86. Baron de Breteuil returned to France in 1802, but never again took part in public affairs.
87. This is an error. At the age of eighteen, young Dumouriez distinguished himself at an affair of the advanced posts, under Marshal d’Estrées, and in the following year he obtained a cornetcy of horse.
88. Sister of the famous émigré, Count de Rivarol.
89. Southey tells this anecdote with more point. “A German pastor,” he says, “between seventy and eighty years of age, travelled forty miles with the Bible of his parish church, to request that Nelson would write his name on the first leaf of it. He called him the Saviour of the Christian world. The old man’s hope deceived him.”—Southey’s Life of Nelson, chap. vi.
90. Klopstock lost his first wife, Margaret Müller, in 1758, and regretted her loss until his own death, and his remains were laid in the same tomb. His second wife, Madame de Winthem, whom he married in 1791, was a lady of excellent character and rare merit: she was a widow at the time of her marriage with Klopstock.
91. A German portrait-painter, patronised by the Empress Maria-Theresa. He is best known, however, by his illustrations of Klopstock’s “Messiah.”
92. The Wrestlers’ Arms.
93. “The year 1800, though marked by no great political event, obtained a disastrous celebrity as a year of scarcity. At the commencement of harvest the rain descended in torrents, the lowlands were deluged with water, the crops were spoiled, the price of wheat rose to more than 120s. a quarter, and people resorted to all sorts of devices to economise the consumption of bread. Potatoes, potato flour, and rice, were the ordinary substitutes, and an Act of Parliament forbade the bakers to sell any but whole meal bread.”—The Diaries and Correspondence of the Right Hon. George Rose, vol. i. p. 280.
94. Sister of Lord Moira, afterwards Marquis of Hastings. In the two following chapters of this Memoir there is frequent notice of Lady Aylesbury.
95. Mrs. Fitzherbert must, at that time, have been in her forty-fifth year. She was about twenty-nine when she first attracted the attention of the Prince of Wales, who was six years her junior. They were married according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, on the 21st of December, 1785. When Miss Knight met Mrs. Fitzherbert on the occasion referred to (1800-1), the prince had been married for some time to Caroline of Brunswick. That ill-omened event took place on the 8th of April, 1795.
96. Daughter of the Earl of Dunmore. Lady Augusta was married to Prince Augustus (Duke of Sussex) at Rome, according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, and afterwards at St. George’s, Hanover-square. She had two children by the prince, but after her marriage was declared illegal, she refused to have further intercourse with him.
97. The Rev. William Nelson, who succeeded to the earldom on Nelson’s death, but left no issue.
98. The preliminaries were signed in London on the 1st of October, 1801, and in Paris on the 5th of the same month. The Treaty of Peace was concluded at Amiens on the 27th of March, 1802, and war again declared on the 18th of May, 1803.
99. Son of the Marquis of Aylesbury.
100. Correspondence of Henrietta Louisa Fermor, Countess of Pomfret, and Frances, Countess of Hartford, afterwards Duchess of Somerset.—Three vols. 8vo. London: 1805.
101. On the 31st of May the Duke of Cumberland returned to town from a dinner at Greenwich, in order to be present at a concert for the benefit of the Royal Society of Musicians. He retired to rest about one o'clock, and awoke a little after two, in consequence, as he thought, of a bat flying about the room. He had actually, however, received a severe sword-cut on the head, which was quickly followed up by a second. As his royal highness sprang out of bed the assassin cut him across the arm, and, in all, inflicted some half-dozen wounds before the duke could make his escape from the room. His cries quickly brought an English valet (Neale) to the spot, when a sabre belonging to the duke was found on the floor of the bedroom. Sellis, his Corsican or Italian valet, was then discovered stretched on his bed, partly undressed, and with his throat cut from ear to ear. The circumstantial evidence in proof of his guilt was conclusive, though many calumnious stories were afterwards circulated tending to criminate the duke himself, who had stood godfather to Sellis's last child. At the coroner's inquest the jury brought in a verdict of "felo de se," and the body of the wretched man was accordingly buried in "the high road" in Scotland-yard.
