THE ALLIED SOVEREIGNS—RUPTURE WITH THE PRINCE OF ORANGE—PRINCE
LEOPOLD—FAMILY SCENES—LETTER OF THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE—HER ESCAPE FROM
WARWICK HOUSE—SCENE AT CARLTON HOUSE—THE PRINCESS IN DURANCE.
SOON afterwards arrived the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia,
with the Hereditary Princes of Prussia, Würtemberg, and Bavaria; Prince
William, second son of the King of Prussia; his two brothers, Prince
Henry and Prince William; Prince Augustus, cousin to the King and
Lieutenant-General of the Artillery; Prince Anthony de Radzivil, the
husband of Princess Louisa of Prussia; the Prince of Oldenburg;[175]
Prince Frederick, nephew of the King of Prussia, and many general
officers; amongst the rest, Blücher and Platoff. London was out of its
senses, and nothing but amusement was going on. Princess Charlotte was
at one dinner at Carlton House to meet these royal personages; but at no
other of the parties, either there or at Lord Stafford’s, Lord
Cholmondeley’s, or any other house where they and the Regent were
invited.
The Regent came one morning with the Bishop of Salisbury: seemed greatly
out of humour, and wished Princess Charlotte to relinquish, as a mark of
civility to the House of Orange, the insertion of the article. This she
respectfully declined. The Queen bought her wedding clothes, and told
her she need have only one court dress, as hoop petticoats were not worn
in Holland. This, and a letter which she received from Princess Mary
just before the Sovereigns were about to leave England, saying that as
soon as they should be gone it was the intention of the Prince to send
for the Orange family, and to have the wedding immediately, threw her
into great alarm, and induced her to resolve on having an explanation
with the Prince of Orange. He amused himself very well all this time,
danced at all the balls, went to Oxford, and everywhere. At his return
from Oxford the explanation took place, and it finished by a rupture of
the marriage.[176]
All the Princes visited Princess Charlotte, and I was particularly
pleased with the manners of the Russians. There appeared to be great
information, dignified affability, and no affectation amongst them.
Their appearance was also highly in their favour, for most of them were
handsome and fine figures. The Emperor of Russia came three or four
times with his sister to Warwick House. They became violent advocates
for the Prince of Orange, after the rupture of the marriage, and, I
believe, in consequence of a long conversation the Regent had with the
Grand Duchess, in which he is thought to have painted his daughter in no
very pleasing colours. However that might be, when we went to take leave
of these Russians, the day before their departure, at five o’clock, by
the Grand Duchess’s appointment, she took Princess Charlotte into a
private room, and afterwards came out of it leaving her alone with the
Emperor, having herself to receive the visits of the Duke d’Orleans, the
Duke of Gloucester, and Princess Sophia Matilda. To this I respectfully
objected, and requested I might be allowed to join Princess Charlotte.
This she at first refused, and said she was very safe with the Emperor;
but I said it was the Regent’s order that she should not be left without
the Duchess of Leeds or myself, even when her own uncles visited her.
She then unwillingly let me go, and I had some difficulty in getting
past the Russian servants, who stood at the door of the room, where I
found the Princess Charlotte with the Emperor. She seemed agitated, and
he was persuading her to see the Prince of Orange, _who was in the
house_;—I should rather say endeavouring to persuade her, for she had no
inclination to give way. A newspaper lay on the table. He went up to it,
and pointing to the name of Mr. Whitbread, he said she was giving up an
excellent marriage, one essential to the interests of her country, and
all to be praised by “a Mr. Whitbread.” As he addressed this speech to
me, I answered that his Majesty was much mistaken if he supposed that
gentleman or any other had influenced Princess Charlotte’s conduct.
“Really?” he replied. I repeated the assertion, which Princess Charlotte
herself confirmed, and the Emperor then asked me to persuade her Royal
Highness to see the Prince of Orange, and renew the acquaintance. I
answered that I had no right to interfere, and that a matter of such
importance and delicacy could only be decided by her Royal Highness
herself and the Regent. The Emperor, finding at last that he could gain
nothing, took his leave on the entrance of his sister, and said he must
join the Duke of Gloucester and the Prince of Orange. She did not renew
her solicitations, but took an affectionate leave of Princess Charlotte,
and kissed me.
After the Sovereigns were gone, we heard that the King of Prussia had
insisted on the Prince of Orange (who had remained incognito) leaving
the country, and had expressed himself with great moderation and
propriety on the subject of the marriage being broken off. Prince
Radzivil stayed some time longer, and we saw him twice or thrice. His
friend, Prince Adam Czartorisky, a Pole of great influence in his own
country, and who had been Prime Minister of Russia, had been introduced,
and called to take leave. We heard nothing from Carlton House; and
Princess Charlotte’s knee still suffering from the hurt it had received,
increasing in pain from the sleepless nights she endured and the
agitation of her mind, which also had an effect on her general health,
Baillie, Clive, and Keate, who attended her, gave it in writing as their
opinion that she ought to go to the sea-side for two or three months.
About this time the Bishop, who often saw the Chancellor and Lord
Liverpool, and was also, I believe, employed by the Regent, who formerly
disliked and despised him, hinted to Princess Charlotte in a private
conversation, and to me _on paper_, as I wrote to him on the subject,
that unless Princess Charlotte would write a submissive letter to her
father, and hold out a hope that in a few months she might be induced to
give her hand to the Prince of Orange, arrangements would be made by no
means agreeable to her inclinations. Her Royal Highness wrote to the
Regent a most submissive and affectionate letter, but held out no hope
of renewing the treaty of marriage.
This letter was sent on Saturday, the 9th of July. We heard various
reports of the intentions of the Regent: it was said that I and the
servants were to be dismissed, and that an apartment was being fitted up
for Princess Charlotte at Carlton House. Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg,
a handsome young man, a general in the Russian service, brother-in-law
to the Grand-Duke Constantine, and a great favourite with the Emperor of
Russia, told Miss Mercer Elphinstone many of these particulars. He had
been once at Warwick House, the Duchess of Leeds and myself being
present. Miss Mercer Elphinstone, who was intimately acquainted with
him, came in while he was there. He paid many compliments to Princess
Charlotte, who was by no means partial to him, and only received him
with civility. However, Miss Mercer evidently wished to recommend him,
and when we drove in the Park, he would ride near the carriage, and
endeavour to be noticed. There were reasons why this matter was by no
means agreeable to Princess Charlotte. However, he certainly made
proposals to the Regent, and, though rejected, found means to get into
his favour. In the mean while, it was reported that he was frequently at
Warwick House, and had even taken tea with us, which not one of the
Princes had done except Prince Radzivil, whom we invited to sing and
accompany himself on the guitar. We heard that Lady Ilchester and Lady
Rosslyn were talked of as being about Princess Charlotte, and I had
hints from some of my friends, particularly from Lady Rolle, that a
change was about to take place.
However, the letter of the 9th remained unanswered till the 11th, on
which day the Bishop was detained almost the whole morning at Carlton
House, and at five Princess Charlotte and I were ordered to go over. Her
Royal Highness was too ill to obey; but I went, and found the Regent
very cold, very bitter, and very silent. I, however, took the
opportunity of contradicting any false reports he might have heard
relative to the Prince of Saxe-Coburg, and he answered that this Prince
was a most honourable young man, and had written him a letter which
perfectly justified himself, and said that he was invited by Princess
Charlotte; but that it was Prince Augustus of Prussia, and not he, who
was in the habit of going to Warwick House. I justified Prince Augustus,
as he well deserved; and apologised for Princess Charlotte’s not coming
over to Carlton House. The Prince said she must either come the next
day, or Baillie must come to say she was not capable of walking over.
With this melancholy prospect I returned to my anxious Princess, whom I
found with Miss Mercer, and told all that had passed. Miss Mercer
expressed considerable displeasure at the conduct of Prince Leopold of
Saxe-Coburg; and that evening Princess Charlotte told the page that it
was possible all the servants might be sent away, but that she would
never forget them, and would take them again whenever it was in her
power. She also wrote the following most energetic letter to the Bishop,
asserting her own innocence and mine:
FROM PRINCESS CHARLOTTE TO THE BISHOP OF SALISBURY.
