my taking children in baskets, but you wont 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 upon 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 should have quite a nursery. I saw the Princess on a Sunday, either the 30th or 31st of 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 nine 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 she had taken had had the measles in their afraid my child might take it. to see me during my lying in, 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 with a piece of red cloth. The Princess got up and clothes, and that she was When the Princess came she told me that when she 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 Į saw you." The words were, either," I had him," or, "I 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, " she has a mark like your little girl." I saw the child afterwards frequently with the Princess, quite till 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 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 Mama. I saw the child looking at the window of the Princess's house about a month ago, before the Princess went into Devonshire, and I am sure that it was the same child. Not long after I had first seen the child, the Princess said that she had the child at first to sleep with her for a few nights, but it made her nervous, and now they had got a regular nurse for her. 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 parted with me. The child was called William. I never heard that it had any other name. When the child was in long clothes, we breakfasted one day with the Princess, and she said to Sir John Douglas, "This is the Deptford Boy." Independently of the Princess's confessions to me, I can swear that she was pregnant in 1802. In October, 1804, when we returned from Devonshire, I left my card at Montague House, and on the 4th of October I received a letter from Mrs. Vernon, desiring me not to come any more to Montague House, I had never at this time mentioned the Princess's being with child, or being delivered of a child, to any person, not even to Sir 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 illused. 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 bedfellow whenever she could; that nothing was more wholesome. She said that nothing was more convenient than her room; "it stands at the head of the staircase which leads into the Park, and I have bolts in the inside, and have a bedfellow whenever I like. I wonder you can be satisfied only with Sir John." She has said this more than once. She has told me that Sir Sidney Smith had lain with her; that she believed all men liked a bedfellow, 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 bedfellows she liked, and the Prince paid for all. CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS. June 1, 1806. Sworn before us, June 1, 1806, at Lord Grenville's in Downing-street, Westminster. A true Copy, J. Becket. ERSKINE, SPENCER, GRENVILLE, ELLENBOROUGH. •No copy of this letter has been sent to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. (No. 3.) The Deposition of Sir John Douglas, Knt. I HAD a house at Blackheath in 1801. Sir Sidney used to come to my house. I had a bed for him. The Princess of Wales formed an acquaintance with Lady Douglas, and came frequently to our house. I thought she came more for Sir Sidney Smith than for us. After she had been some time acquainted with us, she appeared to me to be with child. One day she leaned on the sofa, and put her hand 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 two-penny 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 inclosure. 1 Sworn before us at Lord Grenville's house in Downing-street, Westminster, June the first, 1806. ERSKINE, A true Copy, J. Becket. SPENCER, GRENVILLE, ELLENBOROUGH. • No copy of these letters, or either of them, has been sent to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. I HAVE lived with the Prince twenty-three years in 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, about ten or eleven o'clock. He was at Sir John Douglas's, and was in the habit, as well as Sir John aud Lady, Douglas, of dining or having 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 expected ever to see company. I asked the servants why they did not let me know that he was there. The footmen informed me that they had let no person in. There was a private door to 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 she was with child. I first observed Captain Manby come to Montague House, either the end of 1803, or beginning of 1804. I was waiting one day in the anti-room, Captain Manby had bis 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 other's lips. Captain Manby then went away. I then observed the Princess have her hand |
