supposed that the influence of her Royal Highness over her illustrious daughter on that subject was paramount to that which any other person could exercise; and, therefore, that as her influence could be no longer used, the Princess Charlotte would gradually relax in the conditions which she had imposed upon her late suitor, and every obstacle be removed to their union. Little, however, did these politicians suspect that, independently of the objections which the Princess Charlotte entertained to a matrimonial alliance with the Prince of Orange, there was a "vestal fire" burning within, which was the secret source of her happiness, and which would have induced her to regard a union with any other object than with that whom she had secretly chosen for herself, with the most repulsive feelings.

The question, however, of the intention of the Princess of Wales leaving the country, was put beyond all doubt by some questions which Mr. Tierney put to Lord Castlereagh in the House of Commons, on the 30th of July; in which he stated, that a report was prevalent, that her Royal Highness had made an application, through his Majesty's ministers, for permission to return to the continent. Whether this was intended as a temporary visit to her brother, or a permanent residence abroad, he could not contemplate it without regret. There might be a reason, (which, however, he could not imagine without pain,) that might warrant the temporary absence of her Royal Highness from

this country. He and an honorable friend of his (not then present) had been the only two members on that side of the House who had taken an active part in the proceedings respecting the increased income of her Royal Highness; but if, at the bottom of that proposition, there existed any arrangement savouring of an understanding that the public should be deemed to have paid the price of her Royal Highness's quitting this country, he solemnly protested that he had no hand in it.

Lord Castlereagh said, with respect to the honorable gentleman's questions, all that he knew was, that her Royal Highness had signified to his Majesty's ministers her intention of visiting the continent; and he was persuaded, that the House, in voting for the addition to the income of her Royal Highness, had no design of imprisoning her Royal Highness in this country, nor of preventing her from residing wherever her pleasure or convenience might induce her to take. up her

abode.

In reply, Mr. Tierney declared, that the step, which her Royal Highness was about to take, was against the direct advice of Mr. Whitbread, and of every one who had the interests of the Princess of Wales at heart.

The situation of the Princess Charlotte now became distressing in the highest degree. She was shortly to bid adieu to her mother; that fond and affectionate mother, who had watched over her early years with the most anxious solicitude;

who had trained her in the ways of religion and of virtue; who, for her sake, had borne the most vile and cutting 'reproaches with unexampled patience and fortitude; and who was now doomed to seek for that happiness in another country which was denied to her in this. Wise, indeed, is that Power, which withholds from us a knowledge of futurity, and, in its infinite mercy, holds

from our view those events which are concealed in the womb of time; and which, in their effects, dash to pieces the fragile structure of our earthly happiness. What would have been the agonizing feelings of the illustrious mother, had she conceived that the parting kiss, which she was then imprinting on the lips of her weeping daughter, was the last, last kiss on earth;-that the farewell which they were then uttering, was, indeed, a long, a last farewell! In a few months more the bosom, which was then beating with all the ardor of filial love, and which was then tumultuously rising with the sobs of grief-the bosom, on which the afflicted mother laid her head, and moistened with her tears, was, in a few months more, to be cold and motionless. The eye, in which a ray of love beamed through the crystalline drops which dimmed it, was soon to be closed for ever; and the motions of the heart, which was then beating with Nature's fond affections, were to be stilled in the silence of the grave. But how must the soul of the survivor have been harrowed, when the dreadful intelligence burst upon her, and the

poignant reflection was superadded, that all this has taken place and she not present; that at the moment, perhaps, when her now sainted child was resigning her spirit into the hands which gave it, and with feeble tongue was uttering "Thy will be done!" she was in the midst of revelry and mirth, and looking forward to the joys of tomorrow with anticipated delight* !

Some consolation might even now be imparted to the heart, grieving for the loss of England's most illustrious daughter, had the parting with her mother, the last in this world, taken place under more auspicious circumstances. It was a moment, in which the sternness of parental authority might have been softened, and every emotion of resentment stifled, in order to allow the sufferers the melancholy pleasure of mingling their tears in private, where the last farewell could have been whispered, without being exposed to the callous look of apathy, or to the counterfeit sympathy of the dissembling courtier.

But how different was the treatment which the Princess of Wales received on her writing to the

It is rather a singular coincidence, that since the above passage was written, intelligence has been received, that the Princess of Wales gave a fête in celebration of her name-day on the 4th of November, (the day of St. Charles) at Pesaro. A comic ballet was performed, in which the Princess danced the principal character, and on the following day, a superb dinner was to be given by her Royal Highness.

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minister, stating, that she intended to go to Cranbourne-Lodge to visit her daughter, and that she expected to be admitted;-an answer was sent, that the Princess Charlotte would be allowed to come to Connaught-House on the Saturday following. Accordingly, on that day, the Princess Charlotte came to town, not in that private manner by which the feelings of the daughter could be held sacred, on the point of bidding farewell to her mother, but with her ladies in waiting, in full attendance, whose tears, perhaps, also have flowed at a disappointment in dress or a compulsive detention from a ball; and not in her own private carriage, but in the Prince Regent's, with three of his own footmen outriders. After having dined with her mother, she returned the same evening to CranbourneLodge; and there, in secret, she gave vent to the tears which flowed at the recollection of the parting kiss of her mother, and at her own isolated situation. She was henceforth to be deprived of the only female to whom she could unfold, without reserve, the secrets of her bosom. But in her heart she for ever treasured the last injunction of her mother:-" Look not, my beloved Charlotte," she said, "for consolation under your afflictions from the hands of men; that is a mere temporary unsubstantial relief; it passeth away quickly like a shadow, leaving no trace of it behind. But let your appeal be always to your God; he hears the cries of the sufferer, and heals the