On the day preceding the drawing-room, Mr. Methuen, in his place in the House of Commons, rose, in consequence of the correspondence which had been laid before the public, to ask the right honourable gentleman, Mr. Bathurst, which of his Majesty's ministers it was, that had advised his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to take those measures, which had been taken to prevent the Princess of Wales from appearing at her Majesty's drawing-room?

Mr. Bathurst said, that as to the question which the honourable gentleman put, he could only say, that it did not appear to him that the circumstances and character of the transaction warranted him in giving any answer.

The celebrated drawing-room, of which so many high expectations had been formed, and which, in regard to the peculiar circumstances with which it was attended, will form a conspicuous feature in the annals of the royal family of England, was at length held, and the Princess Charlotte of Wales, for the first time, made her appearance in public. Her Royal Highness arrived a few minutes after one o'clock, accompanied by Miss Knight, in an elegant and particularly neat and light state carriage, with three footmen and the coachman in new state liveries. She was received by the Duchess of Leeds and the dresser, who had previously arrived in her plain carriage, to attend her Royal Highness in dressing in a

court dress, for the first time. Her Royal Highness appeared in an elegant petticoat of rich white satin, with a superb border of the same, and a wreath of silver laurel-leaves, tastefully intermixed with white roses; draperies of rich embroidered patent lace, in silver lama, with a superb border, formed in festoons, and ornamented in an elegant style with wreaths of silver cord and tassels; train of rich striped and figured silver blond lace, and ornamented with beautiful diamonds; head-dress, a profusion of the most beautiful diamonds and ostrich feathers; necklace, ear-rings, armlets, and bracelets, to correspond.

At the close of the drawing-room, on her Royal Highness leaving the palace, the Prince of Orange handed her Royal Highness to her carriage.

The Princess Charlotte appeared at court in all the splendid attire and glittering ornaments which 'wealth could obtain, or ingenuity could devise. Around her were ranged the nobility of the country, in lavish admiration of her appearance, and well indeed, did she deserve the applause which was bestowed upon her. But, as she cast her eyes around her, there was a place which ought to have been filled, and its vacancy threw a chilling gloom over her countenance. Though the diamond sparkled at her breast, and the pearl vied with the whiteness of her bosom; though to the passing stranger there appeared tranquillity within, yet, in deep concealment, lay the worm rioting on the core of her heart, and cutting in twain the

finest ligaments of human love and affection. It was not the pomp of courts, the glitter of attire, the deafening din of trumpets, the distant roar of cannon, nor the studied congratulations of a fawning crowd, which, to her breast, could bring peace or happiness. She sought not for it in the ways of men, for she had been too deeply schooled to look for it from that quarter; and happy, indeed, was it for her, that there was a Being above this world, in whose converse she found delight, and to whom in her secret hours, she could pour out the sorrows of her heart.

From the moment at which she arrived at an age of reflection, to the present when she was ushered into the turmoil of the world, her situation had been one of peculiar hardship and delicacy. It is too much the fate of royalty in this country, particularly in regard to the female branches of it, rarely to partake of those pleasures which arise from indiscriminate but innocent familiarity. The delights of friendship they are seldom suffered to enjoy; those of love they are debarred from. But, when the individual case of the Princess Charlotte of Wales is considered, it will be admitted to be more severe than usually falls to the lot of even a princess of the house of Brunswick. Being an only child, she was in a manner isolated from her birth. The juvenile but interesting pleasures arising from sisterly or fraternal love, she had never experienced; denied the tenderness of a mother, and

delivered over to the care of strangers, no form had ever been presented to her, on which the eye of affection could repose. Such, in the early period of youth, was the situation of a princess destined to reign over one of the greatest nations of Europe. Arrived at maturity, as she at this -time appeared to an admiring world, she beholds a sight, the most painful to a feeling and delicate mind, the estrangement of her parents from each other. To both she owes an almost equal portion of duty; but to one in particular, are the sympathies of a daughter more peculiarly attracted. This is the hard and delicate situation, in which the Princess Charlotte was placed by the difference existing between her illustrious parents. Against her mother she knows nothing has been proved, and yet she sees her debarred from all the pleasures and enjoyments of her rank. Under such circumstances, is it not natural for a child to feel that the dagger, which stabs her mother, also wounds herself? No wonder, then, need be excited at the reluctance of her Royal Highness to partake of those pleasures of a public nature to which her age and rank entitled her. When in company, she must have been haunted by the reflection, "From all this, my mother is excluded." The idea must poison every enjoyment; must throw a gloom over every moment devoted to mirth and cheerfulness. But there is a point beyond which human forbearance would be criminal-parental authority has its bounds,

and all within those bounds is worthy of our veneration and respect; to exact any thing beyond them is an usurpation of power, and a resistance to it constitutes no crime. The veil of the future, though open to the eye of the historian, shall not here be raised; the dark tissue of events is weaving; its warp and woof of sombre, melancholy colours; but it is woven by an Almighty hand, and to its power we bend.

Although the attention of the public was, in some measure, diverted from a close consideration of the royal differences by the treaty of peace, the arrival of the allied sovereigns in London, and the consequent formalities requisite for the due reception of such exalted visitors; yet the late prohibition of the Princess of Wales from appearing at court roused afresh all the acrimony of her party, and an immediate appeal to Parliament was recommended. Accordingly, on the 3d of June, she wrote the following letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons:

The Princess of Wales desires Mr. Speaker will inform the House of Commons, that his Royal Highness the Prince Regent has been advised to take such steps as have prevented her from appearing at court; and to declare his Royal Highness's fixed and unalterable determination never to meet the Princess of Wales upon any occasion, either in public or private.

The proceedings of 1806 and 1807, and last year, are in the recollection of the House, as well as the ample and unqualified vindication of the Princess's conduct to which those proceedings led.

It is impossible for the Princess of Wales to conceal from herself