whole story, as contained in their subsequent affidavits, before the Duke of York, on the 3d December 1803. "This declaration was submitted by the Prince to the late Lord Thurlow, who said, that his Royal Highness had no alternative-it was his duty to submit it to the King, as the Royal succession might be affected if the allegations were true. In the mean time it was resolved to make further inquiry, and Mr Lowten, of the Temple, was directed to take steps accordingly. "The consequence was, that William and Sarah Lampert (servants to Sir John Douglas,) William Cole, Robert and Sarah Bidgood, and Frances Lloyd, made declarations, the whole of which, together with that of Sir John and Lady Douglas, were submitted to his Majesty, who thereupon issued the following warrant, dated the 29th of May 1806, directing Lord Erskine, Lord Grenville, Earl Spencer, and Lord Ellenborough, to inquire into the truth of the allegations, and to report to him there on. was with me, and said, she thought that the Princess wanted something, and that I ought to go to her. I went to her. She said, she Copy of his Majesty's Commission for did not want any thing, but she would instituting the Inquiry. 'GEORGE R.-Whereas our right trusty and well-beloved counsellor, Thomas Lord Erskine, our Chancellor, has this day laid before us, an abstract of certain written declarations, touching the conduct of her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, we do hereby authorize, empower, and direct the said Thomas Lord Erskine, our chancellor, our right trusty and well beloved cousin and counsellor George John Earl Spencer, one of our principal secretaries of state, our fight trusty and well-beloved counsellor W. Windham Lord Grenville, first commissioner of our treasury, and our right trusty and well-beloved Counsellor Edward Lord Ellenborough, our chief justice, to hold pleas walk in; that I had a very pretty little girl. She came in and staid some time. About a fortnight after, Sir J. D. and I received an invitation to go to Montague-house; after that I was very frequently at Montague-house and dined there.-The Princess dined frequently with us. About May or June 1802, the Princess first talked to me. about her own conduct. Sir S. Smith, who had been Sir John's friend for more than 20 years, came to England about November 1801, and came to live in our house. I understood the Princess knew Sir Sidney Smith before she was Princess of Wales. The Princess saw Sir Sidney Smith as frequently as ourselves. We were usually kept at Montague-house later than the rest of the party, often till three or four in the morning. I never ob served any impropriety of conduct between Sir S. Smith and the Princess. I made the Princess a visit at Montague-house, in March 1802, for a fortnight. She desired me to come there, because Miss Garth was ill. In May or June following, the Princess came to my house alone: she said she came to tell me something that had happened to her, and desired me to guess I guessed several things; and -I at last I said, I could not guess any thing more. She then said she was pregnant, and that the child had come to life. I don't know whether she said on that day, or a few days before, that she was at breakfast at Lady Willoughby's, that the milk flowed up to her breast, and came through her gown; that she threw a napkin over herself, and went with Lady Willoughby into her room, and adjusted herself, to prevent its being observed. She never told me who was the father of the child. She said she hoped it would be a boy. She said that if it was discovered, she would give the Prince of Wales the credit of being the father of the child, for that she had slept two nights with him at Carlton-house within the year. I said that I should go abroad to my mother. The Princess said, she should manage it very well, and if things came to the worst, she would give the Prince the credit of it. While I was at Montague-house, in March, I was with child, and one day I said I was very sick, and the Princess desired Mrs Saunders to get me a saline draught. She then said, that she was very sick herself, and that she would take a saline draught too. I observed that she could not want one, and I looked at her. The Princess said, "Yes, I do. What do you look at me for, with your wicked eyes; you are always finding me out". Mrs Saunders looked very much distressed; she gave us a saline draught each. This was the first time I had any suspicion of her being with child. The Princess never said who was the father. When she first told me she was with child, I rather suspected that Sir S. Smith was the father, but only because the Princess was very partial to him. I never knew he was with her alone. We had constant intercourse with the Princess, from the time when I was at Montague-house, till the end of October. After she had first communicated to me that she was with child, she frequently spoke upon the subject. She was bled twice during the time. She recommended to me to be bled too, and said that it made you have a better time. Mr Edmeads bled her: she said, one of the days that Mr Edmeads bled her, that she had a violent heat in her blood, and that Edmeads should bleed her. I told the Princess that I was very anxious how she would manage to be brought to bed, without its being known; that I hoped she had a safe person. She said, Yes; she should have a person from abroad; that she had a great horror of having any men about her upon such an occasion-she said, I am confident in my own plans, and I wish you would not speak to me on that subject again. She said, I