they were apparently wrapped, appeared to her pervading mind of a cobweb texture. In whatever manner a court is constituted, a baneful air pervades it, injurious to political virtue and independence. If it be not the theatre of sedition and revolt, it is often the abode of ambition and cupidity. However wisely a government may be formed, mild or severe, economical or liberal, it is impossible to provide against all cases of necessity, or to bestow ample satisfaction upon every complaint which is made. Incessantly occupied with the attainment of power and riches, or in preserving those already gained, the restless courtier is never satisfied, nor easy; considering every favor as a right, and every refusal as an injustice; viewing in the public affairs only his own disputes, or his personal relations; calumniating every intention, and even those designs which are crowned with success, he sacrifices every thing to the object of his desires; and when he can no longer attain it, he appears to console himself in troubling the court of which he complains by his intrigues, and sacrificing the state itself to his secret vengeance. When a kingdom is agitated, the court is always the focus of the fire which devours it; when it is tranquil, it nourishes within itself a secret fire, similar to the volcanoes, in the heart of which, those dreadful tempests are formed which lay desolate the face of the earth. The Princess Charlotte was well aware of the perils which environ the heiress presumptive to a crown; an interference on her part, in any great political question, in which her influence might be felt, she considered as exposing herself to animadversion and to danger; and, on the other hand, a total indifference towards it betrayed a lukewarmness to the interests of the nation, and a neglect in seeking every opportunity by which her share of political knowledge might be increased. She was aware of the freedom with which the English people canvass the actions of their princes; and she knew well the impossibility of so regulating their conduct, that, from some quarter or another, the breath of calumny should not reach them. The majesty of the throne, which encircles an heir apparent, without investing him with any real power, bestows upon him an influence, which, if improperly directed, may become dangerous to the state; if he be ignorant of the affairs of government, his incapability of administering them will, on his accession to the throne, soon display itself, and a too active interference may set the whole machinery of the executive power in confusion. A prudent but dignified secession from any interference in political affairs, became the leading rule of the conduct of the Princess Charlotte. "I cannot," she said, "form the happiness of the present generation-but I can, and I ought to announce to the future one, those prospects of happiness for which I will prepare myself to give them." The throne gives a splendor to virtues, but they should not take their origin there; the heir to a crown ought to contract a previous habitude of those virtues, which will be neces - sary; and, although their effects may be for a time diminished or concealed, they carry with them a future presage of public felicity. Sympathy with the sufferings of others was not among the least of the eminent qualities of the Princess Charlotte. An affectionate disposition may, and indeed will, by a generous participation, share another's woes, even though it has not yet tasted the bitterness of bereavement or personal affliction of any kind ; but in order to afford effectual consolation to the mourner, it seems requisite, that the person, whose friendly spirit hastens to his relief, should have been himself a sufferer, that he may be duly qualified to select appropriate language, and that the distressed individual himself may be impressed with the consciousness that his words are not words of course. Experience is the best of all instructors; and affliction superinduces a sensibility, and teaches a language which cannot possibly be attained in any degree of perfection by any other process. That the Princess Charlotte had never gained that experience must be admitted on all sides, for her station and rank in life precluded the possibility of knowing the privations of human life from experience; but she attained to the knowledge of them by the generous impulses of her heart, and her sensibility taught her the method of giving, without wounding the feelings of the receiver. She might say with Job, "What shall I do when God riseth up, if I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail? or have eaten my mor sel, myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof. If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering?" Perhaps no one ever attended more scrupulously to the injunction of her Saviour than the Princess Charlotte: "When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth; that thine alms may be in secret." In every thing her Royal Highness was unostentatious, but especially in works of charity. Satisfied with the approbation of her conscience and of her God, she manifested no solicitude for the applauses of men, and was content to do good without being praised for it. No book records her actions, except the register of Heaven; there she now sees them written, and the bliss of the seraphim is her reward. The most important study of the Princess Charlotte was religion; and woe to the people, whose princes neglect to make that sublime study their first object. If it has been commanded by the Almighty to the kings of the earth-" that his book shall be with them, and they shall read therein all the days of their life, that they may learn to fear the Lord their God, to keep all the words of his law and his statutes to do them," it is as much for the happiness of their subjects, as for their own sanctification. The fear of an eternal punishment is almost the only check upon kings to the exercise of their passions; and the princes of the earth should never cease to think, that God standeth in the congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the kings. Christianity, in the opinion of the Princess Charlotte, was not of a sombre or superstitious nature; she examined its origin and its character, its mysteries, its morals, its dogmas, and its promises; and this examination, so far from altering her faith, confirmed her in her submission to the decisions of the Christian church-instilled into her mind a due respect for its rites, and a strict veneration for its ordinances; and this effect will be always produced upon a pure and impartial mind by the study of religion. The divine law fears not discussion; it is like the ore which becomes purer the more it is analyzed, and reflects the brightness of its splendor on all who encircle it. With the Princess Charlotte, religion had completed the work of nature;-she was kind and gentle upon principle; and if the emotions of anger at any time arose in her mind, they were instantly suppressed as a weakness unworthy of the woman,-as a sin, unbecoming a Christian. The Princess Charlotte might, with justice, quote the words of Henry IV. :-" Ceux qui suivent tout droit leur conscience, sont de ma religion; et moi, je suis de celle de tous ceux la qui sont braves et bons." "They who follow strictly their conscience are of my religion, and I am of the religion of all those who are good and virtuous.” The convalescence of her Royal Highness was watched in the most anxious manner, and her continued confinement gave rise to some reports of rather a disheartening nature. The bud, springing from a tree of a rare species, is regarded with feelings of the tenderest solicitude, and all the attentions which skill |