102. The Princess Amelia was born on the 7th of August, 1782, and died on the 2nd of November, 1810. From her earliest infancy she was extremely delicate, and perhaps for that reason was the especial favourite of the king. His malady was greatly aggravated by the shock which he sustained one day when he visited her during her last illness. The princess slipped upon his finger a ring, containing a lock of her hair under a crystal, and beneath the hair were inscribed her name and the words “Remember me.”
103. Previously Princess Royal of England.
104. This would have been a gross breach of etiquette. In Madame d’Arblay’s Memoirs there are some good-naturedly satirical directions given as to the conduct to be observed in the presence of royalty. “You must not upon any account stir either hand or foot. If, by chance, a black pin runs into your head, you must not take it out. If the pain is very great, you must be sure to bear it without wincing; if it brings the tears into your eyes, you must not wipe them off; if they give you a tingling by running down your cheeks, you must look as if nothing was the matter,” &c. &c.—Vol. ii. p. 407.
105. Lady George Murray was widow of Lord George Murray, Bishop of St. David’s. George the Third, proposing to appoint her preceptress to Princess Charlotte in 1805, commanded Mr. Rose to state distinctly what he knew about that lady. Mr. Rose then said, “that as a girl she was remarkably amiable, and very innocent; that she had been married when little more than a child to a young man under age; that she had conducted herself most unexceptionably, to say the least, both as a wife and mother; that he had never heard a syllable to her disadvantage, but much in her commendation.”—Diaries and Correspondence of the Right Hon. George Rose, vol. ii.
106. The pall was supported by the Viscountess Cranley, Lady E. Thynne, the Countess of Ely, and Lady G. Murray. The chief mourner was the Countess of Chesterfield, whose train was borne by Lady Halford, the wife of the eminent physician, supported by the Countesses of Macclesfield and Ilchester. The ladies attendant on the Queen and Princesses who were present on this occasion were Lady Albinia Cumberland, Miss Goldsworthy, Mrs. Williams, Hon. Mrs. Fielding, Hon. Mrs. Egerton, Hon. Miss Townshend, Madame and Mademoiselle Beckersdorff, Miss Knight, Mrs. Adams, Miss Montmollin, Miss Planta, Miss Gaskin, Miss Byerley, Mrs. Davenport, and Mrs. Robinson. The funeral took place in the evening of the 14th of November.
107. The words of the concluding verse of the sixteenth Psalm: “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
108. The comet of 1811 was first discovered at Viviers by M. de Flanguergues on the 25th March. It was seen at Marseilles by the Messrs. Pons on the 11th April, and at Paris on the 20th May. It then became invisible until some time in August, when it was first seen in England. Its nearest approach to the earth was on the 24th of October, on which the Gentleman’s Magazine remarks: “We regret to say that the awfully sublime stranger will not much longer appear to the same advantage to our view.” The length of its tail was conjectured to be between twenty and thirty millions of miles.
109. The Princess’s governesses were the Countess Elgin and Baroness de Clifford. In 1809, Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury, was appointed her Royal Highness’s preceptor, with Drs. Nott and Short as his assistants.
110. Afterwards Lady Charlotte Bury, authoress of “A Diary Illustrative of the Times of George the Fourth,” and of many now forgotten novels, such as “The Disinherited,” “The Devoted,” “Flirtation,” “Fortune-Hunting,” &c.
111. Lady Aylesbury died in Seymour-street, on the 8th of January, 1813.
112. Lady Aylesbury’s niece.
113. Daughter of Lord Keith; afterwards Baroness Keith (1823)—married in 1817 the Count de Flahault, the present (1860-61) French Ambassador at our Court.