shall tell every thing to Saunders. I think this was on the day on which she told me of what had happened at Lady Willoughby's-Saunders was a very good woman, and might be trusted, and that she must be with her at the labour; that she would send Miss Garth to Brunswick, and Miss Milfield was too young to be trusted, and must be sent out of the way. I was brought to bed on the 23d July 18C2. The Princess insisted on being present. I determined that she should not; but I meant to avoid it without offending her. On the day on which I was brought to bed, she came to my house, and insisted on coming in. Dr Mackie, who attended me, locked the door on the opposite side of the but there was another door ou the the opposite side of the room, which was not locked, and she came in at that door, and was present during the time of the labour, and took the child, a soon as it was born, and said she was very glad she had seen the whole of it. The Princess's pregnancy appeared to me to be very visible. She wore a cushion behind, and made Mis Saunders make one for me. During my lying-in, the Princess came one day with Mrs Fitzgerald. She sent Mrs F. away, and took a chair, and sat by my bed-side. She said, You will hear of my taking children in baskets, but you won't take any notice of it. I shall have them brought by a poor woman in a basket. I shall do it as a cover to have my own brought to me in that way; or, that is the way in which I must have my own brought when I have it. Very soon after this two children, who were twins, were brought by a poor woman in a basket. The Princess took them, and had them carried up into her room, and the Princess washed them herself. The Princess told me this herself. The father, a few days afterwards, came and insisted on having the children, and they were given to him. The Princess afterwards said to me, "You see I took the children, and it answered very well. The father had got them back, and she could not blame him: that she should take other children, and have quite a nursery." I saw the Princess on a Sunday, either the 30th or 31st October 1802, walking before her door. She was dressed so as to conceal her pregnancy. She had a long cloak, and a very great muff. She had just returned from Greenwich church. She looked very ill, and I thought must be very near her time. "About a week or ten days after this, I received a note from the Princess, to desire that I would not come to Montague-house, for they were apprehensive that the children they had taken had had the measles in their clothes, and that she was afraid my child might take it. When the Princess came to see me during my lying in, she told me, that when she should be brought to bed, she wished I would not come to her for some time, for she might be confused in seeing me. About the end of December I went to Gloucestershire, and stayed there about a month. When I returned, which was in January, I went to Montague-house, and was let in. The Princess was packing up something in a black box. Upon the sofa a child was lying, covered over with a piece of red cloth. The Princess got up, and took me by the hand; she then led me to the sofa, and said, there is the child; I had him only two days after I saw you. The words were, either I had him, or was brought to bed; the words were such as clearly imported that it was her own child. She said she got very well through it; she shewed me a mark on the child's hand, it is a pink mark. The Princess said, he has a mark like your little girl. I saw the child afterwards frequently with the Princess, quite to Christmas, 1803, when I left Blackheath. I saw the mark upon the child's hand, and I am sure that it was the same child. I never The saw any other child there. Princess Charlotte used to see the child and play with him. The child used to call the Princess of Wales "Mamma." I saw the child looking at the window of the Princess's house about a month ago, before the Princess went to Devonshire, and I am sure it is the same child. Not long after I had first seen the. child, the Princess said, that she had the child first to sleep. with her for a` few nights; but it made her nervous, and now they had got a regular nurse for him. She said, We gave it a little milk at first, but it was too much for me, and now we breed it by hand, and it does very well. I can swear positively, that the child I saw at the window is the same child as the Princess told me she had two days after she she parted with me. it had any other name. The child was at Lord Grenville's, Downing-street, Westminster. "ERSKINE, GRENVILLE, When the child was in long clothes, we breakfasted one day with the Princess, and she said to Sir John Doug las, This is the Deptford boy. Inde The Deposition of SIR JOHN DOUGLAS, KNT. pendently of the Princess's confession to me, I can swear that she was preg- "I had a house at Blackheath, in nant in 1802. In October 1804, 1801. Sir Sidney used to come to when we returned from Devonshire, my house. I had a bed for him. I left my card at Montague-house, The Princess formed an acquaintance and on the 4th October, I received with Lady D. and came frequently to a letter from Mrs Vernon, desiring our house. I thought she came more me not to come any more to Mon- for Sir Sidney Smith than for us. tague-house. I had never, at this After she had been some time actime, mentioned the Princess's being quainted with us, she appeared to me with child, or being delivered of a to be with child. One day she leanchild, to any person, not even to Sired on the sofa, and put her hand John Douglas. After receiving Mrs Vernon's letter, I wrote to the Princess on the subject. The letter was sent back unopened. I then wrote to Mrs Fitzgerald, saying, that I thought myself extremely ill used.