Monday night, July 11, 1814.
MY DEAR LORD,—As I saw your carriage for some time this evening in
my yard, I had hoped you would have come through Warwick House, and
that I should have been able to have spoken to you, as I gave orders
in case you did to show you into the drawing-room.
Being disappointed in this, I take up my pen to say that you cannot
but suppose Miss Knight informed me of all that passed, which, as it
relates more to her than to myself, I still more deeply feel.
I believe your Lordship has known me long enough to know that
severity of any kind rather injures than does a cause good _with
me_, whereas kindness may do a great deal; at all events is more
difficult to withstand. Anything but my friend’s or my character
being _aspersed_ I may submit to quietly; but this I neither can nor
_will do_, as I owe it to myself positively to _declare the whole
allegation to be false_ and _a base lie_, to answer some very deep
design which I cannot guess, as I am far from entering into any
cabals. My word has as yet been doubted by no one, and as likely,
therefore, to be believed as _any foreigner, or native_. Feeling the
consciousness as I do of innocence, both as to myself and Miss
Knight, I feel in the most lively manner the scene of to-day, and
what I have to expect to-morrow. But I can assure you no such
violent accusations or measures will have any effect on me, but have
the most fatal upon their inventors and advisers, as I do not see
why my character or Miss Knight’s should be aspersed with impunity
any more than any one’s else. I shall therefore never cease till I
have discovered and brought to light who are my base calumniators
with the Prince. I regret exceedingly your having been partaker of
so unpleasant a scene, and still more of the little influence you
have with the Prince to vindicate a person you have brought up from
childhood, or those attached to her. Either Miss Knight or myself
will inform the Prince of Mr. Keate’s visit tonight, who is coming
to examine my knee, with which I am suffering more than I have done
for some time owing to the highly anxious morning I have passed.
(Signed) CHARLOTTE.
Next day, Baillie said she was quite capable of going over, and advised
her so to do, but she was really so ill and so much affected, that it
was impossible. Her Royal Highness, therefore, wrote to the Regent,
entreating he would come to her. The Duchess of Leeds, who,
unfortunately, had been ordered to send in her resignation some time
before, but still came as usual to Warwick House, called that morning,
but I could not persuade her to stay till the Prince’s arrival, as she
said he might think it improper her being there. About six he came,
attended by the Bishop only (as I supposed), but he came up alone, and
desired I would leave him with Princess Charlotte. He was shut up with
her three-quarters of an hour, and afterwards a quarter more with the
Bishop and her Royal Highness. The door then opened, and she came out in
the greatest agony, saying she had but one instant to speak to me, for
that the Prince asked for me. I followed her into her dressing-room,
where she told me the new ladies were in possession of the house; that I
and all the servants were to be dismissed; that she was to be confined
at Carlton House for five days, after which she was to be taken to
Cranbourne Lodge, in the midst of Windsor Forest, where she was to see
no one but the Queen once a week, and that if she did not go immediately
the Prince would sleep at Warwick House that night, as well as all the
ladies. I begged her to be calm, and advised her to go over as soon as
possible, assuring her that her friends would not forget her. She fell
on her knees in the greatest agitation, exclaiming, “God Almighty grant
me patience!” I wished to stay and comfort her, but she urged me to go
to the Prince, for fear of greater displeasure.
I went to him, and he shut the door; the Bishop was with him. He told me
he was sorry to put a lady to inconvenience, but that he wanted my room
that evening for the ladies, repeating what Princess Charlotte had
already told me. I asked in what I had offended, but he said he made no
complaint, and would make none; that he had a right to make any changes
he pleased, and that he was blamed for having let things go on as they
had done. He repeated his apology for putting a lady to the
inconvenience of leaving the house at so short a notice, and I replied
that, my father having served his Majesty for fifty years, and
sacrificed his health and fortune to that service, it would be very
strange if I could not put myself to the temporary inconvenience of a
few hours. He then said that in the arrangements at Carlton House there
was a room which I might have for a night or two, if I had nowhere to
go. This I declined, thanking him, but saying that I had lodgings, which
fortunately were now vacant; and that Lord and Lady Rolle, who seemed to
know much more of the business than I did, had, to my great surprise,
offered me their house for the last fortnight. I then made a low curtsey
to him, and left the room.
What was my astonishment when I could not find Princess Charlotte
anywhere, and when at length Miss Mercer and her maid, who had come (as
was often the case) to dress her before dinner, appeared from my
bedroom, the latter crying, and Miss Mercer saying she supposed Princess
Charlotte was gone to her mother!
The Prince came forward when I returned to the dressing-room, and I
brought Miss Mercer, who desired I would do so, that she might not be
suspected of anything clandestine. She told him, that as she was
dressing herself in Princess Charlotte’s bedroom, she heard her say she
would go to her mother (Lewis, the dresser, thought when she took her
bonnet she was going to Carlton House), and before they could prevent it
she had disappeared. The Prince was very cool, and rather seemed
pleased, saying he was glad that everybody would now see what she was,
and that it would be known on the Continent, and no one would marry her.
Miss Mercer cried, and said she hoped he did not think _her_ to blame. I
was indignant at the abuse cast upon Princess Charlotte. The Bishop and
Miss Mercer offered to go and look for her, and proposed my accompanying
them, which I refused, saying I should wait, for that I did not wish to
be in _that house_—meaning the Princess of Wales’—but that if I went,
and Princess Charlotte asked me to stay with her, I could not refuse
remaining with her _there or in a prison_.
They went off, and I withdrew to my own room, whence I sent to Lady
Salisbury, requesting she would lend me her carriage, which she promised
to send me when it had taken her to the Opera at nine. About that hour
the Bishop returned. He did not come to me, but I heard he was gone over
to Carlton House; that he had found Princess Charlotte, but had not
brought her with him. I therefore went immediately to Connaught-place,
and asked to see Princess Charlotte alone. Lady Charlotte Lindsay, in
waiting on the Princess of Wales, came out to me and told me that her
Royal Highness was with her mother, Miss Mercer Elphinstone, and Mr.
Brougham, in the next room, and the Princess of Wales desired I would
walk in. She added how much the Princess had been surprised when she
heard by a messenger despatched from the house to Blackheath (whither
she had gone on business) that Princess Charlotte was there, and not
finding Mr. Whitbread and another member—I forget whom[177]—to advise
with, had sent for Mr. Brougham, and that before she got home Princess
Charlotte had sent for the Duke of Sussex. I still begged to see
Princess Charlotte alone, to which Lady Charlotte Lindsay seemed willing
to consent; but Miss Mercer, who came in, said she had promised the
Regent not to leave her alone with any one. I said, rather stiffly, that
she might with me, and her Royal Highness withdrew with me into the part
of the room separated by columns, where I gave her her seals, to which
was annexed a key, and a letter which had come during her absence. She
met me with great joy, and told me I was to stay with her, for she had
written offering to go to her father on that condition, and that she
should retain her maid, and receive the visits of Miss Mercer.
We waited some time for the return of the Bishop with the answer to
these proposals, and at length I offered to go to Carlton House, and
endeavour to see the Prince. I did, but could not see him. I was told I
might see the Chancellor or Lord Liverpool. I answered I was ready to
see either of them, when I was ushered into a room where the Chancellor
and Lord Ellenborough were seated at each end of a long table. The
former informed me the Bishop was returned with the answer that her
Royal Highness must submit unconditionally, on which I replied that I
had nothing more to do, but return to her, and take her maid and
night-things, as she might be obliged to remain that night in
Connaught-place. Lord Ellenborough said I should do better to remain, as
it would be a comfort to her to find me there. I told him he was not
aware of my dismissal, and of the order given me not to remain that
night in the house, at which he seemed surprised, and I afterwards
learned from one of his friends that he had been taught to believe all
these coercive measures were only in consequence of Princess Charlotte’s
escape to her mother.
