could not guess any thing more. She then said that she was pregnant, and that the child had come to life. I don't know whether she said on that day, or a few days before, that she was at breakfast at Lady Willoughby's, that the milk flowed up to her breast, and came through her gown; that she threw a napkin over herself, and went with Lady Willoughby into her room and adjusted herself, to prevent its being observed. She never told me who was the father of the child. She said she hoped it would be a boy. She said that if it was discovered, she would give the Prince of Wales the credit of being the father, for she had slept two nights at Carlton House within the year. I said that I should go abroad to my Mother. The Princess said that she should manage it very well; and if things came to the worst, she would give the Prince the credit of it. While I was at Montague House in March, I was with the child, and one day I said that I was very sick, and the Princess desired Mrs. Sander to get me a saline draught. She then said that she was very sick herself, and that she would take a saline draught too. I observed that she could not want one, and I looked at her. The Princess said, Yes I do; what do you look at me for, with your wicked eyes? you are always finding me out. Mrs. Sander looked very much distressed; she gave us a saline draught each. This was the first time that I had any suspicion of her being with child. The Princess never said who was the father. When she first told me she was with child, I rather suspected that Sir Sidney was the father, but only because the Princess was very partial to him. I never knew that he was with her alone. We had constant intercourse with the Princess, from the time when I was at Montague House till the end of October. After that she had first communicated to me that she was with child, she frequently spoke upon the subject. She was bled twice dur

ing the time. She recommended to me to be bled too, and said that it made you have a better time. Mr. Edmeades bled her. She said one of the days that Mr. Edmeades bled her, that she had a violent heat in her blood, and that Mr. Edmeades should bleed her. I told the Princess I was very anxious how she would manage to be brought to bed without its being known; that I hoped she had a safe person. She said yes, she should have a person from abroad; that she had a great horror of having any man about her on such an occasion. She said, "I am confident in my own plans, and I wish you would not speak with me on that subject again." She said, "I shall tell every thing to Sander." I think this was on the day on which she told me of what had happened at Lady Willoughby's. That Sander was a very good woman, and might be trusted, and that she must be with her at the labour; that she would send Miss Gouch to Brunswick; and Miss Millfield was too young to be trusted, and must be sent out of the way. I was brought to bed on the 23rd of July, 1802; the Princess insisted on being présent; I determined that she should not, but I meant to avoid it without offending her. On the day on which I was brought to bed, she came to my house, and insisted on coming in; Dr. Mackie, who attended me, locked the door, and said she should not come in; but there was another door on the opposite side of the room, which was not locked, and she came in at that door, and was present during the time of the labour, and took the child as soon as it was born, and said that she was very glad that she had seen the whole of it. The Princess's pregnancy appeared to me to be very visible; she wore a cushion behind, and she made Mis. Sander make one for me. During my lying-in the Princess came one day with Mrs. Fitzgerald; she sent Mrs. Eitzgerald away, and took a chair and sat by my bedside. She said, "You will hear of

my taking children in baskets, but you wont take any no tice 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 I 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.