114. Lord Eldon’s grandfather, William Scott, of Sandgate, was “said to have been clerk to a ‘fitter,’ and who, in the latter part of his life, himself became the owner of several ‘keels’—a ‘fitter’ being the person who buys and sells coals between the owner of the mine and the shipper, and who conveys them in ‘keels,’ or barges, from the higher parts of the Tyne to Newcastle or Shields, where they are loaded for exportation.”—Lord Campbell’s Life of Lord Eldon.
Lady Charlotte Campbell thus relates this scene at second-hand: “Sunday, 17th (January), Lady de Clifford came and told the Princess all the story of the Regent’s scolding Princess Charlotte over again, and repeated what he had said in respect to her never having an establishment till she married. He had also, she said, called her a fool, and used other violent language. The Chancellor told the Princess Charlotte that if she had been his daughter, and had written him such a letter, he would have locked her up till she came to her senses. ‘Rather violent language,’ said Lady de Clifford, ‘for a coal-heaver’s son to the future Queen of England.’”—Diary Illustrative of the Times of George the Fourth, vol. i.
115. Lord Moira’s wife, a Countess in her own right.
116. In Lady C. Campbell’s “Diary Illustrative of the Times of George the Fourth” there occurs the following entry, under the date of the 24th of January: “She (the Princess Charlotte) told her mother that there had been a great battle at Windsor between the Queen and the Prince; the former refusing to give up Miss Knight from her own person to attend on Princess Charlotte as sub-governess; but the Prince Regent had gone to Windsor himself, and insisted on her doing so, and the ‘old begum’ was forced to submit, but has been ill ever since, and Sir Henry Halford declared it was a complete breaking up of the constitution (to the great delight of the two Princesses who were talking about the affair). Miss Knight was the very person they wished to have; they think they can do as they like with her.” Upon this the editor remarks in a footnote: “In this idea their Royal Highnesses were much mistaken; for Miss Knight was a person of uncompromising integrity and steady rectitude of conduct. A devoted royalist, but not a sycophant, no one has proved more than she has the fallaciousness of Court favour. The Queen Charlotte never forgave her for having left her service to attend the young Princess Charlotte, and the Regent afterwards dismissed her in an unjust manner from the post in which he had himself placed her, and which every one who knows Miss Knight is confident she never was unworthy of.”
117. Warwick House stood at the end of Warwick-street, which stretches from Cockspur-street towards Carlton House-terrace, but terminates in a cul-de-sac. The site of the house itself, between which and the gardens of Carlton House there appears to have been a private communication, is now occupied by some livery stables. Warwick House was formerly the residence of Sir Philip Warwick, the well-known Royalist writer, who was born there in 1609. The street, which was built at a later date, was called after the Warwick family, and still retains the name.
118. Sister of Colonel Goldsworthy, one of the royal equerries most frequently mentioned in Madame D’Arblay’s Memoirs. She was very deaf, and in the habit of falling asleep at the dinner-table.
119. Daughter of Thomas Anguish, Esq., a Master in Chancery.
120. Catherine Anne Sarah, daughter of fifth Duke of Leeds, born 1798; married, in 1819, to J. Whyte-Melville, Esq., of Bennochy.
121. “He (Prince Regent) was indeed,” said the Duke (of Wellington), “the most extraordinary compound of talent, wit, buffoonery, obstinacy, and good feeling; in short, a medley of the most opposite qualities, with a great preponderance of good, that I ever saw in any character in my life.”—Raikes’s Journal, vol. i.
122. “Miss Knight is appointed sub-governess to the Princess Charlotte of Wales in the room of Mrs. Udney, who retired with Lady de Clifford.”—Morning Chronicle, January 30.
“Miss Knight, who succeeds Mrs. Udney as sub-governess to the Princess Charlotte, is the daughter of the late admiral who died in the Mediterranean, and who, when in Italy with her father, may be remembered by her verses on the transactions then occurring there. Since her return she has been in attendance on the Queen.”—Morning Chronicle, February 1.
