CHAPTER XV.

Death of the Duchess of Brunswick.-The Princess Charlotte visits her Mother on this occasion by permission of her Father.-Congratulory Address of the City of London to the Princess of Wales on her acquittal.-Her Royal Highness's Note to the Sheriffs.-Her Answer to the Address.-Alderman Wood's attention to her Royal Highness.-Address of the Common Council of the City of London on the same occasion.-Her Royal Highness's Answer. Similar Addresses and Resolutions from Westminster, Middlesex, &c. &c.

ON the 23d of March 1813, the duchess of Brunswick, the mother of the princess of Wales died. The prince regent and the queen being desirous that the wishes and feelings of the duke of Brunswick, her son, should be consulted on the occasion, the gentlemen belonging to the lord chamberlain, and those who had the arrangement of the funeral, waited on his serene highness at his residence at Vauxhall. His highness signified his intention to be the chief mourner. As her royal highness was only a visitor in this country, and had no royal establishment, the funeral was of a private nature. On this occasion the princess Charlotte had the

voluntary permission of the prince regent to visit her mother, when the two illustrious females passed two hours ALONE, a pleasure which they had not enjoyed a long time before.

On the acquittal of her royal highness the princess of Wales from those heavy and serious charges which had been brought against her, addresses of congratulation poured in from all parts of the country.

The citizens of London were the first who expressed a determination to meet for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of presenting a loyal and affectionate address to her royal highness on the subject of the lately exposed wicked and cruel attempts against her royal highness's character and life. A requisition was delivered to the lord mayor, requesting him to hold a common hall, for the consideration of this proposition, which was accordingly held on Friday, April 2. Alderman Wood brought forward the subject of the day, and after commenting on the cruel slanders by which the princess had been assailed, and the complete and irrefragable establishment of her innocence, he moved an address to her royal highness, which, after some discussion, was carried with very few opponents.

In consequence of this note of the common hall, the city remembrancer waited upon the princess of

Wales at Montague-house the next day, and delivered the following note:

* “ Guildhall, April 3, 1813. "The lord mayor, aldermen, and livery, of the city of London, in common hall assembled, having yesterday voted an address to her royal highness the princess of Wales, and ordered the sheriffs, attended by the remembrancer, to wait on her royal highness to know when she would receive the same, the remembrancer now attends to know her royal highness's pleasure in respect to the time when the sheriffs may wait on her for this purpose.” Le

To this note her royal highness in the course of a few minutes delivered the following answer, in writing:

"Montague-house, Blackheath, April 3, 1813. "Impressed with the deepest sense of gratitude for the unexpected honor the lord mayor and the noble city of London intend to confer upon me, by presenting an address of congratulation on the happy annihilation of a conspiracy against my honor and my life, I feel myself unable to do justice to my feelings, in expressing my grateful acknowledgments for the sincere interest the lord mayor and the city of London have evinced for my welfare and happiness. The melancholy event of the duchess of Brunswick, my mother's demise, involves me at this moment in the deepest affliction:

I shall not fail, however, to send on Monday next an answer to the lord mayor, and the Sheriffs, to express more fully my sentiments on the honor intended to be conferred upon me."

On Monday the sheriffs waited on her royal highness, and received the following answer:

"Montague House, Blackheath, April 6th, 1813. "When the remembrancer waited upon me unexpectedly on Saturday last, to give me the first intimation of the high honor conferred upon me by the citizens of London in common hall assembled ; the answer which I made will have conveyed some expression of my feeling on an occasion so interesting, important, and gratifying, to me.

I

"I am sure I shall not be misunderstood, when say, that my affliction from the recent loss of my beloved mother, and the peculiar circumstances of my situation in other respects, may render it dif ficult for me to give a due reception to the lord mayor, aldermen, recorder, sheriffs, and the deputation of the livery of London, I also feel diffident of giving them the trouble of a public attendance upon me.

"I shall be at my apartments in Kensington palace on Monday next, at two o'clock, for the purpose of receiving the address."

CONGRATULARY ADDRESSES.

The congratulatory address of the livery of the city of London was accordingly presented to the princess of Wales on Monday, April 12, at Kensington palace. The procession consisted of the two city marshals in their state uniforms, on horseback; the state carriage and six bays, in which were the lord mayor, the mace bearer, the sword of state, and his lordship's chaplain; aldermen Combe, Wood, and Goodbehere; sheriff Blades, and the city remembrancer, Mr. sheriff Hoy and his chaplain; the chamberlain, the comptroller, the solicitor, the town clerk, Mr. Waithman, and about 150 of the livery in their gowns. The procession, to the disappointment of many thousands of persons, who had assembled in the Strand, Pall Mall, &c. took a contrary route, and proceeded through Newgatestreet, Holborn, Oxford-road, and into Kensington gardens by the gate at Bayswater. The princess, accompanied by lady Charlotte Lindsey and Campbell, arrived at the palace from Blackheath, at a quarter past 12, at which time the populace had assembled in great numbers. The lord mayor, with the grand cavalcade, arrived ten minutes past two. The crowd that accompanied it overpowered the police and the military, and burst open the