I went back to Princess Charlotte, taking with me Mrs. Lewis, her
dresser; and when I arrived, I found the Bishop had stated she must
submit to return to her father unconditionally, holding out the hope
that Miss Mercer would be allowed to visit her. I saw the letter she had
written. It was very flattering to me; but I did not wish to have been
made an object of controversy between her and her father. It was two in
the morning before the Duke of York arrived to take her away. I was too
much affected to follow her down stairs. I fell into hysterics; but when
I went down to the Princess of Wales, Miss Mercer, the Duke of Sussex,
and Mr. Brougham, who were assembled below, I learned it was with
difficulty the Princess of Wales had persuaded the Duke to take Mrs.
Lewis in the carriage. He had a paper in his hand when he came in, but
did not unfold it; and I afterwards heard from the Duke of Sussex that a
hackney-coach followed him with the Chancellor and two other lawyers in
it, as also that when dear Princess Charlotte arrived at Carlton House,
she was made to remain in the court-yard for more than half an hour,
while they were debating within how they would receive her. The ladies
appointed to be her attendants were, Lady Ilchester, Lady Rosslyn, Mrs.
Campbell,[178] who had formerly been her sub-governess, and the two Miss
Coates, nieces of Lady R. Miss Mercer took me home between three and
four, and next day I called at the gate of Carlton House, and sent up a
message to inquire after her Royal Highness’s health. Lady Rosslyn sent
down a very civil message to say she was well, and sent her love to me.
A few days after, before she was taken to Cranbourne[179] Lodge, which
was on the Monday, she found means, through Miss M., I believe, to send
a letter written (on paper she had _stolen_) with a pencil, to be
forwarded by me to the Duke of Sussex. His Royal Highness called and
read it to me, and it contained a melancholy description of the manner
in which she was confined and watched night and day. I wrote a note the
day before her departure to Lady Ilchester, which was very civilly
answered by Lady Rosslyn.[180] Mine only contained good wishes for her
Royal Highness’s recovery, and a request that she might be assured of
them.[181]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX.
DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. WILLIAMS—LORD NELSON’S JOURNEY HOME—THE PRINCESS
CHARLOTTE AND HER MOTHER—OPENING OE THE COFFIN OF CHARLES I.—THE
ORANGE MATCH—FLIGHT OF THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX.
----------------------------
DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. WILLIAMS.
IN Croker’s Edition of Boswell’s Life of Johnson, chap, x., there is an
extract from a letter addressed by Lady Knight to Mr. Hoole, referring
to the incident narrated at pages 14-15 of the Autobiography:
“Dr. Johnson’s political principles ran high, both in Church and State:
he wished power to the King and to the heads of the Church, as the laws
of England have established; but I know he disliked absolute power: and
I am very sure of his disapprobation of the doctrines of the Church of
Rome, because, about three weeks before we came abroad, he said to my
Cornelia, ‘You are going where the ostentatious pomp of Church
ceremonies attracts the imagination; but if they want to persuade you to
change, you must remember that by increasing your faith you may be
persuaded to become Turk.’ If these were not the words, I have kept up
to the express meaning.”
With reference to Dr. Johnson’s visit to a man-of-war, an account of
which is given at pages 15-16, Mrs. Piozzi says, at p. 285 of her
“Anecdotes,” &c., that “the roughness of the language used on board a
man-of-war, where he passed a week on a visit to Captain Knight,
disgusted him terribly. He asked an officer what some place was called,
and received for answer that it was where the loplolly man kept his
loplolly: a reply he considered, not unjustly, as disrespectful, gross,
and ignorant.” On this Croker remarks: “Captain Knight, of the _Belle
Isle_, 74, lay for a couple of months of 1762 in Plymouth Sound, and may
have been visited by Reynolds and Johnson; but it is unlikely they
passed a week on ship-board.” (Note to chap. liii. Boswell’s Johnson.)
But it was the _Ramilies_ off Portsmouth, not the _Belle Isle_ off
Plymouth, that was visited by the great lexicographer.
The following reminiscences of Mrs. Williams were sent by Lady Knight,
from Rome, to Mr. John Hoole, and by him contributed to the _European
Magazine_ for October, 1799:
“Mrs. Williams was a person extremely interesting; she had an uncommon
firmness of mind, a boundless curiosity, retentive memory, and strong
judgment: she had various powers of pleasing; her personal afflictions
and slender fortune she seemed to forget when she had the power of doing
an act of kindness: she was social, cheerful, and active, in a state of
body that was truly deplorable. Her regard to Dr. Johnson was formed
with such strength of judgment and firm esteem that her voice never
hesitated when she repeated his maxims or recited his good deeds, though
upon many other occasions her want of sight had led to her making so
much use of her ear as to affect her speech. Mrs. Williams was blind
before she was acquainted with Dr. Johnson: her account of Mrs. Johnson
was, that she had a good understanding and great sensibility, but
inclined to be satirical. Her first husband died insolvent: her sons
were much disgusted with her for her second marriage; perhaps because
they, being struggling to get advanced in life, were mortified to think
she had allied herself to a man who had not any visible means of being
useful to them. However, she always retained her affection for them.
While they resided in Grough-court, her son, the officer, knocked at the
door and asked the maid if her mistress was at home. She answered, ‘Yes,
sir; but she is sick in bed.’ ‘Oh,’ says he, ‘if it is so, tell her that
her son Jervas called to know how she did,’ and was going away. The maid
begged she might run up and tell her mistress, and, without attending
his answer, left him. Mrs. Johnson enraptured to hear her son was below,
desired the maid to tell him she longed to embrace him. When the maid
descended the gentleman was gone, and poor Mrs. Johnson was much
agitated by the adventure: it was the only time he ever made an effort
to see her. Dr. Johnson did all he could to console his wife; but told
Mrs. Williams, ‘Her son is uniformly undutiful; so I conclude, like many
other sober men, he might once in his life be drunk, and in that fit
nature got the better of his pride.’
“Mrs. Williams was never otherwise dependent on Dr. Johnson than in that
sort of association which is little known in the great world. They both
had much to struggle through, and I verily believe that whichever held
the purse, the other partook what want required.
“She had many resources, though none very great: with the Miss
Wilkinsons she generally passed a part of the year, and received from
them presents, and from the first who died a legacy of clothes and
linen. The last of them, Mrs. Jane, left her an annual rent; but from
the blundering manner of the will, I fear she never reaped the benefit
of it. That lady left money to erect an hospital for ancient maids; but
the number she had allotted being too great for the donation, the Doctor
said it would be better to expunge the word _maintain_, and put in, to
starve such a number of old maids. They asked him what name should be
given it. He replied, ‘Let it be called Jenny’s Whim’ [the name of a
place of popular entertainment].
“Lady Phillips made her a small annual allowance, and some other Welsh
ladies, to all of whom she was related. Mrs. Montagu, on the death of
Mr. Montagu, settled on her ten pounds per annum. When the first ten
were sent her, they were accompanied with a letter telling her that,
before she sent her that sum, she had taken care that the future
payments should not depend upon her own precarious life, for that it was
fixed to her by deed. Mrs. Williams’s gratitude was great and sincere:
and on showing the letter before the Doctor to the present writer, and
my testifying my joy at it, ‘Ah!’ said he, ‘the good lady has given
Willy a treasure here, and is laying up one for herself.’
“As to her poems, she many years attempted to publish them: the
half-crowns she had got towards the publication, she confessed to me
went for necessaries, and that the greatest pain she ever felt was from
the appearance of defrauding her subscribers: ‘But what can I do? the
Doctor always puts me off with, “Well, we’ll think about it;” and
Goldsmith says, “Leave it to me.”’ However, two of her friends, under
her directions, made a new subscription at a crown, the whole price of
the work, and in a very little time raised sixty pounds. Mrs. Carter was
applied to by Mrs. Williams’s desire, and she, with the utmost activity
and kindness, procured a long list of names. At length the work was
published, in which is a fine-written but gloomy tale of Dr. Johnson.
