Lady Charlotte

“ At all events, he desired I would not be uneasy, and that although the Queen might be angry with me herself, he was sure she would be much more angry 240with any one who should speak against me. He was in high good humour, but in the midst of it, tapping me on the shoulder, said, “Remember, however, my dear Chevalier, that Charlotte must lay aside the idle nonsense of thinking that she has a will of her own; while I live she must be subject to me as she is at present, if she were thirty, or forty, or five-and-forty.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Princess Charlotte wished we should be alone, and appointed the Duchess to return at eight, declaring that if Lord Liverpool or the Chancellor came to read the paper she would not listen to it, for that in her eyes her mother must be innocent. ”

“ Charlotte resumed. “Half the ragamuffins in the place are collected round the Rectory gates: they had better let the beadle get amongst them!”
“Commotion or no commotion, I know I have not had a soul to call here!” grumbled Mrs. Verrall. “Where have you been, Charlotte?”
“At Lady Sarah’s. And I have had the great honour of seeing the bride and bridegroom!” went on Charlotte, in a tone of complaisance so intense as to savour of mockery. “They came driving by in their carriage, and we had full view of them.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Short should give her instruction in the laws of England, of which she was to make an abstract. But when the Prince’s politics changed, and Princess Charlotte, in understanding, penetration, and stature, was become a woman, desirous to acquire more knowledge of public affairs and general society, alive to everything, and capable of forming a judgment for herself, the new plan of sending her back to the nursery was adopted, and everything was done to promote it. ”

“ He knew that he was weak and foolish and dishonourable; he knew that he was sowing the dragon's teeth from which were to spring up armed demons that would rend and tear him. But Charlotte's eyes were unspeakably bright and bewitching, and Charlotte's voice was very sweet and tender. A thrilling consciousness that he was not altogether an indifferent person in Charlotte's consideration had possessed him of late when he found himself in that young lady's society, and a happiness which had hitherto been strange to him gave a new zest to his purposeless life. ”

“ We scarcely saw anybody except the masters, the Duchess and Lady Catherine, and the Miss Fitzroys, who arrived in town soon after the 7th. We took airings in the park when the weather permitted, read, drew, &c. Music was also a great resource to Princess Charlotte, and we went one evening (the 29th) to the Duchess of Leeds’, who gave a ball for children. Princess Charlotte was very kind to the young Princes of Brunswick, whom her uncle, when he left England, had particularly recommended to her. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I went to Lady Ashbrook’s in the evening, and received a letter from Princess Charlotte, which gave me sad accounts of the unkind manner in which she is treated, not being spoken to by her father, nor ever seeing him but when the Queen is in town. The Duchess d’Orleans and Mademoiselle had visited her, and she was to be allowed next day to return the visit, but to have no further communication. She is not allowed to go out in an open carriage, and a coach makes her always sick. This, however, is the only carriage allowed her, as she must have two ladies and a gentleman with her. ”

“ You are in love with Charlotte, and Charlotte is in love with you. What more natural than that you two should make a match of it? Charlotte is her own mistress, and hasn't sixpence in the world that any one but you and I know of; for, of course, my brother Phil will continue to stick to every penny of poor old Tom's money. All you have to do is to follow up the young lady; it's the course that would suggest itself to any man in the same case, even if Miss Halliday were the ugliest old harridan in Christendom, instead of being a very jolly kind of girl, as girls go. ”

“ At Rome, Miss Knight received intelligence of the death, on the 6th of November, 1817, of the Princess Charlotte. The entry in her diary, on this afflicting subject, is brief and inexpressive. “The Count de Blacas, Ambassador from France,” she writes in her journal at the end of November, “and several of my former Roman acquaintances, have been very kind. The Duke of Devonshire, the Marquis of Douglas, and many English, very obliging—particularly on the melancholy event of the Princess Charlotte’s death, the news of which arrived on the 22nd, but I did not hear of it till the 23rd.” ”

“ So far from taking the liberty of admitting any one when her Royal Highness was there, it was with great difficulty we could prevail on him to let in Miss Mercer, Lady Tavistock, Lady Jersey, or the Miss Fitzroys, when the regent particularly desired it; and it certainly was an annoyance to a nervous man, peculiarly anxious for the success of this picture, to have a set of women come and give their opinions, and afterwards talk over the balls and parties of the night before. Princess Charlotte, however, could not sometimes resist letting in these tormentors of poor Sanders ”

“ Poor Princess Charlotte was far from happy. On the 16th of this month (April) she wrote a letter to her father, humbly requesting to see the marriage contract, a sketch of which she heard from the Prince of Orange had been shown to him; she expressed her uneasiness at not hearing of a house or establishment, and begged that insertion might be made in the contract of an article to prevent her being taken or kept out of England 284against her inclinations. ”

“ My letter to the Queen went at five, and at half-past six I took my refusal to the Duchess, who expressed the greatest concern, and said all in her power to persuade me to accept the situation, not having entertained the smallest suspicion of any difficulty remaining. I left her, and at the bottom of the stairs found the page, who desired I would walk into the library, where I found Princess Charlotte. ”