123. “Miss Knight is not appointed sub-governess to her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte. Miss Knight is one of the ladies companions to her Royal Highness, and is the daughter of the late Sir Joseph Knight.”—Morning Chronicle, February 4.
This contradiction, however, did not remove the impression that Miss Knight was the governess of the Princess. Sir Harris Nicolas, in his edition of the “Correspondence of Lord Nelson,” speaks of her as “preceptress” and “sub-governess,” and Lord Colchester, in his journal, does the same.
124. Nephew of George the Third, and brother of Queen Caroline, afterwards killed at Quatre-Bras.
125. The Duke of York’s country residence.
126. The Duke of Gloucester was first cousin of the Regent. He died on the 20th of November, 1834, at Bagshot, after a painful illness of fifteen days, aged fifty-nine. He married in 1816 the Princess Mary, his cousin, sister of the Regent. “He was not a man of talent, as may be inferred from his nickname of Silly Billy, but he was a quiet, inoffensive character, rather tenacious of the respect due to his rank, and strongly attached to the ultra-Tory party. His father, the late Duke, married Lady Waldegrave; thus he was uncle to Mrs. Darner.”—Raikes’s Journal, vol. i.
127. Lord Eldon.
128. According to “The Mirror of Fashion,” Miss Knight wore on this occasion “a dress of orange-coloured satin, with draperies of silver gauze, tastefully separated with net silver rolio, forming a lacing between each, through which the colour of the satin under-dress was discovered; the whole trimmed with handsome silver cords and tassels; robe, black velvet.”
129. Cambridge House, South Audley-street.
130. “The Mirror of Fashion” informs us that Miss Knight’s dress was “of white net, spangled all over with gold, and ornamented with broad borders, with wreaths of fancy flowers, over a rich white satin slip.”
131. Afterwards William the Fourth.
132. This letter occupied a column and a half of the Morning Chronicle of the 10th of February, and is dated from Montague House, January 14, 1813. On the 11th of February that journal gave the following account of the mode by which the letter in question had come into its possession: “It was transmitted on the 14th ult. to Lord Liverpool and Lord Eldon, sealed by Lady Charlotte Campbell as lady in waiting for the month, expressing her Royal Highness’s pleasure that it should be presented to the Prince Regent; and there was an open copy for their perusal. On the 15th, the Earl of Liverpool presented his compliments to Lady Charlotte Campbell, and returned the letter unopened. On the 16th, it was returned by Lady Charlotte, intimating that as it contained matter of importance to the state, she relied on their laying it before his Royal Highness. It was again returned unopened, with the Earl of Liverpool’s compliments to Lady Charlotte, saying that the Prince saw no reason to depart from his determination. On the 17th, it was returned in the same way by command of her Royal Highness, expressing her confidence that the two noble Lords would not take upon themselves the responsibility of not communicating the letter to his Royal Highness, and that she should not be the only subject in the empire whose petition was not to be permitted to reach the throne. To this an answer was given that the contents of it had been made known to the Prince. On the 19th, her Royal Highness directed a letter to be addressed to the two noble Lords, desiring to know whether it had been made known to his Royal Highness by being read to him, and to know his pleasure thereon. No answer was given to this letter, and therefore, on the 26th, she directed a letter to be written expressing her surprise that no answer had been given to her application for a whole week. To this an answer was received addressed to the Princess, stating that in consequence of her Royal Highness’s demand, her letter had been read to the Prince Regent on the 20th, but that he had not been pleased to express his pleasure thereon. Here the correspondence was closed, and some days after this copies of the letter were in circulation, but we know not from what quarter they originated.” The letter will be found in the Appendix.
133. The Princess of Wales then resided at Brandenburg House, at Kensington.
134. Lord Liverpool was, at that time, Prime Minister. His premiership commenced in 1812, and ended in 1827.
135. Major-General Sir John Douglass had declared that the Princess of Wales was delivered of a child in 1802. This vile calumny was refuted by the evidence adduced before Lords Grenville, Spencer, Erskine, and Ellenborough, sitting in commission, in 1806. After Sir John’s revival of this disproved slander, he was suspended from employment about the Duke of Sussex, expelled from a masonic lodge, and spoken of with contempt by Lord Castlereagh in the Upper House, and by Mr. Whitbread in the House of Commons.
