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The negotiations were at this time carried on with great activity for the purchase of Claremont, as Camelford-House was found to be extremely inconvenient, and in too confined a situation for the Princess Charlotte. The royal pair had often expressed their urgent wishes for a country residence, as some symptoms of indisposition had already manifested themselves in the Princess Charlotte; and some rest was deemed necessary for her from the performance of the duties which court etiquette required, and for the beneficial purpose of restoring the tone of her constitution, which had materially suffered in the bustle and turmoil of the preceding month. Her Royal Highness also at intervals experienced considerable pain in her knee, occasioned by her being obliged to remain so often in a standing attitude to receive the numerous congratulations on her marriage from all parts of the country; and the benefit of country air, joined to sedentary exercise, was strenuously recommended by her physicians.

The theatres were the chief places of amusement to which the Princess Charlotte resorted; and not only her Royal Highness, but Prince Leopold expressed a strong wish to see Mrs. Siddons in a few of her most distinguished characters, leaving it to herself to select them.

This wish was expressed in consequence of a visit which their Royal and Serene Highnesses paid to CoventGarden theatre, on Friday the 31st of May, to see Mrs. Siddons in the part of Queen Katherine, which she was to perform for the benefit of her brother Mr. C.

Kemble. The re-appearance of this transcendent actress and unrivalled ornament of our national drama, attracted one of the most crowded audiences which Covent-Garden theatre ever boasted of. The intended visit of her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte and her illustrious consort added not a little to the general attractions of the evening. It was the first of our historical plays which Prince Leopold had ever witnessed, supported by the powers of the first tragedians of the age, and the impression which it made upon him was strong and durable. The exquisite delineation of the Queen Katherine has been long and justly distinguished for its matchless qualities, and it claimed on this occasion the full measure of critical delight and admiration. The majesty of Mrs. Siddons's deportment; the dignity of her action; the fire, the varying, the resistless expression of the eye and the whole countenance; the noble and impressive manner in which she vindicated her insulted rights; the natural emotions and transitions from tranquil and conscious innocence and purity, to pious resignation, to heroic firmness and resolution; mixed with those occasional bursts of lowering superiority, scorn and contempt, to which none but herself can give spirit, tone, and effect, were in perfect unison with the conception of the poet's genius.

There is certainly no tragedy, in the whole range of our national drama, which contains so many appropriate allusions to the unfortunate differences subsisting between the most distinguished individuals of our royal family, as that of Henry VIII. The presence

of the Princess 'Charlotte made their application still more pointed, and the audience omitted no occasion on which to testify their sense of it. When, in the fourth scene of the second act, Queen Katherine says,

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Sir, I desire you, do me right and justice;

And to bestow your pity on me for

I am a most poor woman, and a stranger,
Born out of your dominions; having here
No judge indifferent, nor no more assurance
Of equal friendship and proceeding. Alas, Sir,
In what have I offended you? What cause
Hath my behaviour given to your displeasure,
That thus you should proceed to put me off,
And take your good grace from me?
-If, in the course

And process of this time, you can report,
And prove it too, against mine honor aught,
My bond to wedlock, or my love and duty,

A gainst your sacred person, in God's name,
Turn me away; and let the foul'st contempt
Shut door upon me, and so give me up
To the sharpest kind of justice.-

The whole house rung with acclamations, and the uproar was so great, that the performance for a time was suspended; but when, in the last scene of the fourth act, Queen Katherine inquires after the health of his Majesty,

KATHERINE.

CAPUCIUS.

How does his Highness?

Madam, in good health.

KATH. So may he ever do! and ever flourish,
When I shall dwell with worms, and my poor name

Banish'd the kingdom! Patience, is that letter,
I caus'd you write, yet sent away?

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KATH. Sir, I most humbly pray you to deliver
This to my lord the king.

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KATH. In which I have commended to his goodness
The model of our chaste loves, his young daughter ;-
The dews of Heav'n fall thick in blessings on her !—
Beseeching him to give her virtuous breeding;

-And a little

To love her for her mother's sake, that lov'd him,
Heav'n knows how dearly.

The effect of this speech operated upon the house like an electric shock; it seemed to pervade every class of the audience, and, for some moments, the acting on the stage was mere pantomimic gesture, for not a syllable of the sentence was audible. The remainder of the act, one of the most affecting in the drama, was lost to the audience; the sonorous enunciation of Mrs. Siddons was at times faintly heard in the intervals of the calm, but the tumult in a moment broke loose again, and the drop fell at the close of the act in uproar and confusion.

On the recitation of that part, where Queen Katherine says,

She now begs,

That little thought, when first she touch'd this isle,
She should have bought her dignities so dear,

a simpleton in the pit exclaimed, "What did you come for, then?"-This renewed the uproar; and the delinquent, being discovered, made his escape almost in a state of nudity from the pit, leaving every remnant of his coat behind him.

It is circumstances of this kind, which determine the channel in which public opinion flows; and the historian requires no better index to the complexion of the times than the sentiments which are expressed in the public assemblies of the country. To investigate the nature of the feelings of the Princess Charlotte, on this occasion, would be an act of supererogation. The affection for her mother beat warmly in her bosom ; and whatever tended to prove to her, that the guilt of her mother was not credited by the public, must have been attended with the most gratifying feelings; but it was at best, a trying situation. The acquittal of one parent proved the condemnation of another; and, had she at that moment been deputed to hold the scales, who would have censured her, had she thrown the preponderating weight into the scale of the former? The pleasure which she received in the evening was, in a certain degree, embittered with grief: for there are wounds in every human heart, which are but slightly cauterized, and which the slightest effort will set bleeding afresh. The wounds of her heart are now healed for ever; but the pain which they occasioned still lies in the memory of her survivors.

A more convincing proof of the liberality of the Princess Charlotte's mind cannot be adduced, than her frequent attendance at several places of divine worship, where tenets are held not exactly conformable to those of the church of England. On Sunday, the 2d of June, her Royal Highness attended divine service at the Swiss Protestant Chapel, in Moor-street, Soho, where a sermon was preached by the Rev. M.

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