6

been so kind as to come and take leave of her, before he last left England, upon the day I mentioned, she delivered her critique upon His Royal Highness, saying, "He had the manners of a Prince, but was a dis"agreeable man, and not to be trus"ted, and that His Majesty had told him, Now, Sir, when you go to "Gibraltar, do not make such a trade "of it as you did when you went "to Halifax.' The Princess repeated, "Upon my honour it is true; the King said, Do not make such a "trade of it.' She went on to say, "the Prince at first ordered them all "to keep away, but they came now "sometimes, however they were no "lo, for there is not a man among "them all whom any one can make "their friend." As I was with the Princess one morning in her garden house, His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland waited upon her. As soon as he was gone she said, "He "was a foolish boy, and had been "asking her a thousand foolish ques"tions." She then told me every word of his secrets, which he had been telling her, in particular, a long story of Miss Keppel, and that he said, the old woman left them toge ther, and wanted to take him in, and therefore he had cut the connection. She said, she liked his countenance best, but she could trace a little family likeness to herself; but for all the rest they were very ill made, and had plumb-pudding faces, which she could not bear. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge was next ridiculed. She said he looked exactly "like a serjeant, and so vulgar with "his ears full of powder." This was her Royal Highness's usual and favorite mode of amusing herself and her company. The conversation was always about men, praising the English men, reviling all English women, as being the ugliest creatures in the world, and the worst, and always engaged in some project or another as

the impulse of the moment might prompt, without regard to consequences or appearances. Whether she amused other people in the same way, I know not, but she chose to relate to me every private circumstance she knew relative to every part of the Royal Family, and also every thing relative to her own, with such strange anecdotes, and circumstantial accounts of things that never are talked of, that I again repeat, I hope I shall never hear again; and I remember once in my lying-in-room, she gave such an account of Lady Anne Wyndham's marriage, and all her husband said on the occasion, that Mrs Fitzgerald sent her daughter out of the room, while Her Royal Highness finished her story. Such was the person we found Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, and as we continued to see her character and faults, Sir John and myself more and more, daily and hourly, regretted that the world could not see her as we did, and that His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales should have lost any popularity, when, from her own account (the only account we ever had) she was the aggressor from the beginning, herself alone, and I, as an humble individual, declare, that from the most heartfelt and unfeigned conviction, that I believe, if any other married woman had acted as Her Royal Highness had done, I never yet have known a man who could have endured it; and her temper is so tyrannical, capricious, and furious, that no man on earth will ever bear it; and, in private life, any woman who had thus played and sported with her husband's comfort and her husband's popularity, would have been turned out of her house, or left by herself in it, and would deservedly have forfeited her place in society. I therefore again beg leave to repeat, from the conviction of my own unbiassed understanding, and the conviction of my own eyes, no human being could live

with her, excepting her servants for their wages; and any poor unfortunate woman, like the Fitzgeralds, for their dinner; and I trust and hope her real character will sometime or another be displayed, that the people of this country may not be imposed upen.

All the month of August the Princess visited me daily; in one of these visits, after she had sent Mrs Fitz. 'gerald away, she drew her chair close to the bed, and said, " I am delighted to see how well and easily you have got through this affair; I, who am not the least nervous, shall make nothing at all of it. When you hear of my having taken children in baskets from poor people, take no notice: that is the way I mean to manage: I shall take any that offer, and the one I have will be presented in the same way, which, as I have taken others, will never be thought any thing about." I asked her, how she would ever get it out of the house? but she said, Oh, very easily. I said it was a perilous business; I would go abroad, if I were her: but she laughed at my fears, and said she had no doubt but of managing it all very well. i was very glad she did not ask me to assist her, for I was determined in my own mind never to do so, and she never did make any request of me, for which I was very thankful. I put the question to her, Who she would get to deliver her? but she did not answer for a minute, and then said, I shall get a person over; I'll manage it, but never ask me about it; Sander was a good creature, and being immediately about her person, and sleeping near her room, must be told; but Miss Ghaunt must be sent to Germany, and the third maid, a young girl, kept out of the way as well as they could. I suggested, I was afraid her appearance at St James's could not fail to be observed, and she would have to encounter all the Royal Family. Her reply was, That she