The money Mrs. Williams had various uses for, and a part of it was
funded. As near as I can calculate, Mrs. Williams had about thirty-five
or forty pounds a year. The furniture she used was her own; her expenses
were small; tea and bread-and-butter being at least half of her
nourishment. Sometimes she had a servant, or charwoman, to do the ruder
offices of the house; but she was herself active and industrious. I have
frequently seen her at work. Upon remarking one day her facility in
moving about the house, searching into drawers, and finding books
without the help of sight, ‘Believe me,’ said she, ‘persons who cannot
do these common offices without sight, did but little while they enjoyed
that blessing.’ Scanty circumstances, bad health, and blindness, are
surely a sufficient apology for her being sometimes impatient; her
natural disposition was good, friendly, and humane. She was in respect
to morals more rigid than modern politeness admits; for she abhorred
vice, and was not sparing of anger against those who threw young folks
into temptation. Her ideas were very just in respect to the improvement
of the mind, and her own was well stored. I have several of her letters;
they are all written with great good sense and simplicity, and with a
tenderness and affection that far excel all that is called politeness
and elegance. I have been favoured with her company some weeks at
different times, and always found her temper equal, and her conversation
lively. I never passed hours with more pleasure than when I heard her
and Dr. Johnson talk of the persons they valued, or on subjects in which
they were much interested. One night, I remember, Mrs. Williams was
giving an account of the Wilkinsons being at Paris, and having had
consigned to their care the letters of Lady Wortley Montagu, on which
they had bestowed great praise. The Doctor said, ‘Why, Madam, there
might be great charms to them in being entrusted with honourable
letters; but those who know better the world, would have rather
possessed two pages of true history.’[182]
“One day that he came to my house to meet many others, we told him that
we had arranged our party to go to Westminster Abbey, would not he go
with us? ‘No,’ he replied, ‘not while I can keep out.’ Upon our saying
that the friends of a lady had been in great fear lest she should make a
certain match for herself, he said, ‘We that are _his_ friends have had
great fears for him.’
“He gave us an account of a lady, then lately dead, who had made a
separate purse from her husband, and confessed to the sum in her last
moments; but before she could tell where it was placed, a convulsion
finished her. The poor man said he was more hurt by her want of
confidence in him than the loss of his money. ‘I told him,’ said he,
‘that he must console himself, for perhaps the money might be found, and
he was sure his wife was gone.’
“I talked to her (Mrs. Thrale) much of dear Mrs. Williams. She said she
was highly born; that she was very nearly related to a Welsh Peer; but
that though Dr. Johnson had always pressed her to be acquainted with
her, yet she said she could not; she was afraid of her. I named her
virtues: she seemed to hear me as if I had spoken of a new-discovered
country.
“I think the character of Dr. Johnson can never be better summed up than
in his own words in ‘Rasselas’, pp. 246, 247. He was master of an
infinite deal of wit, which proceeded from depth of thought, and of a
humour which he used sometimes to take off from the asperity of reproof.
Though he did sometimes say very sportive things, which might be said to
be playing upon the folly of some of his companions, and though he never
said one that could disgrace him, yet I think, when the man is no more,
the care should be to prove to steady uniformity in wisdom, virtue, and
religion, and not to add those matters which could be of no force but as
the occasion called them forth. His political principles ran high, both
in Church and State: he wished power to the King and to the Heads of the
Church, as the laws of England have established, but I know he disliked
absolute power; and I am very sure of his disapprobation of the
doctrines of the Church of Rome; because, about three weeks before we
came abroad, he said to my Cornelia, ‘You are going where the
ostentatious pomp of Church ceremonies attracts the imagination; but if
they want to persuade you to change, you must remember that by
increasing your faith you may be persuaded to become Turk.’ If these
were not the words, I have kept up to the express meaning.
“I have no patience of the manner in which Mrs. Williams is mentioned,
with insinuations of the great weight she was on Dr. Johnson. (By Mrs.
Piozzi, in her ‘Anecdotes.’) She was of a very good family: her Welsh
friends made her a constant allowance, and the Miss Wilkinsons were
liberal to her. She got a hundred and fifty pounds by her poems. I well
remember her saying one day that she would have bought some tea, but
wanted the money. The Doctor replied, ‘Why did you not ask me?’ She
replied, ‘I knew you had none.’ He answered, ‘But I could have borrowed
it.’ She, who knew him better than any person living, once said that ‘He
never denied his advice or his purse to any one that asked.’ She had
strong sense, excellent principles, and a cheerful mind; but, oppressed
with blindness, pain, and poverty, her temper might be soured. But who
would have borne such heavy afflictions so well as she did, or have been
so useful as she really was? But please to consider, when you come to
narrate particulars, how, without intention, you lessen fame. You will
find in some lines I have writ, that I expose the poverty of my friend,
and the weaknesses that only proceeded from a state of mortality.”
----------------------------
LORD NELSON’S JOURNEY HOME.
[The following are the extracts from Miss Knight’s correspondence with
Sir E. Berry, referred to at p. 151:]
“Leghorn, July 2, 1800.
“DEAR SIR,—The very great, indeed, I may say, fraternal care you had
the goodness to take of me while I was on board the _Foudroyant_,
and the very sincere esteem I shall always have for Sir Edward
Berry, induces me to trouble you with these few lines, as you will
be desirous to hear of Lord Nelson, and the plan proposed for the
party. The Queen wishes, if possible, to prosecute her journey. Lady
Hamilton cannot bear the thought of going by sea; and, therefore,
nothing but impracticability will prevent our going to Vienna. Lord
Nelson is well, and keeps up his spirits amazingly. Sir William
appears broken, distressed, and harassed.
“July 16th.—It is, at length, decided that we go by land; and I feel
all the dangers and difficulties to which we shall be exposed. Think
of our embarking on board small Austrian vessels at Ancona, for
Trieste, as part of a land journey! to avoid the danger of being on
board an English man-of-war, where everything is commodious, and
equally well arranged for defence and comfort; but the die is cast,
and go we must. Lord Nelson is going on an expedition he
disapproves, and against his own convictions, because he has
promised the Queen, and that others advise her. I pity the Queen.
Prince Belmonte directs the march; and Lady Hamilton, though she
does not like him, seconds his proposals, because she hates the sea,
and wishes to visit the different Courts of Germany. Sir William
says _he_ shall die by the way, and he looks so ill, that I should
not be surprised if he did. I am astonished that the Queen, who is a
sensible woman, should consent to run so great a risk; but I can
assure you that neither she nor the Princesses forget their great
obligations to you. If I am not detained in a French prison, or do
not die upon the road, you shall hear from me again.
