our sorrows here, 
 
 And soften poignant grief, 
 Must melt those tender hearts who hear 
 
 The deep funereal knell, 
 Who, whilst they drop the pearly tear. 
 
 Sigh — softly sigh — " Farewell." 
 
 Then calm, Oh ! calm- such fond despair ; 
 
 Britons ! no more Y epine ; 
 Your Flower is His peculiar care, 
 
 Whose pruning hand's divine. 
 No more let grief your souls weigh down, 
 
 Your sighs and tears rejwl, 
 Celestial Joys your Charlotte crown, 
 
 IlesignM, then, say — " Farewell." 
 
 Belle Vue Place, J. BISSET. 
 
 Leamington Spa, &th Nov. 181'7. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 Stereotyped end Printed by J. M'Gowan, Great Windmill Street, Haynwrtkei. 
 
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