knew how to manage her dress, and by continually increasing large cushions behind, no one would observe, and fortunately the Birth-days were over, until she should have got rid of her appearance. In this manner passed all the time of my confinement, at the end of which she sent Mrs Fitzgerald to attend me to church, and when I went to pay my duty to Her Royal Highness, after I went abroad again, she told me, whenever I was quite stout, she would have the child christened, that she meant to stand in person, and I must find another godmother; Sir Sidney Smith would be the godfather. I named the Duchess of Athoil, as a very amiable woman, of suitable rar, and said, that as there had been a long friendship betwixt Sir John's family and the Atholl family, I knew it would be very agreeable to him. Finding they were gone to Scotland, we wrote to ask her Grace; and she wrote word she would stand godmother with great pleasure, and inclosed ten guineas for the nurse. The Princess invited Sir Sidney Smith, and Mr and Mrs Spencer Smith, and Baron Herbert, and Sir John Douglas, to dine with her. Cholmondely and the two Fitzge ralds were with Her Royal Highness, and in the evening they all came; I staid at home to receive her. The Clergyman from Lewisham christened the child; the Princess named it Caroline Sidney. As soon as he was gone (which was shortly after the ceremony was over,) the Princess sat down upon the carpet-a thing she was very fond of doing, in preference to sitting upon the chairs, saying, it was the pleasantest lively affair altogether she had ever known. She chose to sit upon the carpet the whole evening, while we all sat upon the chairs. Her Royal Highness was dressed in the lace dress which, I think, she wore at Frogmore fetepearl necklace, bracelets, and arm

Miss

bands,

bands, a pearl bandeau round her head, and a long lace veil. When oper was announced, her Royal Highness went in and took the head of the table, and ate an amazing supper of chicken and potted lamprey, which she would have served to her on the same plate, and ate them together. After supper she called the attention of the party to my good looks, and saying, I was as lively and spigle as ever; said, that I had such sharp eyes, I found her out in every thing, adding, Oh! she found me out one day in such a thing when I was at luncheon, and gave me a look which was so expressive, that I was sure she knew. This speech, which she made, between herself and me, was algebra to the party. I did not know what to do, but I saw the secret cost her dear to keep, and she was ready to betray it to any one she met, by the strange things she said and did: I laughed, and said, If my eyes have been too observing I am sorry, I never intended them to be; I cannot be quite so polite as to say, "if my sight offends I will put it out," because I think with Sheridan, that the prejudice is strongly in favour of two; but depend upon it, at all future luncheons I will do nothing but eat. She was in great spirits, staid until two o'clock in the morning, and then, attended by Miss Cholmondeley and the Fitzgeralds, went home. Her Royal Highness's civilities continued; she desired me constantly to bring my children to Montague House, and also the infant; and when I would have retired to suckle it, she would not suffer me, but commanded me to do it in the drawing room where she as; and she came with her ladies visiting me both mornings and evenings, and nursing little Caroline for hours together. I saw now the Princess had told Mrs Sander, who, I believe, was a very quiet good kind of woman, and her countenance was full sí concern and anxiety. She appearApril 1813.