“Ancona, July 24, 1800.—As I find delays succeed each other, and
England still recedes from us, I will not omit at least informing
you of our adventures. We left Leghorn the day after I wrote to you
by Mr. Tyson, and owing more to good fortune than to prudence,
arrived in twenty-six hours at Florence, after passing within _two
miles_ of the French advanced posts. After a short stay, we
proceeded on our way to this place. At Castel San Giovanni, the
coach, in which were Lord Nelson and Sir William and Lady Hamilton,
was overturned; Sir William and Lady Hamilton were hurt, but not
dangerously. The wheel was repaired, but broke again at Arezzo—the
Queen two days’ journey before them, and news of the French army
advancing rapidly, it was therefore decided that they should
proceed, and Mrs. Cadogan and I remained with the broken carriage,
as it was of less consequence we should be left behind, or taken,
than they. We were obliged to stay three days to get the coach
repaired; and, providentially, Arezzo was the place, as it is the
most loyal city in Tuscany; and every care, attention, and kindness
that humanity can dictate, and cordiality and good manners practise,
were employed in our favour.... Just as we were going to set off, we
received accounts of the French being very near the road where we
had to pass, and of its being also infested with Neapolitan
deserters; but at the same moment arrived a party of Austrians, and
the officers gave us two soldiers as a guard. We travelled night and
day; the roads are almost destroyed, and the misery of the
inhabitants is beyond description. At length, however, we arrived at
Ancona, and found that the Queen had given up the idea of going in
the _Bellona_, an Austrian frigate, fitted up with silk hangings,
carpets, and eighty beds for her reception, and now meant to go with
a Russian squadron of three frigates and a brig. I believe she
judged rightly; for there had been a mutiny on board the _Bellona_,
and, for the sake of accommodation, she had reduced her guns to
twenty-four, while the French, in possession of the coast, arm
trabaccoli and other light vessels that could easily surround and
take her. This Russian squadron is commanded by Count Voinovitsch, a
Dalmatian, who, having seen his people ill-treated, and their
colours destroyed by the Germans last year at the siege of Ancona,
made a vow never to come ashore, and keeps it religiously, for he
has not returned the Queen’s visit. I fancy we shall sail to-morrow
night or the next morning. Mrs. Cadogan and I are to be on board one
of the frigates, commanded by an old man named Messer, a native of
England, who once served under Lord Howe, and has an excellent
reputation. The rest of our party go with the Queen, and say they
shall be very uncomfortable. Lord Nelson talks often of the
_Foudroyant_, whatever is done to turn off the conversation; and
last night he was talking with Captain Messer of the manœuvres he
intended to make in case he accepted of another command. In short, I
perceive that his thoughts turn towards England, and I hope and
believe he will be happy there. The Queen and her daughters have
been very kind to me, especially when I was ill; and poor Sir
William suffered much when he left me at Arezzo. The Queen speaks of
you often, and always with the highest esteem. Our party is very
helpless; and though it is their own fault that they have brought
themselves into these difficulties, I cannot help pitying them, and
have the comfort to be of some use to them. Lord Nelson has been
received with acclamations in all the towns of the Pope’s States.
Success attend you. Where shall _we_ be on the 1st of August? The
Queen asked me for the christian and surname of all the captains of
the Nile. I am ashamed of the length of this letter, but it is
pleasant to forget oneself for some moments, and renew a
quarter-deck conversation. Our cots are ready, and the carriages on
board, or I should not have had spirits to write so much.
“Trieste, August 9th, 1800.—As I know you will be anxious to hear
how Lord Nelson proceeds on his journey, and as new delays
continually occur, I will not refuse an opportunity offered me by
Mr. Anderson, the Vice-Consul. Perhaps I am a little interested in
the affair; for, as I have small comfort in my present situation, my
thoughts willingly recur to the Mediterranean, where there were
always resources to be found. I told you we were become humble
enough to rejoice at a Russian squadron conveying us across the
Adriatic; but had we sailed, as was first intended, in the imperial
frigate, we should have been taken by eight trabaccoli, which the
French armed on purpose at Pisaro. Sir William and Lady Hamilton and
Lord Nelson give a miserable account of their sufferings on board
the Commodore’s ship (Count Voinovitsch). He was ill in his cot; but
his First Lieutenant, a Neapolitan, named Capaci, was, it seems, the
most insolent and ignorant of beings. Think what Lord Nelson must
have felt! He says a gale of wind would have sunk the ship. I, with
Mrs. Cadogan, came in another ship, commanded, as I believe I told
you, by an Englishman, a Captain Messer, a plain, good man, who
behaved with distinguished bravery last year at the siege of Ancona,
and who was kind and attentive beyond description.... Poor Sir
William Hamilton has been so ill that the physicians had almost
given him up: he is now better, and I hope we shall be able to set
off to-morrow night for Vienna. The Queen and thirty-four of her
suite have had fevers: you can form no idea of the _helplessness_ of
the party. How we shall proceed on our long journey is to me a
problem; but we shall certainly get on as fast as we can; for the
very precarious state of Sir William’s health has convinced
everybody that it is necessary he should arrange his affairs....
Poor Lord Nelson, whose only comfort was in talking of ships and
harbours with Captain Messer, has had a bad cold, but is almost
well, and, I think, anxious to be in England. He is followed by
thousands when he goes out, and for the illumination that is to take
place this evening, there are many ‘Viva Nelsons!’ prepared. He
seems affected whenever he speaks of _you_, and often sighs out,
‘Where is the _Foudroyant_?’”
----------------------------
THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE AND HER MOTHER.
[The following is the letter alluded to at page 216:]
_The Princess of Wales to the Prince Regent._
“SIR,—It is with great reluctance that I presume to obtrude myself
upon your Royal Highness, and to 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 fault 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 a guiltless woman cannot with safety carry her
forbearances. If her honour is invaded, the defence of her
reputation is no longer a matter of choice; and it signifies not
whether the attack be made openly, manfully, and directly, or by
secret insinuation, and by holding such conduct towards her as
countenances all the suspicions that malice can suggest. If these
ought to be the feelings of every woman 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, I 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 expectation, 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 succeeding month is making wider, of the
mother and 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 persons 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 intercourse has been gradually
diminished. A single interview weekly seemed sufficiently hard
allowance for a mother’s affections. 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 mother’s reputation. Your Royal Highness
will also pardon me for adding, that there is no less inconsistency
than injustice in this treatment. He who dares advise your Royal
Highness to overlook the evidence of my innocence, and disregard the
sentence of complete acquittal which it produced, or is wicked and
false enough still to whisper suspicions 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 further investigation
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 situation 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 represented 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 unexampled 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 overcoming 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
away your Royal Highness from the other cares of your exalted
station, I feel confident I am not claiming it for a matter of
inferior importance 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 advised, are ample and unquestionable. My appeal, Sir, is
made to your excellent sense and liberality of mind in the exercise
of those powers; and I willingly hope that your own parental
feelings will lead you to excuse the anxiety of mine for impelling
me to represent the unhappy consequences which the present system
must entail upon our beloved child.
“Is it possible, Sir, that any one can have attempted 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 Majesty’s wise and gracious arrangements, she passed the years
of her infancy and childhood, never can be extinguished, 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
inevitably all attempts to abate this attachment, by 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 occasion
to learn that important lesson; and it may so happen, by a chance
which I trust is very remote, 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 willingly
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
induced 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 regarded
the interruptions to her education which this arrangement occasions;
both by the impossibility 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 counsel I ascribe a circumstance in
every way so distressing both to my parental and religious feelings,
that my daughter has never yet enjoyed the benefit of confirmation,
although above a year older than the age at which all the other
branches of the Royal Family have partaken of that solemnity. May I
earnestly conjure you, Sir, to hear my entreaties upon this serious
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 express. If I could adequately describe it, you might be
enabled, Sir, to estimate the strength of the motives which have
made me 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, and to show 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 attachment which nothing
can alter, your Royal Highness’s most devoted and most affectionate
consort, cousin, and subject,
(Signed) “CAROLINE LOUISA.
“Montague House, January 14, 1813.”
-------
[The following is the text of the official report referred to at page
223:]
“The following members of his Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy
Council, viz.:
“His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Right Hon. the Lord
High Chancellor, his Grace the Archbishop of York, his Grace the
Lord Primate of Ireland, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord
Privy Seal, the Earl of Buckinghamshire, the Earl of Bathurst, the
Earl of Liverpool, the Earl of Mulgrave, the Viscount Melville, the
Viscount Sidmouth, the Viscount Castlereagh, the Right Hon. the Lord
Bishop of London, the Right Hon. Lord Ellenborough, Lord Chief
Justice of the Court of King’s Bench, the Right Hon. the Speaker of
the House of Commons, the Right Hon. the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, the Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Duchy, his Honour
the Master of the Rolls, the Right Hon. the Lord Chief Justice of
the Court of Common Pleas,[183] the Right Hon. the Lord Chief Baron
of the Court of Exchequer, the Right Hon. the Judge of the High
Court of Admiralty, the Right Hon. the Dean of the Arches;
“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 present, 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
consideration the said letter so published, and adverting to the
directions heretofore given by his Majesty, that the documents
relating to the said inquiry should be sealed up, and deposited in
the office of his Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State, in order
that his Majesty’s Government should possess 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 Honourable Privy
Council, for your consideration; and that you should report to his
Royal Highness your opinion, 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 regulations and restrictions.’