136. One of the sons of the Duke of Clarence (by Mrs. Jordan), and, therefore, first cousin of the Princess. There is subsequent mention of this calumny at page 226.
137. The report of the commission appointed to investigate the conduct of the Princess of Wales is given in the Appendix.
138. Mother of the Princess of Wales. Her Royal Highness died at her lodgings in Hanover-square.
139. The Princess of Wales had, at this time, taken up her residence in the village of Charlton, near Blackheath.
140. Sir Henry Halford’s very interesting account of the opening of the coffin of Charles the First is given in the Appendix.
141. Daughter of Dr. Roberts, Provost of Eton, then deceased some years.
142. Lady Charlotte Campbell says in her Diary: “Her (the Princess’s) legs and feet are very pretty; her Royal Highness knows that they are so, and wears extremely short petticoats. Her face would be pretty, too, if the outline of her cheeks was not so full.”
143. The following is the letter referred to in the text. It is addressed to the Duchess of Leeds:
“Madam,—Nothing can exceed my gratitude to the Prince Regent for the confidence he has been pleased to place in me. It will be imprinted deeply on my mind while I have life.
“My attachment to the Princess Charlotte is very great, and there is nothing I would not do to prove it. I am also most sensible of your Grace’s kindness; but, although her Majesty has been graciously pleased to say that she leaves me unbiased as to my decision, duty and gratitude oblige me to consider myself as belonging to her, and therefore not at liberty to accept what would have otherwise been my ambition.
“As this is my only cause for declining the honour offered me, I will entreat your Grace to communicate it to the Prince, and to believe me, madam,” &c.
144. The following is the Prince’s letter:
“My Dear Lord,—Your glorious conduct is beyond all human praise, and far above my reward; I know no language the world affords worthy to express it. I feel I have nothing left to say, but devoutly to offer up my prayers of gratitude to Providence, that it has in its omnipotent bounty blessed my country and myself with such a general. You have sent me, among the trophies of your unrivalled fame, the staff of a French marshal; and I send you in return that of England. The British army will hail it with enthusiasm, while the whole universe will acknowledge those valorous efforts which have so imperiously called for it. That uninterrupted health, and still increasing laurels, may continue to crown you through a glorious and long career of life, are the never-ceasing and most ardent wishes of, my dear Lord,
“Your very sincere and
“Faithful friend
“G. P. R.
“The Marquis of Wellington.”
145. “July 1. At Warwick House, Mrs. Gagarin, many years an affectionate and faithful attendant of the Princess Charlotte of Wales. Her last moments were solaced by the condescending and unremitting attentions of her Royal Highness, reflecting a lustre on the native goodness of her heart, superior to all the appendages of her exalted rank.”—Gent. Mag., August, 1813.
146. Chancellor of the Duchy of Cornwall.
147. The subjoined letter, from Lord St. Vincent to Miss Knight, relates to this subject:
“My dear Madam,—Under the circumstances you were placed in, nothing could be better judged than your letter; the reply wore the finesse of a courtier; the means of applying an antidote to the poison are difficult in a position surrounded by spies, prone to put that construction upon actions which they think will be most pleasing to the persons who listen to them, mixed with envy and malice. Truth will in the long run prevail; in the mean while you have a powerful shield in the correctness of your conduct through life, and the integrity with which you have performed the important duties of your present station. I dread the effect these miserable subterfuges may have upon the young lady’s mind, happily formed to resist attempts to make her a hypocrite; yet to have the movement of her muscles watched, and a wrong interpretation put upon all her actions, must produce an ill effect, in the practice of concealment of thought at least, if not driven to carry it farther. One should have expected that her openness of character would have created confidence.
