music. And thus did this amiable Princess, in the circle of a few congenial minds, dedicate those hours to the enjoyment of rational delights, which others spend in the inane and frivolous pursuits of a fashionable life.

Preparations had been for some time making for the departure of the Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold for Claremont. Every day military waggons conveying goods, &c., were despatched from Camelford House to Claremont-House, and the more valuable articles were conveyed in caravans and breaks. On the 24th, a stage-coach, specially engaged for the purpose, started with the domestics, inside and outside, with their luggage, from Camelford-House. Soon after, Sir Robert Gardiner and the other attendants followed in carriages. The Princess and Prince left about half-past three o'clock, in a travelling carriage, to proceed to Claremont to dinner. The whole of the royal establishment removed from Camelford-House, not to return any more; that house being extremely inconvenient for the purpose, and, indeed, not large enough for half of the establishment, scarcely for more than one third, which added enormously to the expenses. The Princess Charlotte being a rigid economist, this alone was no trifling objection to continuing any part of the royal establishment at Camelford-House; especially, as before the ensuing winter, it was expected that a more suitable residence would be found for their Royal and Serene Highnesses. The idea of occupying Kensington-Palace had been wholly relinquished, as some objections of an insuperable nature appeared;

which, in the first instance, did not present themselves. In fact, there is no house in London that presents itself, that is so well calculated for a royal residence in every point of view, combining splendor with convenience, as Cumberland-House in Pall-Mall, which was at that time occupied by the clerks of the board of ordnance. It was, therefore, determined that the business of that department of the state should be removed to the new building intended for the transportoffice, and that Cumberland-House should be fitted up as the residence of these illustrious personages.

A new era now opened upon the life of the Princess Charlotte--short, but glorious. Her course was like the sun, through an unclouded atmosphere, gradually sinking towards the west, in floods of mellowed light ; and leaving to us the reflection of his beams, even when we see him not. She is set-and we see her no more! But her memory lives amongst us, bright and unfading!-it is a beacon to us on the road of religion and virtue, and which will eventually bring us to that Heaven where her now sainted spirit dwells in bliss.

From the empty and tiresome ceremonies attendant upon royalty, her Royal Highness was now to be removed to the pure and exhilarating scenes of the country-no longer wasting her hours at feasts, at balls, at assemblies, at routs, and all the other motley meetings of fashionable life, she was now to enjoy the pleasing occupations of agriculture, gardening, riding, fishing, reading, contemplation, and all the rational pursuits which distinguish a country life. The coun

try is a realization of romance and fairy land to indi viduals of so contemplative a disposition as the Princess Charlotte's. Innocence and virtue were born, educated, and nursed in the country; they may indeed, perchance, be found in the city and the town, but they dwindle away like the exotic, transplanted from its native earth to a ruder clime. In the country, the heart is particularly attuned to devotion; and every plant, every herb, every flower, every insect, proclaims its Creator's wisdom and goodness. All the "cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples," cannot give a rational being so pure a delight as the contemplation of nature's inferior works. He sees, wonders, and discovers new beauties at every step that he advances; he penetrates into the arcana of nature, and plainly perceives new charms, which to others appear only confused and trivial. A mind must, however, be particularly constituted to relish the beauties of a country life; and that the mind of the Princess Charlotte was of that fortunate stamp, all the actions of the last year of her life sufficiently demonstrate. Standing on one of the eminences in the park of Claremont, her eyes appeared to range with delight over the varied scene, and with enthusiastic rapture she would exclaim, "O Lord! how glorious are thy works! thy thoughts are very deep!"-When the eye of the day, as some of the Americans emphatically call the sun, sheds its warming, comforting, prolific influence on all sides, making nature's blood to circulate; when the eye takes in earth, seas, skies, beautifully diversified ; and the intellectual eye, opening on the glorious

scene darts into invisible worlds, loses sight of, as it were, the incumbrances of the flesh, and anticipates the joys of an eternal paradise-who can express; who can have any idea of those refined, those extatic pleasures!—

Flies o'er the meadows; not a cloud imbibes
The setting sun's effulgence; not a strain
From all the tenants of the warbling shade
Ascends; but whence her bosom can partake
Fresh pleasures, unreprov'd: nor thence partakes
Fresh pleasure only, for th' attentive mind,
By this harmonious action on her powers,
Becomes herself harmonious. Wont so long
On outward things to meditate, the charm
Of sacred order, soon she seeks at hoine.-
To find a kindred order, to exert
Within herself the elegance of love,

This fair inspired delight, her temper'd powers,
Refine at length, and every passion wears
A chaster, milder, more attractive, mien."

The reception which the Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold met with, from the inhabitants in thẻ vicinity of Claremont, must have been highly gratifying to their feelings. Crowds had been waiting during the whole of the day, on the road leading to Claremont ; and the carriage containing their Royal and Serene Highnesses no sooner came in view, than the bells at Esher struck up a joyous peal, and the air rang with the acclamations of the people. As her Royal Highness ascended the steps of Claremont-House, she turned, and casting her eyes over the beautiful scenery before her, she exclaimed, "Well, thank Heaven, I am

here at last ;" this is a better prospect than that from Camelford-House. The Princess Charlotte immediately repaired to the dining-room, which is situate on the same floor as the entrance hall; the latter is lofty and spacious, and leads to the grand staircase; it contains an elegant billiard-table, with a beautiful Egyptian lamp suspended from the ceiling. The three principal rooms, the drawing-room, the library, and dining-room, are all on the same floor. The drawingroom fronts the grand entrance. The dining-room is a fine square room, situate between the drawingroom and the library, and capable of dining fifty people. The library is a most magnificent room, fronting the pleasure-ground, and extending nearly the whole length of the house; it is ornamented with paintings and busts of all the illustrious and celebrated men of the last and present century. Contiguous to the library is the bed-chamber, in which her Royal Highness breathed her last; it forms the angle of the back part of the house, looking directly to the mount on which the tower is built; the two windows of this apartment, at the back front of the house, are sham ones. From the library, the view towards the ground is picturesque in the highest degree. A sheet of water, on which swans and other aquatic fowls are seen in great numbers, spreads itself at the bottom of the lawn; and on the margin of the lake is built a beautiful cottage, which fronts the house, and the architecture of which, partaking of the gothic, forms a most charming point d'appui for the eye. This cottage was originally appropriated to a band of