consideration, who had previously to the marriage enjoyed the confidence of the prince, and who still retained a portion of their influence, which they used secretly, and on all occasions, to the great annoyance and disquietude of the princess, whose spirited remonstrances had only the effect of irritating the prince, and closing every avenue to an amicable adjustment of their differences. It may be easily forseen that this interference on the part of her majesty, which was guided by so direct a partiality to one of the illustrious parties, necessarily laid the foundation to much discord and altercation amongst the various branches of the royal family, and especially in regard to his majesty, who, although he felt as a parent for his son, yet, at the same time, never failed to mark his love and affection for his niece and daughter-inlaw, and, indeed, it was chiefly owing to the interposition of his majesty that the Princess Charlotte was allowed to remain under the immediate care and guardianship of her mother.

The separation having been determined upon, a negotiation was entered into, as to the precise sum which her royal highness should be allowed as a separate maintenance; and it was at first fixed at 20,000 per annum. This, however, was not thought sufficient by her royal highness, who, though far from being of a mercenary disposition, yet wished to retain in her power the means of appearing again in the world, when circumstances required it, with that splendour which was due to

her exalted rank. The pecuniary circumstances of the prince were pleaded as a bar to the allowance of a greater sum; and, as the princess had expressed her intention of living in complete retirement, the sum which had been offered was thought by the persons appointed to negotiate the business, as fully ample to the maintenance of her limited establishment. Her royal highness, however, thought otherwise, and therefore rejected. the allowance, thereby throwing herself entirely on the generosity of the prince, and rendering him, at the same time, liable for any debts she might contract.

On leaving Carlton-house, the Princess of Wales retired to a humble residence in the beautiful village of Charlton, in the neighbourhood of Blackheath, whither she was accompanied by Miss Garth, Miss Vernon, Mrs. Harcourt, and Mrs. Sander, a native of Brunswick, who came to this country in the capacity of dresser to her royal highness, and a few other ladies formed the whole of her female establishment. In this retired spot, her royal highness lived in a state of complete privacy; but her mind was not formed in that common mould, which disables it from seeking those resources within itself, from which not only rational delight, but intellectual improvement, naturally result. The people of England knew of the existence of the personage, who was to all appearances destined to be their future queen, but of her actions or her mode of life,

little transpired to attract the general attention. It requires, however, not a profound knowledge of the world, nor an extensive acquaintance with the subtle artifices and intrigues which are practised to gain a particular end, to consider the case as amounting to almost a mathematical demonstration, that the actions of an individual of the exalted rank of the Princess of Wales, and placed as she was under circumstances of the most single and unexampled nature, should not be the chosen object on which malice would spit its venom, or malignity direct its poisoned shafts. The circumstance, however, of the frequent visits of his majesty to the residence of his niece, stifled for a time the voice of calumny; for it was well known, that so long as her royal highness was countenanced by the king, it would be in vain to assail her, as his notions of decorum and virtue were too rigid to admit for a moment the idea, that he would continue his visits, were he not convinced that her royal highness had not committed any action by which his esteem and good opinion could be forfeited.

On her royal highness being appointed ranger of Greenwich Park, she removed from Charlton to Montague-house, on Blackheath; and it was here that his majesty often passed whole days in the society of his daughter-in-law, and the infant Princess Charlotte, to whom he was passionately attached. Some severe misunderstandings occurred, however, between his majesty and the

Prince of Wales on account of these visits; but, as no circumstance had as yet taken place to warrant his majesty in withdrawing his countenance from the princess, the prince, in the true spirit of filial obedience, yielded to the wishes of his parent, and forbore to express his chagrin upon the occasion.

The circumstance, however, of her majesty never visiting the princess, nor the latter appearing at any of the drawing-rooms, was plainly indicative of the differences which existed between the illustrious females, and opened the eyes of the public to the part which her majesty espoused in the question of the royal separation. We wish not to speak ill of the dead;-they are beyond our censure or our praise: but the impartiality of the historian obliges us to declare, that the breach which had taken place between the royal couple, would not have extended to that length, had it not been widened by an extraordinary excess of dislike which her majesty had imbibed for her royal highness, and which, in some instances, actuated her to the commission of acts by no means compatible with her rank or character as Queen of England.

On her royal highness taking possession of Montague-house, some pecuniary arrangements were effected, by which she received an allowance of 12,000l. per annum from the prince, and 5,000%. as pin money from the exchequer. In the course of this period, it appears also, that she received

32,000l. from the droits of the admiralty, in various grants, which sum was appropriated to the liquidation of debts, which her royal highness had unavoidably contracted.

A separate establishment having been formed for the Princess Charlotte at Shrewsbury-house, the Princess of Wales was deprived of one of the chief sources of her enjoyment; for although no positive restriction was placed upon the visits of the mother, to her beloved child, yet the separation was attended with those painful feelings which those only can justly appreciate, who are obliged to live, as it were, in a state of estrangement from those, in whom every affection of the beart is centered.

The society of her royal highness might be justly said to consist of a very few individuals: amongst those were Lord Hood, Lord Aurelius Beauclerc, Sir Sidney Smith, Captain Manby, Mr. Canning, and a Mr. Campe, an intelligent German, who was then preparing his Travels in England for the press. In this work we find the following description of the manner in which her royal highness passed her time at Blackheath :

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When," says this enlightened foreigner, "I was at the Princess of Wales's residence at Blackheath, she had the condescension to conduct me to a garden at some distance, which she had principally laid out herself, and which she superintended in such a complete sense of the word, that no person presumed to do any thing in it but