a former statement which is not given; for no such person is mentionod before in any that I have been furnished with. Your Majesty then here observes that, after having given evidence in two of his declarations, respecting Mr. Lawrence by name, in which he mentions nothing of locked doors,—and after having, in another declaration, given an account of a locked door, but expressly stated that he knew not whether any one was with me within it, and said nothing about whispering being overheard, but, impliedly, at least, negatived it;-in the deposition before the Commissioners, he puts all these things together, and has the hardihood to add to them that remarkable circumstance, which could not have escaped his recollection, at the first, if it had been true, "of his having, on the same night in which he found me "and Mr. Lawrence alone, after the ladies were 66 gone to bed, come again to the room when he "thought Mr. Lawrence must have been retired, "and found the door locked and heard the whisper 66 ing;" and then again he gives another instance of his honesty, and upon the same principle on which he took no notice of the man in the great coat, he finds the door locked, hears the whispering, and then he silently and contentedly retires. And this witness, who thus not only varies in his testimony, but contradicts himself in such important particulars, is one of those who cannot be suspected of unfavourable bias, and whose veracity is not to be questioned, and whose evidence must be credited till decidedly contradicted. These observations might probably be deemed sufficient upon Mr. Cole's deposition, as far as it respects Mr. Lawrence; but I cannot be satisfied without explaining to your Majesty, all the truth, and the particulars respecting Mr. Lawrence, which I recollect. What I recollect then is as follows. He began a large picture of me, and of my daughter, towards the latter end of the year 1800, or the beginning of 1801. Miss Garth and Miss Hayman were in the house with me at the time. The picture was painted at Montague House. Mr. Lawrence mentioned to Miss Hayman his wish to be permitted to remain some few nights in the house, that by rising early he might begin painting on the picture, before Princess Charlotte (whose résidence being at that time at Shooter's Hill was enabled to come early,) or myself, came to sit. It was a similar request to that which had been made by Sir William Beechy, when he painted my picture. And I was sensible of no impropriety when I granted the request to either of them. Mr. Lawrence occupied the same room which had been occupied by Sir William Beechy; it was at the other end of the house from my apartment. At that time Mr. Lawrence did not dine with me; his dinner was served in his own room. After dinner he came down to the room where I and my Ladies generally sat in an evening-sometimes my there was music, in which he joined, and sometimes he read poetry. Parts of Shakespeare's plays I particularly remember, from his reading them very well; and sometimes he played chess with me. It frequently may have happened that it was one or two o'clock before I dismissed Mr. Lawrence and Ladies. They, together with Mr. Lawrence, went out of the same door, up the same stair-case, and at the same time. According to my own recollection I should have said, that, in no one instance, they had left Mr. Lawrence behind them, alone with me.-But I suppose it did happen once for a short time, since Mr. Lawrence so recollects it, as your Majesty will perceive from his deposition, which I annex. He staid in my house two or three nights together; but how many nights in the whole, I do not recollect. The picture left my house by April, 1801, and Mr. Lawrence never slept in my house afterwards. That picture now belongs to Lady Townshend. He has since completed another picture of me; and, about a year and a half ago, he began another, which remains at present unfinished. I believe it is near a twelvemonth since I last sat to him. Mr. Lawrence lives upon a footing of the greatest intimacy with the neighbouring families of Mr. Lock and Mr. Angerstein; and I have asked him sometimes to dine with me to meet them. While I was sitting to him, at my own house, I have no doubt I must have often sat to him alone; as the necessity for the precaution of having an attendant, as a witness to protect my honour from suspicion certainly never occurred to me. And upon the same principle, I do not doubt that I may have sometimes continued in conversation with him after he had finished painting. But when sitting in his own house, I have always been attended with one of my Ladies. And indeed nothing in the examinations state the contrary. One part of Mrs. Lisle's examination seems as if she had had a question put to her, upon the supposition that I had been left alone with Mr. Lawrence at his own house; to which she answers, that she indeed had left me there, but that she thinks she left Mrs. Fitzgerald with me. - Ifan inference of an unfavourable nature could. have been drawn from my having been left there alone; was it, Sire, taking all that care which might be wished, to guard against such an inference, on the part of the Commissioners, when they omitted to send for Mrs. Fitzgerald to ascertain what Mrs. Lisle may have left in doubt. The Commissioners, I give them the fullest credit, were satisfied, that Mrs. Lisle thought correctly upon this fact, and that Mrs. Fitzgerald, if she had been sent for again, would so have proved it, and therefore that it would have been troubling her to no purpose. But this it is, of which I conceive myself to have most reason to complain;-that the examination in several instances, have not been followed up so as to remove unfavourable impressions. I cannot but feel satisfied that the Commissioners would have been glad to have been warranted in negativing all criminality, and all suspicion on this part of the charge, as completely, and honourably as they have done on the principal charges of pregnancy and delivery. They traced that part of the charge with ability, sagacity, diligence, and perseverance; and the result was complete satisfaction of my innocence; complete detection of the falsehood of my accusers. Encouraged by their success in that part of their Inquiry, Í lament that they did not, (as they thought proper to enter into the other part of it at all,) with similar industry pursue it. If they had, I am confident they would have pursued it with the same success; but though they had convicted Sir John and Lady Douglas of falsehood, they seem to have thought it impossible to suspect of the same falsehood, any other of the witnesses, though produced by SirJohn and Lady Douglas. The most obvious means, therefore, of trying their credit, by comparing their evidence with what they had said be· fore, seems to me to have been omitted. Many facts are left upon surmise only and insinuation; obvious means of getting further information on doubtful and suspicious circumstances are not resorted to; and, as if the important matter of the Inquiry (on which a satisfactory conclusion had been formed) was all that required any very attentive or accurate consideration; the remainder of it was pursued in a manner which, as it seems to me, can only be accounted for by the pressure of |