-In two or three days after this, I received an anonymous letter, which I produce, and have marked with the letter A, and signed with my name, both on the letter and the envelope. The Princess of Wales has told me, that she got a bed-fellow whenever she could, that nothing was more wholesome; she said, that nothing was more convenient than her own room; it stands at the head of the staircase which leads into the Park, and I have bolts in the inside, and have a bed-fellow whenever I like. I wonder you can be satisfied only with Sir John. She said this more upon her stomach, and said, "Sir John, I shall never be Queen of England." I said, "Not if you don't deserve it." She seemed angry at first. In 1804, on the 27th of October, I received two letters by the twopenny post, one addressed to me, which I now produce, and have marked with the letter B, both on the envelope and the inclosure, and the other letter addressed to Lady Douglas, and which I now produce, and have marked with the letter C, both on the envelope and the inclo sure. JOHN DOUGLAS." "Sworn before us, at Lord than once. She has told me that Sir The Deposition of Robert Bidgood. Sidney Smith had lain with her.That she believed all men liked a bed-fellow, but Sir Sidney better than any body else; that the Prince was the most complaisant man in the world; that she did what she liked, went where she liked, and had what bedfellow she liked, and the Prince paid for all. CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS. "Sworn before us, June 1, 1806, "I have lived with the Prince 23 years next September; I went to the Princess in March 1798, and have lived with her Royal Highness ever since. About the year 1802, early in that year, I first observed Sir. Sidney Smith come to Montague house: he used to stay very late at night; I have seen him early in the morning there, there, about ten or eleven o'clock. He was at Sir John Douglas's; and was in the habit, as well as Sir John and Lady Douglas, of dining, or having a luncheon, or supping there almost every day. I saw Sir Sidney Smith one day, in 1802, in the blue room, about eleven o'clock in the morning, which is full two hours before we ever expected to see company. I asked the servants why they did not let me know that he was there? The footman informed me that they had let no person in. There was a private door in the Park, by which he might have come in if he had a key to it, and have got into the blue room without any of the servants perceiving him. I never observed any appearance of the Princess which could lead me to suppose that she was with child. I first observed Captain Manby come to Montague-house, either in the end of 1803, or beginning of 1804. I was waiting one day in the anti-room, Captain Manby had his hat in his hand, and appeared to be going away he was a long time with the Princess, and, as I stood on the steps, waiting, I looked into the room in which they were, and in the reflection in the looking glass, I saw them salute each other-I mean, that they kissed each others lips. Captain Manby then I then observed the Princess have her handkerchief in her hands, and wipe her eyes as if she was crying, and she went into the drawingroom. The Princess went to Southend in May 1804; I went with her : we were there, I believe, about six weeks before the African came in. Sicard was very of ten watching witha glass to see when the ship would arrive. One day, he said he saw the African, and soon after the Captain put off in a boat from the ship. Sicard went down the shrubbery to meet him. When the Captain came on shore, Sicard conducted him to the Princess's house, and he dined there with the Princess and her Ladies. After went away. this, he came very frequently to see the Princess. The Princess had two houses on the Cliff, Nos. 8. and 9. She afterwards took the drawingroom of No. 7, which communicated by the balcony with No. 8, the three houses being adjoining. The Princess used to dine at No. 8, and after dinner to remove with the company into No. 7, and I have several times seen the Princess, after having gone into No. 7. with Captain Manby and the rest of the company, retire alone with Captain Manby from No. 7. through No. 8. into No. 9. which was the house in which the Princess slept ; I suspected that Captain Manby slept. frequently in the house. It was a subject of conversation in the house. Hints were given by the servants, and I believe that others suspected it as well as myself. "The Princess took a child, which I understood was brought into the house by Stikeman. I waited only one week in three, and I was not there at the time the child was brought, but I saw it there early in 1803. The child who is now with the Princess is the same I saw there early in 1803; it has a mark on its left hand. Austin is the name of the man who was said to be the father. Austin's wife is, I believe, still alive. She has had another child, and has brought it sometimes to Montague-house. It is very like the child who lives with the Princess. Mrs Gordon was employed as a nurse for the child, and she used to bring the child to the Princess as soon as the Princess awoke, and the child used to stay with her Royal Highness the whole morning. Princess appeared to be extremely fond of the child, and still appears R. BIDGOOD." So. "Sworn at Lord Grenville's House, Downing Street, the 6th day of June 1806. The "SPENCER, GRENVILLE." The |