“I rejoice that your health does not suffer under these painful restrictions and suspicions. You have the most ardent wishes for the continuance of it and every other blessing, of
“Your truly affectionate,
“St. Vincent.
“Rochetts, Aug. 23, 1813.”
148. The Governor of the Military College, Sandhurst.
149. Afterwards first King of the Netherlands.
150. “The Duke of Brunswick is very-near being a handsome man; his figure is light and graceful; and were it not that he carries his head ill, he would be a noble-looking creature. His eyes are deep sunk in his head, more so than I ever saw in any one, and his brows are remarkably prominent, with shaggy eyebrows. This circumstance gives him a sombre expression, and indeed the whole cast of his countenance is gloomy, but his features are regular; and, when he smiles, there is a transitory sweetness which is very striking, by the contrast to his usual severity of expression. In manner he is very reserved—stiff and Germanic. He remained some time conversing with his sister (Princess of Wales) in German, eyeing the lady-in-waiting occasionally askance. He seemed glad to take his leave.”—Lady C. Campbell’s Diary, vol. i.
151. “May 31, 1814. The latter (Princess Charlotte) told her mother, the last time they met, that she was determined not to marry the Prince of Orange; that ‘his being approved of by the Royal Family was quite sufficient to make him disapproved of by her; for that she would marry a man who would be at her devotion, not theirs. Marry I will,’ said she to the Princess of Wales, ‘and that directly, in order to enjoy my liberty, but not the Prince of Orange. I think him so ugly that I am sometimes obliged to turn my head away in disgust when he is speaking to me.’
“‘But, my dear,’ replied her mother (at least so her Royal Highness told me), ‘whoever you marry will become a king, and you will give him a power over you.’
“‘A king! Pho, pho! Never! He will only be my first subject—never my king!’”—Lady C. Campbell’s Diary, vol. i.
152. There is apparently an error of a week in this—the date should be the 11th. See note, infra, page 268.
153. “Sunday, January 9.... There was hung in the apartment one portrait, amongst others, that very much resembled the Duke of D. I asked Miss Knight whom it represented; she said that was not known; it had been supposed a likeness of the Pretender when young.”—Lady C. Campbell’s Diary, vol. i.
154. There is evidently some confusion of dates in this narrative. It was on the 14th December that the grand City banquet was given at the London Tavern in honour of the hereditary Prince of Orange—the Duke of Clarence in the chair. According to Lord Colchester (Diary), the young Prince did not arrive from Spain before the 11th of December.
155. Purposely erased in the original journal.
156. “The frost was ushered in by a fog which, for its intensity and duration, has seldom been equalled. This began about five in the evening of Monday, December 27th.... The Prince Regent, intending to pay a visit to the Marquis of Salisbury at Hatfield House, was obliged to return back to Carlton House, after one of his out-riders had fallen into a ditch on this side of Kentish Town, and which short excursion occupied several hours. Mr. Croker, of the Admiralty, also wishing to proceed on a visit northward, wandered in the dark several hours without making more than three or four miles’ progress.... There is nothing in the memory of man to equal the late fall of snow, which, after several shorter intervals, continued incessantly for forty-eight hours, and this, too, after the ground was covered with a condensation, the result of nearly four weeks’ continued frost. Almost the whole of the time the wind blew continually from the north and north-east, and was intensely cold.”—Universal Magazine, January, 1814.
The thaw did not commence until the 6th of February, 1814, and a fair was held on the Thames for several weeks. “Paths were formed,” says the Universal Magazine for March, “both direct and diagonal from shore to shore; and frequent cautions were given to those heroines whose curiosity induced them to venture on the glassy plane, to be careful not to slip off the kerb. The votaries of Terpsichore amused themselves with the mazy dance, in which they were accompanied principally by Pandean pipes, while others diverted themselves with skittles; and the well-known cry of ‘Up and win ’em’ resounded from the voices of numerous vendors of savoury pies, gin, and gingerbread, &c. Most of the booths were distinguished by appropriate signs; there were the Watermen’s Arms, the Crown, the Magpye, the Eelpot, &c.; and one wag had a notice appended to his tent that several feet adjoining his premises were to be let on a building lease.”