“Their Lordships adjourned their meetings to Tuesday, the 23rd of
February; and the intermediate days having been employed in perusing
the documents referred to them, by command of your Royal Highness,
they proceeded on that and the following day to the further
consideration of the said documents, 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, 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 Royal Highness,
and her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, has been subjected to
certain restrictions.
“We have also taken into our most serious consideration, together
with the other papers referred to us by your Royal Highness, all the
documents relative to the inquiry instituted in 1806, by command of
his Majesty, into the truth of certain representations 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 consideration; 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 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 Princess of Wales and her Royal Highness the
Princess Charlotte should continue to be subject to regulation 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 postponement of the confirmation
of her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, as it appears, by a
statement 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 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
Royal Highness, 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.”
(Signed)
“C. CANTUAR,
ELDON,
E. EBOR,
W. ARMAGH,
HARROWBY, P. C.
WESTMORELAND, C. P. S.
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE,
BATHURST,
LIVERPOOL,
MULGRAVE,
MELVILLE,
SIDMOUTH,
J. LONDON,
ELLENBOROUGH,
CHARLES ABBOTT,
N. VANSITTART,
C. BATHURST,
W. GRANT,
A. MACDONALD,
W. SCOTT,
J. NICHOLL.”
[Subjoined is the reply of the Princess of Wales to the above:]
“Montague House, March 1.
“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 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 reflections 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 proceeded 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 wisdom 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 innocent, or to be proved guilty. She
desires Mr. Speaker to communicate this letter to the Hon. the House
of Commons.”
----------------------------
OPENING OF THE COFFIN OF CHARLES I.
[The following is the passage from Sir H. Halford’s narrative referred
to at page 227—_note_:]
“On removing the pall, a plain leaden coffin, with no appearance of
ever having been enclosed in wood, and bearing an inscription, “King
Charles, 1648,” in large legible characters, on a scroll of lead,
encircling it, immediately presented itself to view. A square
opening was then made in the upper part of the lid, of such
dimensions as to admit a clear insight into its contents. These
were, an internal wooden coffin, very much decayed, and the body
carefully wrapped in cerecloth, into the folds of which a quantity
of unctuous or greasy matter, mixed with resin, as it seemed, had
been melted, so as to exclude as effectually as possible the
external air. The coffin was completely full; and from the tenacity
of the cerecloth, great difficulty was experienced in detaching it
successfully from the parts which it enveloped. Wherever the
unctuous matter had insinuated itself, the separation of the
cerecloth was easy; and when it came off, a correct impression of
the features to which it had been applied was observed in the
unctuous substance. At length the whole face was disengaged from its
covering. The complexion of the skin of it was dark and discoloured.
The forehead and temples had lost little or nothing of their
muscular substance: the cartilage of the nose was gone; but the left
eye, in the first moment of exposure, was open and full, though it
vanished almost immediately, and the pointed beard, so
characteristic of the period of the reign of King Charles, was
perfect. The shape of the face was a long oval; many of the teeth
remained, and the left ear, in consequence of the interposition of
the unctuous matter between it and the cerecloth, was found entire.
“It was difficult at this moment to withhold a declaration, that
notwithstanding its disfigurement, the countenance did bear a strong
resemblance to the coins, the busts, and especially to the pictures
of King Charles I. by Vandyke, by which it had been made familiar to
us. It is true that the minds of the spectators of this interesting
sight were prepared to receive this impression: but it is also
certain that such a facility of belief had been occasioned by the
simplicity and truth of Mr. Herbert’s narrative, every part of which
had been confirmed by the investigation, so far as it had advanced;
and it will not be denied that the shape of the face, the forehead,
and eye, and the beard, are most important features by which
resemblance is determined.
“When the head had been entirely disengaged from the attachments
which confined it, it was found to be loose, and, without any
difficulty, was taken up and held to view. It was quite wet, and
gave a greenish red tinge to paper, and to linen which touched it.
The back part of the scalp was entirely perfect, and had a
remarkable fresh appearance; the pores of the skin being more
distinct, as they usually are when soaked in mixture; and the
tendons and ligaments of the neck were of considerable substance and
firmness. The hair was thick at the back part of the head, and in
appearance nearly black. A portion of it, which has since been
cleaned and dried, is of a beautiful dark brown colour; that of the
beard was a redder brown. On the back part of the head, it was not
more than an inch in length, and had probably been cut so short for
the convenience of the executioner, or perhaps by the piety of
friends soon after death, in order to furnish memorials of the
unhappy King.
“On holding up the head to examine the place of separation from the
body, the muscles of the neck had evidently retracted themselves
considerably; and the fourth cervical vertebra was found to be cut
through its substance, transversely, leaving the surfaces of the
divided portions perfectly smooth and even, an appearance which
could have been produced only by a heavy blow, inflicted with a very
sharp instrument, and which furnished the last proof wanting to
identify King Charles I.
“After this examination of the head, which served every purpose in
view, and without examining the body below the neck, it was
immediately restored to its situation, the coffin was soldered up
again, and the vault closed.
“Neither of the other coffins had any inscription upon them. The
larger one, supposed on good grounds to contain the remains of King
Henry VIII., measured six feet ten inches in length, and had been
enclosed in an elm one two inches in thickness; but this was
decayed, and lay in small fragments near it. The leaden coffin
appeared to have been beaten in by violence about the middle, and a
considerable opening in that part of it exposed a mere skeleton of
the King. Some beard remained upon the chin, but there was nothing
to discriminate the personage contained in it.
“The smaller coffin, understood to be that of Queen Jane Seymour,
was not touched; mere curiosity not being considered by the Prince
Regent as a sufficient motive for disturbing these remains.”
----------------------------
THE ORANGE MATCH.
[The following extract from the Duke of Buckingham’s “Court of the
Regency” may be read with interest in illustration of the seventeenth
and eighteenth chapters of the Autobiography:]
“The Grand-Duchess of Oldenburg contrived to obtain considerable
influence over the Princess Charlotte, and persuaded her to reject
the Prince of Orange. The object of this was not suspected at the
time; but it was a Russian intrigue that, shortly afterwards, fully
explained itself. Some amusing speculations respecting this Russian
Princess are indulged in by the authoress of the ‘Diary of George
IV.,’ vol. iii. p. 48. The Prince Regent is stated to have kept her
under strict _espionage_ to make her marry one of his brothers—the
Grand-Duchess had already (had) one husband—and to prevent her
having any communication with the Princess of Wales, which was
possible any day during her stay in England through a third party.
The real object of the visit of the Duchess of Oldenburg could not
have been suspected, or the Prince Regent would not have placed her
exactly in that position in which she could succeed with the
greatest ease. The writer especially adds in a subsequent page: ‘The
Regent evidently wished his daughter to take the Prince of Orange;
otherwise, why should he, who was so careful in excluding from
Princess Charlotte’s society any one inclined to encourage her in
independent principles, have permitted her to be intimate with this
cunning Russian lady, _whose very eyes betrayed the wily nature of
her character_?’
“It was said that the Princess Charlotte’s insurmountable objection
to the union arose from repugnance to quitting her own country; but
Lord Clancarty was commissioned to propose her constant residence in
England, should the marriage take place.