ed desirous of speaking to me, and was unusually obsequious; but the Princess always watched us both close; if Sander came into a room, and I went towards her, the Princess came close, or sent one or another away, so that I could never speak to her. The Princess had now quarrelled with Sir Sidney Smith, to whom she had been so partial, and to every part of whose family she had been so kind, telling us constantly that she liked them all, because old Mr Smith had saved the Duke of Brunswick's life. As Sir John was Sir Sidney's friend, she therefore was shy of us all, and we saw little of her-but on the 30th of October I went to call upon her before I left Blackheath, and met her Royal Highness just returned from church, walking before her own house with Mrs Fitzgerald and her daughter, dressed in a long Spanish velvet cloak and an enormous muff, but which together could not conceal the state she was in, for I saw directly she was very near her time, and think I must have seen it if I had not known her situation. She appeared morose, and talked a little, but did not ask to go in, and after taking a few turns returned home. In about a fortnight we received a note, the Princess requesting neither Sir John or I to go to Montague House, as her servants were afraid some of the children she had taken had the measles, and if any infection remained about the house, we might carry it to our child. We wrote a note expressive of our thanks for her obliging precautions, and that we would not go to Montague House, until we had the honour of receiving Her Royal Highness's commands. The Princess never sent for us, and when I left my card before I went to pass Christmas in Gloucestershire, I was not admitted, so that I never saw her after the 30th of October; but I heard the report of her having adopted an infant, and Miss Fitzgerald told it me as she

rode

rode past my house, but would not come in, for fear she should bring the measles. Upon my return to Blackheath in January, I called to pay my duty. I found her packing a small black box, and an infant sleeping on the sofa, with a piece of scarlet cloth thrown over it. She appeared confused, and hesitated whether she should be rude or kind, but recovering herself, chose to be the latter; said, she was happy to see me, and then taking me by the hand led me to the sofa, and uncovering the child, said, Here is the little boy, I had him two days after I saw you last; is not it a nice little child? the upper part of his face is very fine.

She was going to have said more, when Mrs Fitzgerald opened the door and came in. The Princess consulted what I had better have, what would be good for me. I declined any thing, but she insisted upon it I should have some soup, and said, My dear Fitzgerald, pray go out and order some nice brown soup to be brought here for Lady Douglas. I saw from this the Princess wished to have spoken to me more fully, and Mrs Fitzgerald saw it likewise, for, instead of obeying. she rung the bell for the soup, and then sat down to tell me the whole fable of the child having been brought by a poor woman from Deptford, whose husband had left her, that Mr Stikeman, the Page, had the honour of bringing it in, that it was a poor little ill-looking thing when first brought, but now, with such great care, was growing very pretty, and that as Her Royal Highness was so good, and had taken the twins (whose father would not let them remain) and had taken this, all the poor people would be bringing children. The Princess now took the child up, and I was entertained the whole morning by seeing it fed, and every service of every kind performed for it by Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. Mrs Fitzgerald aired the napkins,

and the Princess put them on; and from this time the drawing-rooms at Montague House were literally in the stile of a common nursery. The tables were covered with spoons, plates, feeding-boats, and clothes, round the fire; napkins were hung to air, and the marble hearths were strewed with napkins which were taken from the child; for, very extraordinary to relate, this was a part of the ceremony Her Royal Highness was particularly tenacious of always performing herself, let the company be who they might. At first the child slept with her, she told me, but it made her nervous, and therefore a nurse was hired to assist in taking charge of it, and for him to sleep with. The Princess said one day to me as she was nursing him, he had a little milk for two or three days, but it did not do, so we bring him up by hand with all kind of nourishing things, and you see how well he thrives; so that I really always supposed she had attempted to suckle it. Another time she shewed me his hand, has a pink mark upon it, and said, It was very singular both our children should be marked, and she thought her child's came from her having some wine thrown on her hand, for she did not look much at little Caroline's mark. The Princess now adopted a new plan of inviting us to see her. She would invite either Sir John or I, but never both together as formerly. I concluded from this, that as she found it so difficult to keep even her own secret, she could ill imagine I had been able to keep her's, and therefore under the impression that by that time I must have told Sir John, did not like to meet both our eyes; and if she saw Sir John without me, could better judge by his looks and manner whether I had divulged or not. I conclude she was at length satisfied that I had not; for we were one morning both invited again in the former manner, to a breakfast, and as

which