Towards the end of the winter we went back to London, where my act
of naturalization was at once set about. As my husband had arranged
everything beforehand, there was no difficulty about the matter, and in
less than a month the necessary preliminaries for my presentation at
Court were accomplished.
I was presented by Lady Harcourt, chief lady-in-waiting to the Queen,
and was received with the most wonderful marks of regard and admiration.
My dress of cloth-of-silver, adorned with precious stones, dazzled
everybody, and I was regarded with the greatest interest.
From that moment I had the entry into the highest society, and, instead
of the humiliations I had so often experienced at the hands of my
compatriots, I found myself surrounded by respect and honour.
Personages of the highest rank sought my acquaintance, and thought
themselves happy to be received by the wife of a noble peer, illustrious
descendant of the ancient Princes of North Wales, and grandson of the
intimate friend of George I.
In spite of all this, I was far from tasting the sweets of happiness; my
aversion for the man to whom I owed all these good things made me envy
the lot of women belonging to even the lowest classes of society.
My only consolation was in pouring out my griefs to my aunt, and even
that comfort I was to lose. She had never been able to get used to either
the climate or the customs of my new country; absolutely ignorant of its
language, she could not join in any conversation, and, rosary in hand,
from morning till night she told her beads.[2]
As her health visibly declined, I felt obliged to give way to the wish
she had long expressed to return to her native land; but her departure
filled me with sadness and trouble, and I could not endure the thought
that the protectress of my childhood would no longer be with me.
I insured her enough to live upon in comfort, and handed over to her
several trunks, either for herself or for my other relatives, from whom
I was always receiving importunate requests, and to whom I constantly
replied by the perpetual sending of packets.
More than half the pin-money milord allowed me went to Italy, not
to speak of the goods of all kinds I was always sending to the same
destination.
Not content with all this, my father sent us his eldest son, who was a
pretty good historical painter, and begged us to look after him. We kept
him with us for a year, and then my husband sent him to the East Indies,
where he cost us a heap of money, as Messrs. Coutts & Co. of London can
testify.
He stayed three years in Calcutta, and then went to the Cape of Good
Hope, where he married the daughter of the Danish Consul, to whom Lord
Newborough had given him an introduction. His wife’s brother taking him
into partnership, in a short time he made a large enough fortune to be
able to enjoy all the comforts of life and to bring up his numerous
family, consisting, I believe, of fourteen children.