“Some amusement may be found in tracing the course of this Russian
intrigue. In January, 1814, the Emperor expressed to Lord
Castlereagh the strong interest he felt in the proposed marriage of
the Princess Charlotte and the Prince of Orange, and was extremely
desirous that himself and his sister, the Grand-Duchess Catherine,
should be permitted to visit England. A month or two subsequently,
Russia exhibits much solicitude to obtain a direct interest in the
affairs of Holland. A little later this Grand-Duchess precedes the
Emperor as a visitor to England, and immediately endeavours to
obtain the confidence of the Princess Charlotte, who thenceforth
becomes intractable on the subject of the proposed alliance. Lord
Castlereagh wrote to Lord Clancarty on the 26th of June: ‘The
circumstances attending the rupture of the marriage are still
mysterious;’ but the mystery, shortly afterwards, began to unfold
itself. The Emperor returned to his own dominions by way of Holland,
and immediately a marriage was rumoured between its hereditary
Prince and the Grand-Duchess Helen. ‘Connected with this,’ writes
Mr. George Jackson, at Berlin, ‘is the expectation affected to be
entertained of Russia procuring East Friedland for the Duke of
Oldenburg.’... In September the Czar allowed it to be known at St.
Petersburg, _as a secret_, that a marriage was contemplated between
the Prince of Orange, who had been invited to Russia, and the
Grand-Duchess Anne. The following summer they were married.
“The Duchess of Oldenburg was also suspected of being a means of
communication between the Princess Charlotte and her mother, and was
evidently regarded by the latter with more than ordinary
admiration.... Encouraged by a such a friend and such a mother, the
young Princess proceeded on a course that her warmest friends
regarded with deep concern.
“The intrigue that was going on at last became known to the Prince
Regent, and his Royal Highness, accompanied by the Bishop of
Salisbury, suddenly presented themselves (_sic_) at the residence of
the Princess Charlotte, Warwick House, and announced their intention
of taking her with them to Carlton House. The Princess having
obtained leave to retire—probably to prepare for her journey—at once
hurried down a back-stairs into the street, called a hackney-coach,
and drove to her mother’s town residence, Connaught House. Her
escape having transpired, her retreat was soon ascertained, and the
Duke of York and the Lord Chancellor were sent to bring her back. It
so happened that the Princess of Wales was then secretly negotiating
with the Government for the means of travelling abroad, and feared
that this step of the Princess Charlotte might compromise her, and
prevent the fulfilment of her desire to leave the country, she
therefore not only did not give her daughter a cordial reception,
but absolutely persuaded her to go back before the arrival of the
deputation sent for her by the Prince Regent. This advice was very
far from agreeable. But we must allow Lord Eldon to relate the
curious sequel. ‘When we arrived, I informed her a carriage was at
the door, and we would attend her home. But home she would not go.
She kicked and bounced, but would not go. Well, to do my office as
gently as I could, I told her I was sorry for it; for, until she did
go, she would be obliged to entertain us, as we would not leave her;
at last she accompanied us.’
“Such an event could not pass without exciting much observation, and
exaggerated accounts were circulated. The House of Lords, on the
18th of July, was startled with a violent speech from the Duke of
Sussex, which included a variety of questions,[184] referring to
this transaction, addressed to Lord Liverpool, who did not think
proper to answer one of them, but insisted on the Prince Regent’s
right to control his own child, and the impropriety of any
interference on the part of the House of Lords. The Duke, not being
satisfied, gave notice of a motion. The Lord Chancellor followed
with some stringent observations to the same purpose as that of his
colleague, and there the discussion terminated. On the 25th his
Royal Highness made another speech, in which he withdrew his motion,
as Lord Grey acknowledged, by his advice.”
----------------------------
FLIGHT OF THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.
[With reference to the events narrated in the last chapter of this
volume, Lord Brougham observes, after contradicting Lord Eldon’s
statements:]
“When the Princess’s escape became known at Carlton House (for it is
not at all true, as stated by Mr. Twiss, that the Prince and Bishop
went to see her at Warwick House to inform her of the new
constitution of her household, and that she asked leave to retire,
and escaped by a back staircase), the Regent sent notice to the
heads of the law, and of his own Duchy of Cornwall establishment.
Soon after these arrived, each in a separate hackney-coach, at
Connaught-terrace, the Princess of Wales’s residence. These were the
Chancellor, Lord Ellenborough, Mr. Adam, Chancellor of the Duchy of
Cornwall, Mr. Leach, the Bishop of Salisbury, and afterwards the
Duke of York. There had already come to join the Princess Charlotte,
Miss Mercer, now Lady Keith and Countess of Flahault, who came by
the Regent’s express desire as his daughter’s most confidential
friend; Mr. Brougham, for whom the young Princess had sent, as a
person she had already often consulted; the Duke of Sussex, whose
attendance he had taken the precaution of asking, knowing that he
happened to dine in the immediate neighbourhood; the Princess of
Wales, too, had arrived from her villa at Blackheath, where she was
when Mr. Brougham and Miss Mercer arrived; her Royal Highness was
accompanied by Lady Charlotte Lindsay, then in waiting. Dinner had
been ordered by the Princess Charlotte, and the party, except the
Duke of Sussex, who did not immediately arrive, were at table, when
from time to time the arrival of the great personages sent by the
Regent was announced as each of their hackney-coaches in succession
came into the street. Some were suffered to remain in these
vehicles, better fitted for convenience than for state; but the
presumptive heiress to the Crown having chosen that conveyance, it
was the humour of the party which she now delighted with her humour,
and interesting by her high spirits, like a bird flown from a cage,
that these exalted subjects should become familiar with a residence
which had so lately been graced with the occupancy of their future
Sovereign. Exceptions, however, were made, and the Duke of York
immediately was asked into a room on the ground floor. It is an
undoubted fact that not one of the persons sent by the Regent, not
even the Duke of York, ever was in any of the apartments above
stairs for one instant until the young Princess had agreed to leave
the house and return home. The Princess of Wales saw the Duke of
York for a few minutes below, and this was the only communication
between the company above and those below, of whom all but the Duke
and the Bishop remained outside the house. After a great deal of
discussion, the Princess Charlotte asked Mr. Brougham what he, on
the whole, would advise her to do. He said, ‘Return to Warwick
House, or to Carlton House, and on no account pass a night out of
it.’ She was exceedingly affected, even to tears, and asked if he
too refused to stand by her. The day was beginning to break; a
Westminster election to reinstate Lord Cochrane (after the sentence
on him which abolished the pillory, and secured his re-election) was
to be held that day at ten o’clock. Mr. Brougham led the young
Princess to the window, and said, ‘I have but to show you to the
multitude which in a few hours will fill these streets and that
park—and possibly Carlton House will be pulled down—but in an hour
after the soldiers will be called out, blood will flow, and if your
Royal Highness lives a hundred years it will never be forgotten that
your running away from your home and your father was the cause of
the mischief; and you may depend upon it the English people so hate
blood that you will never get over it.’ She at once perceived the
truth of this statement, and, without any kind of hesitation, agreed
to see her uncle below, and accompany him home. But she told him she
would not go in any carriage except one of her father’s, as her
character might suffer; she therefore retired to the drawing-room
until a royal coach was sent for, and she then went home with the
Duke of York.”—_Law Review_, No. XI., 280, _as quoted in Lord
Campbell’s “Life of Lord Eldon_,” p. 314.
END OF VOL. I.
C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES.
-----
Footnote 1:
Her works are “Dinarbas,” a sort of supplement to Johnson’s
“Rasselas,” published in 1790; “Marcus Flaminius: a View of the
Military, Political, and Social Life of the Romans,”—a classical novel
in two volumes, which, originally published in 1792, reached a second
edition in 1808; and “A Description of Latium, or La Campagna di Roma,
with Etchings by the Author,” which appeared in 1805.
Footnote 2:
Sir Joseph, then Lieut. Knight, obtained his first ship, the _Ruby_,
50, on the 31st July, 1746, and in the following year he sailed with
Admiral Boscawen’s fleet to the East Indies, whence he returned with
Commodore Lisle’s squadron, of which he took the command, as senior
captain, on that officer’s death at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1758,
Captain Knight was appointed to the _Fougueux_, 64, and greatly
distinguished himself under Admiral Keppel at the attack on the French
settlement of Goree on the African coast. He afterwards commanded the
_Belleisle_, and, in 1770, took out troops to Gibraltar in the
_Ramilies_, 74. On his return he was appointed to the _Ocean_, 90,
stationed at Portsmouth. At the grand naval review on the 24th June,
1773, he was knighted by his Majesty on board the _Barfleur_, under
the royal standard of England. On the 31st of March, 1775, Sir Joseph
Knight was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the white, but died
on the 8th of September following, after spending fifty-two years of
his life in the service of his king and country.