“ The Bishop’s great points were to arm Princess Charlotte against the encouragement of Popery and Whig principles 233 (two evils which he seemed to think equally great) , and to appear himself a man of consequence. His best accomplishment was a taste for drawing, and a love of the fine arts. ”

“ The Prince sent Sir Henry Halford to me to desire I would keep Princess Charlotte from going too often to the Grand-Duchess, but I could not prevent her coming to Warwick House, nor could I well blame Princess Charlotte for being pleased with the conversation of a sensible woman of a rank similar to her own. The Grand-Duchess hinted to her that she thought of marrying the Archduke Charles, and Princess Charlotte told her that many persons had supposed 283that she was to marry the Regent if he could have found cause for a divorce. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The color deepened in Charlotte’s really beautiful face, as a glimpse of her ridiculous position flashed from Emilie’s playful satire, and to increase her confusion, the girls all laughed more saucily than before. There might have been some serious heart-burnings, but Mrs. Tower came to the rescue.
“Charlotte is entirely excusable, young ladies,” she said, “and I am responsible for her remark by my own ambiguity. My friend is a lady, and one of the loveliest of her sex in mind and heart. ”

“ Lady Liverpool came one day, and was very anxious she should be amused by little parties at Carlton House, or asked to go to the play or opera. But Princess Charlotte constantly replied, that it would ill become her to appear in public while her mother was under a cloud of so tremendous a nature. At length the Miss Herveys, daughters of Mrs. Fremantle, and very intimate at Windsor Castle, called one morning and told her that if she did not appear in public her character would be lost, for that the most injurious stories were circulated about her and Captain Fitzclarence. ”

“ Can’t ye wait for me? Are ye sure it’s true?”
Francie nodded.
“The young reprobate! To be making you so remarkable, and to have the other one up his sleeve all the time! Didn’t I say he had no notion of marrying ye?”
Francie made no reply, and Charlotte with some difficulty disengaged her hand from her wrappings and patted her on the back.
“Well, never mind, me child,” she said with noisy cheerfulness; “you’re not trusting to the likes of that fellow! wait till ye’re me Lady Dysart of Bruff, and it’s little ye’ll think of him then!” ”

“ While walking out of the room, the princess appeared in deep thought, and more tranquil; her majesty, imagining it to be the result of her own advice, said, "The Princess Charlotte will never want a friend if she abide by her grandmother's instructions, and properly maintain her dignity of birth." Her royal highness returned to her former situation before the queen, and exclaimed, "What does your majesty mean?" "I mean," replied the queen, "that you must not condescend to favour persons in low life with your confidence or particular respect ”

“ I dined at Lady Downshire’s.
22nd.—I called on the Misses [ ] . Mr. D. said he had just seen Lord Liverpool, and that he and Lord Castlereagh were to accompany the Prince of Saxe-Coburg to Brighton to-morrow. Afterwards called on Mrs. R. Keate and Lady Neave. Mr. Lyttleton had been there, and said the Princess Charlotte would not marry the Prince of Saxe-Coburg, as he would take her to Hanover.
26th.—Princess Charlotte goes with the Queen to-day to Brighton. At Windsor they consider the marriage as certain.
28th.—I received a very kind letter from Princess Charlotte, dated Saturday, 24th. ”

“ The drawing-room and Princess Charlotte’s bedroom, with bay-windows, looked on a small garden with a wall, and a road which divided it from the gardens of Carlton House, to which there was a door of communication.
Nothing could more perfectly resemble a convent than this residence; but it was a seat of happiness to Princess Charlotte compared with the Lower Lodge at Windsor, and she was anxiously desirous to remain in Town as much as possible. It was announced to us that we were to be one week in Town and one at Windsor ”

“ Charlotte turned away from the window, and when, a few minutes afterwards, Mr. Lambert came into the room, the{328} visitor had put her gloves on, and was making her farewells to her hostess.
“No, Roddy,” she said, “I must be off now. I’m like the beggars, ‘tay and turn out’ is my motto. But supposing now that you bring this young lady over to lunch with me to-morrow—no, not to-morrow, that’s Sunday—come on Monday. How would that suit your book?”
Lambert assented with a good grace that struck Francie as being wonderfully well assumed, and followed Miss Mullen out to put her in her phaeton. ”

“ Why does your royal highness refuse to answer my simple, but honest and honourable inquiry? What have I not endured since the moment I became your princess and wife? Heaven only knows, and heaven only can avenge my wrongs. It is now more than seventeen years since I gave birth to your lovely daughter, Princess Charlotte of Wales, at which time I did most certainly hope and also believe, that her royal father's affectionate recollections of her mother would not only revive, but be exemplified. ”

“ Sir Henry Halford, however, who was the person always employed at that time, settled the business of putting off the dinner party, by coming to say from the Queen, that as the Princess Charlotte was not well enough to go back to Windsor, she could not be well enough to see company at dinner, and the Duchess of York prudently declined it. The Prince Regent was supposed not to know anything of this affair, and perhaps really did not. I feel almost ashamed of spending ink and paper on such trifles, but they show the style of treatment adopted towards the future Queen of England. ”