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 other any 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 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

1

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 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 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 inclosure.

(Signed)

JOHN DOUGLAS.

June 1st.

Sworn before us, at Lord Grenville's house, in Downing-street, Westminster, June 1st, 1806.

A true Copy,

J. Becket.

ERSKINE,

SPENCER,

GRENVILLE,

ELLENBOROUGH.

No copy of these letters, or either of them, bas been sent to her

Royal Highness the Princess of Wales.

(No. 4.)

The Deposition of Robert Bidgood.

I HAVE lived with the Prince twenty-three years in nextSeptember. 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 and 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

she

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 of the any servants perceiving him. I never observed any appearance of the Princess, which could lead me to suppose 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 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 lookingglass I saw them salute each other. I mear. that they kissed each other's lips. Captain Manby then went away. I then observed the Princess have her handkercl ief in her hands and wipe her eyes as if she was crying, and went

into the drawing-room. The Princess went to Southend in May 1804. I went with her. We were there I believe about six weeks before the Africaine came in. Sicard was very often watching with a glass to see when the ship would arrive. One day he said he saw the Africaine, 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 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 drawing-room of No. 7, which communicated by the balcony with No. 8. The three houses being adjoining, the Princess used to dine in 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 servents, 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 as I saw there early in 1803. It has a mark in 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. Gosden was employed as a nurse to the child, and she used to bring the child to the Princess as soon as the Princess woke, and the child used to stay with her Royal Highness the