Footnote 3:
Wortley Montagu, son of the famous Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and the
first Englishman ever inoculated. He showed early symptoms of an
unsettled character, impatient of control, by three times running away
from Westminster School. Later in life he turned Roman Catholic, and
subsequently embraced Mahomedanism. He was the author of “Reflections
on the Rise and Fall of the Ancient Republics.”
Footnote 4:
Sir Anthony Dean was great-grandson of Mr. William Dean, a Lancashire
gentleman, who united the three manors of Hosedens, Caxtons, and
Dynes, about the year 1575. Sir Anthony, says Holman, “being very much
addicted to the Parliamentary cause, and presuming the structure then
raised would have stood for ever, exchanged his fair estate here with
Colonel Sparrow for Hide Park, which that colonel had obtained in
consideration of his zeal for the same prevailing cause. Thus he lost
the substance for the shadow.” The crest of the Dean family was: On a
torse ermine, and sable, a boar’s head couped or, muzzled gules.
Footnote 5:
Miss Palmer, frequently mentioned in Madame D’Arblay’s Memoirs. After
Sir Joshua’s death she married Lord Inchiquin.
Footnote 6:
Bennet Langton, who succeeded Dr. Johnson as Professor of Ancient
History in the Royal Academy.
Footnote 7:
The well-known Topham Beauclerk, son of Lord Sydney Beauclerk, of whom
Dr. Johnson said: “Beauclerk’s talents were those which he had felt
himself more disposed to envy than those of any he had known.”
Footnote 8:
Joseph Baretti was a native of Piedmont. He published an Italian and
English dictionary, and several other works of less importance. Miss
Burney says of him in 1779: “Baretti worries me about writing—asks a
million of questions of how much I have written, and so forth, and
when I say ‘Nothing,’ he raves and rants and says he could beat me.”
He was for some years Foreign Secretary to the Royal Academy.
Footnote 9:
Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu, author of an “Essay on the Genius and Learning
of Shakspeare.” She also wrote three “Dialogues of the Dead,” which
were printed with Lord Lyttleton’s.
Footnote 10:
Mrs. Anna Williams was the daughter of a Welsh physician. Miss Burney
calls her “an exceeding pretty poetess.” She died in 1783.
Footnote 11:
John Hoole, the translator of Tasso, Ariosto, &c. He was born in 1727,
and died in 1803.
Footnote 12:
This is an error. Mrs. Yates certainly spoke the Epilogue, but she
took the part of Aspasia. Miss Hopkins appeared as Mandane.
Footnote 13:
Frederick of Denmark, when crown prince, married Louisa, youngest
daughter of George the Second.
Footnote 14:
The Princess Caroline Matilda, posthumous child of Frederick, Prince
of Wales, was married to Prince Christian, afterwards King of Denmark.
She died at Zell, in Hanover, in 1775.
Footnote 15:
The “New Bath Guide,” by Christopher Anstey, of whom Miss Burney
sarcastically remarks: “If he could but forget he had written the
“Bath Guide,” with how much more pleasure would everybody else
remember it.”
Footnote 16:
In this year Miss Knight’s journals commence. The title-page of the
first volume bears the motto:
“Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum,
Tendimus in Latium.” VIRGIL.
Footnote 17:
John Chetwode Eustace, a Roman Catholic clergyman, and author of “A
Classical Tour in Italy.” He died at Naples in 1815.
Footnote 18:
M. Mignet, in his lectures on the history of the League, dryly
remarked: “Les Jesuites, pour arriver à leurs fins, osèrent tout—même
le bien.”
Footnote 19:
In another note-book Miss Knight observes of M. de Brienne: “His
manners were elegant, but not conciliating, and his effrontery
appeared to me astonishing.... He was of an ancient and distinguished
family, and, probably, had he been brought up to a military
profession, would have been a man of honour and agreeable in society.
I believe he was liberal, and in many respects useful in his diocese.
He was at the head of those who were called ‘Evêques Administrateurs,’
in opposition to the ‘Dévôts,’ or pastoral bishops: both had their
defects, and helped on the Revolution in different ways; for the first
were too often libertines, and the second intolerant and illiberal.”
Footnote 20:
The singular liberality of this discourse, viewed with reference to
the time and place of its delivery, and to the profession of the
speaker, is beyond all praise. The archbishop was nearly a century in
advance of his age.
Footnote 21:
François Joachim Pierre de Bernis belonged to a noble but impoverished
family, whose paternal estate was near Pont St. Esprit, in Languedoc.
He had a great talent for Anacreontic poetry, and his verses were
lively and elegant, but too highly coloured for young readers. Though
short, and by no means remarkable for beauty of face or figure, he
was, when young, universally known as _le joli petit abbé_, and
_l’aimable abbé_. In his early years he was often subject to great
pecuniary embarrassments, but was always cheerful, always the
gentleman, and always well received. He gained the favour of Madame de
Pompadour by his verses, and of the king by a memoir on the dispute
between the Parliaments and the Jesuits. He was sent as minister to
Venice, and while there took priest’s orders, lest the Princesse de
Rohan should ask him to marry her on the death of her husband, who was
then past recovery. The princess and he had long been attached to one
another, but he considered himself too much her inferior both as to
rank and fortune to make a graceful figure in the world. His conduct
on this occasion did not forfeit him the friendship of the princess,
for she left him her entire fortune at her death; but he nobly gave it
up to the Rohans, reserving for himself only a ring, on which was a
Moor’s head, and this he wore as long as he lived, in remembrance of
her. On his return to France he was made prime minister, but was soon
displaced by the Choiseul party. He was then created a cardinal, but
lived in a sort of disgrace until the accession of Louis XVI., when he
was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of his Most Christian Majesty
at the Court of Rome, whither he had gone for the Conclave of
Ganganelli. He was subsequently dismissed from this post for refusing
to take the oath exacted by the revolutionists, and was deprived of
the revenues of his benefices in France. He had, however, a pension
from Spain, and he received at his house in Rome, where he still
continued to reside, Mesdames Adelaide and Victoire, the daughters of
his old master, Louis XV. He bore his change of fortune with dignity
and temper, and died about eighteen months before the French took
possession of Rome.—_From MS. Notes by Miss Knight._
Footnote 22:
The dinner-hour was two o’clock, and the company generally dispersed
at four, or a little after, so that between that and the Ave Maria, or
close of day, there was time for those, who did not go home to sleep,
to visit anything they wished to see.—_MS. Note by Miss Knight._
Footnote 23:
“By bribing or beating.”
Footnote 24:
“Do me the favour to place yourself here, Signor Ambassador.”
Footnote 25:
Literally, “a vacant seat,” but a term applied to the ceremonies on
the death of a pope.
Footnote 26:
“In fiocchi” is equivalent to our phrase “in gala costume.” It was
derived from the tassels with which the horses were ornamented in
state processions. Hence, probably, the vulgar phrase “in full fig,”
and “figged out.”
Footnote 27:
“What is Rome about?” “Works of mercy. She clothes the naked, and
enriches the honest.”
Footnote 28:
“The Eagle has gone to Germany, the Lilies to France, the Stars have
returned to the sky, and nothing remains but the Wind.”
Footnote 29:
“Your eminence, I remember, was nuncio at Brussels, and stood well,
but wished for something more, and was made nuncio at Naples; stood
better, but wished for something more, and was made cardinal; stood
excellently well, but wished for something more, and was made
secretary-of-state. I see that you stand marvellously well now, but
who knows if you will not again wish for something more?”
Footnote 30:
_Bargello_, a sheriff.
Footnote 31: