lency count Pino, lieutenant-general, to whom I was chief of the etat-major in the late campaigns of 1812, 1813, and 1814.

"Le general-major Galimberti.

"Dated Milan, Nov. 1, 1816.

"Seen and certified by me, lieutenant-general Count Pino."

M. Pergami, it is well known, received an offer of the brevet rank of captain from the unfortunate Joachim, king of Naples, which he refused, in order to remain in the service of her royal highness; whom, in recompence of his tried fidelity, she raised from a courier to the rank of equerry, since to that of chamberlain, and procured him a barony in Sicily. She also decorated him with several orders of knighthood, proportioning all these benefits and honors to repeated marks of attachment to her person.

At this time (1816) her royal highness took up her residence at an agreeable villa on the shore of lake Como, at a small distance from that town. The situation of this house, which she purchased of the countess Pino, was particularly beautiful, surrounded on all sides by the most enchanting and romantic scenery: she had an avenue of trees, planted at her own expense, of nearly two miles in length, reaching from Como to her house. Her royal highness here sought amusement rather in the resources of her own mind and among a limited

number of friends, than from an indiscriminate intercourse with the inhabitants of Como; but still she was always hospitable as well as affable to those by whom she was visited. Her hours were passed in a series of innocent pleasures: principally derived from conversations with learned persons; music; private plays, in a small theatre built under her own direction; excursions on horseback, in her carriage, or in her gondola on the bosom of the lake. To these were added the repeated exercise of her charitable disposition, in supplying the wants and alleviating the misfortunes of the poor persons in her neighbourhood. One act of this sort will suffice as a sample of the many of a similar kind which could be mentioned. A fire broke out at Como, by which several persons in an humble situation of life were greatly distressed. The moment the circumstance was mentioned to her royal highness, she sent 1200 livres for the relief of the sufferers.

Many persons were astonished that her royal highness did not receive the nobility of the neighbouring town; but our royal heroine, who by principle does not love etiquette, but wishes to be at liberty, and whose mode of life is simplc. never sought the society of any noble; at the same time, those who were presented to her were never ill received. She was accessible to all; she was affable; there was, no affectation or

caprice; she was mild towards every body; she knew not how to be a great princess except in doing good. Who would believe nevertheless, that even at Como, where a part of her money was circulated, and where, more than in any other place, her beneficence and generosity were exerted-who would believe, that even in this town unworthy stories of her were handed about, whence they made their way more extensively; and that as much ill was spoken of her as she absolutely did good to the inhabitants? Yet the princess of Wales was in Italy what she was in London and at the court. Some princes indeed are extolled for their goodness and popularity; but in them it is rather the effect of policy than a natural quality, since, according to them this might derogate from their dignity. Her royal highness was always the same at all times and in all circumstances; the idea of her greatness never betrayed her; she was in principle, in her heart, what perhaps many others are only upon calculation and reflection. The honest class of the Italians acknowledged her worth; they remarked in the princess of Wales a cultivated mind, a ready and sure judgment, a brilliant imagination, an unvaried gaiety in all her movements and in conversation; for her greatness detracted nothing from the lively interest which her conversation inspired.

Notwithstanding her royal highness had been

deserted by the English who had accompanied her
on her travels, she was not forgotten by those whom
she had left in London. She had received several
kind letters from Mr. Whitbread; and when the
intelligence of that gentleman's premature death
had been communicated to her royal highness, she
exclaimed, with much sorrow, "I have lost one of
my
best and most zealous friends!"

A most infamous plot was now formed against her royal highness during her exile. Mr. William Burrell, the son of a person of great distinction in England, was at Milan at the same time with the princess. Always disposed to have English about her, she proposed his remaining with her some months; he consequently accompanied her royal highness in her journey to Mantua, Bologna, Ferrara and Venice, but not being disposed, on account of his health, to undertake a long voyage by sea, he left the princess at Como in the month of August, at the house of the marchioness Villani, in the Borgo Vico. One of his servants, named White, began to circulate ridiculous and idle stories of what passed in the house of her royal highness. Mr. Burrell went to Brussels; and it was at the great inn in that city that White told these stories of the princess, in the most scandalous and indecent manner, to the servants of the duke and duchess of Cumberland, who were there in their way to England. These tales of the servant found their way

to the court of London, and lord Charles Stuart, brother to lord Castlereagh, was immediately sent to Milan. Lord Charles, according to his duty, never made himself known to her royal highness, but formed a strict friendship with the baron d'Ompteda, a chevalier of Hanover, and formerly ambassador from Jerome Napoleon, king of Westphalia, to the court of Vienna. The baron carried about with him in Italy a mortal chagrin from his disgrace; led on by promises he degraded himself to the infamous trade of a spy, and set about watching the conduct of the princess very narrowly.— At this time her royal highness was ready to set out upon the journey she had undertaken.

The princess of Wales shuddered when, at her return to Milan, she learned from the police that she was surrounded by spies in her own house. The baron d'Ompteda, who was at their head, had, during the absence of the princess, endeavoured to corrupt some of the people in her service. They, however, all rejected with horror the proposals and promises which he made them, with tenders of money, to engage them in his enterprise, which had for its object to outrage the honour and reputation of the princess. Not one of the Italians was base or treacherous enough to be seduced by him; Maurice Crede, a German, alone yielded to the temptation. He undertook to introduce the baron d'Ompteda into the princess's apartment by means