157. The Morning Chronicle of January 6th gives the following account of the christening at Belvoir:
“The baptismal ceremony of the infant Marquis (who, to use the phrase of a nurse, ‘is as fine a little fellow of four months old as ever was seen’) took place at six o’clock in the evening (4th January, 1814). The sponsors were—
H.R.H. the Prince Regent - in person,
H.R.H. the Duke of York - in person,
Her Grace the Duchess-Dowager of Rutland, proxy for H.M. the Queen.
His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury arrived at the Castle early in the morning, and he performed the baptismal ceremony with solemnity and graceful expression, assisted by the Rev. John Thornton, Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Rutland, who made the responses.... A discharge of fifteen cannon from the Castle announced the event,” &c. &c. There are long accounts in the papers of the time of the festivities at Belvoir Castle. The Prince Regent’s subsequent illness may be thence easily accounted for.”
158. “A singularly neat and very elegant landau will be launched in a few days by H.R.H. the Princess Charlotte of Wales. It is built by Messrs. Birch and Son, Great Queen-street, Lincoln’s Inn-fields. The carriage is beautifully finished. The body is painted a fine light green, emblazoned with arms, supporters, &c., with mantles on the panels. On the side panels is a beautiful à la Grecque border, enclosing the cipher C. P. W., with a coronet above. The same ornaments are placed on the door rails; very superb silver joints, lamps, and other appropriate ornaments, extremely neat; the lining is a fine scarlet cloth, with rich gold lace and fringe; the hammercloth is, agreeable to royal etiquette, composed of scarlet cloth, very full, with a purple velvet border, and trimmed with gold lace. Outside elbows are introduced, but the projection is upon so moderate a scale that they are scarcely perceptible. The carriage is a very light compass perch painted yellow, picked out with maroon colour, hung upon whip springs, two feet six inches from the ground; silver hoops to the wheels; an upright coach-box, made in the usual style, but not fixed.”—Morning Chronicle, February 3rd, 1814.
This statement was contradicted in the same paper on the following day “by authority.”
159. “The Baron Van der Duyn Van Maasdam, Grand Master of the Household to his Royal Highness the Prince Sovereign of the Netherlands, whose presentation to the Prince Regent at a private audience on the 9th inst (March), accompanied by M. Fagel, the regular ambassador, was notified in the Gazette of Saturday last, as having come on a special mission from the Court of the Hague, has been sent over to make a demand in form of the Princess Charlotte’s hand in marriage for the hereditary Prince of Orange. The sanction of the previous consent and approbation of the Prince Regent, the Princess herself, and of the whole Court and Government, has already smoothed the way to the arrangements of this important and auspicious union, which must, however, according to the established etiquette among crowned heads, be demanded by embassy after it has been agreed upon by the parties; and the settlements and provisions resulting from the exalted condition and prospective sovereign duties of the personages to be married, must be reduced into a treaty by plenipotentiaries specially appointed. M. Van Maasdam is charged with full powers for this purpose on the part of the Prince Sovereign of the Netherlands.”—Morning Chronicle, March 17, 1814.
160. It had been adjourned to that date.
161. See Lord Colchester’s Journal, under date February 28. “At Lord Sidmouth’s office met Lord Liverpool; talked over the proceedings upon the intended marriage of the Princess Charlotte to the hereditary Prince of Orange, which is to be communicated to Parliament before Easter.”
162. “May 21, 1814. The Prince of O——e, it is said, wishes his wife to go with him to his own Dutch land, and so does the Prince Regent, who does not like a rising sun in his own: but report also whispers that the rising sun is aware of this, and will not consent to the marriage, unless she is allowed to shine in her own dominions.”—Lady C. Campbell’s Diary, vol. i.