she burst out crying, saying, "What would the king of England say if he could know that his granddaughter had been compared to the granddaughter of a collier?" The king was now at Buckingham House, whose fine gardens were then quite overlooked by the houses of Grosvenor Place, the occupants of which could see him as he took his walk.1 This walking exercise was prescribed by the physicians, but there was a difficulty in finding suitable persons to accompany him. The queen and her family. were afraid of being with him, as they knew not when some sudden paroxysm might seize on him.

When the allied sovereigns were being fêted in London, the position of the luckless Princess of Wales became a matter of serious embarrassment, not only to herself and her husband, but to the imperial and royal guests. The queen, who was about to hold drawing-rooms and to give other entertainments, had no technical excuse for refusing to receive her daughter-in-law; on the other hand, this recognition would not be tolerated by her son. This placed her in a situation of almost painful difficulty. The prince, however, settled the question in a very rough-and-ready fashion, as the public speedily learned from a correspondence between the two royal ladies, and which good care was taken to make public.

This announcement from the Lord Chamberlain's

1 This inconvenience might have been obviated, for at one time all the outlying property came into the market, and could have been secured for the small sum of about £20,000. The king, however, was disinclined to the purchase. The gardens have long since been shrouded by a screen of high banks and thick foliage.

office, relative to the drawing-rooms to be held by her Majesty, was issued on May 20th, 1814:

"Notice is hereby given, that her Majesty will hold a drawing-room at the queen's palace, on Thursday, the 2nd of June, at two o'clock; and another on Thursday, the 16th of June, at the same hour. The doors will be opened for the reception of the company at one o'clock." FROM THE QUEEN TO THE PRINCESS OF Wales.

"Windsor Castle, May 23rd, 1814. "The queen considers it to be her duty to lose no time in acquainting the Princess of Wales, that she has received a communication from her son the Prince Regent, in which he states that her Majesty's intention of holding two drawing-rooms in the ensuing month, having been notified to the public, he must declare that he considers that his own presence at her court cannot be dispensed with; and that he desires it may be distinctly understood, for reasons of which he alone can be the judge, to be his fixed and unalterable determination not to meet the Princess of Wales upon any occasion, either in public or private.

"The queen is thus placed under the painful necessity of intimating to the Princess of Wales the impossibility of her Majesty's receiving her Royal Highness at her drawing-rooms.

The queen received this reply :

"CHARLOTTE, R."

"MADAM, I have received the letter which your

Majesty has done me the honour to address to me, prohibiting my appearance at the public drawing-rooms which will be held by your Majesty in the ensuing month, with great surprise and regret.

"I will not presume to discuss with your Majesty, topics which must be as painful to your Majesty as to myself.

"Your Majesty is well acquainted with the affectionate regard with which the king was so kind as to honour me, up to the period of his Majesty's indisposition, which no one of his Majesty's subjects has so much cause to lament as myself: and that his Majesty was graciously pleased to bestow upon me the most unequivocal and gratifying proof of his attachment and approbation, by his public reception of me at his court, at a season of severe and unmerited affliction, when his protection was most necessary to me. There I have since uninterruptedly paid my respects to your Majesty. I am now without appeal or protector. But I cannot so far forget my duty to the king and to myself, as to surrender my right to appear at any public drawing-room to be held by your Majesty.

"That I may not, however, add to the difficulty and uneasiness of your Majesty's situation, I yield in the present instance to the will of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, announced to me by your Majesty, and shall not present myself at the drawing-rooms of the next month.

"It would be presumptuous in me to attempt to

R

inquire of your Majesty the reasons of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent for this harsh proceeding, of which his Royal Highness can alone be the judge. I am unconscious of offence; and in that reflection, I must endeavour to find consolation for all the mortifications I experience; even for this, the last, the most unexpected, and the most severe; the prohibition given to me alone, to appear before your Majesty, to offer my congratulations upon the happy termination of those calamities with which Europe has been so long afflicted, in the presence of the illustrious personages who will, in all probability, be assembled at your Majesty's court, with whom I am SO closely connected by birth and marriage.

"I beseech your Majesty to do me an act of justice, to which, in the present circumstances, your Majesty is the only person competent, by acquainting those illustrious strangers with the motives of personal consideration towards your Majesty, which alone induce me to abstain from the exercise of my right to appear before your Majesty and that I do now, : as I have done at all times, defy the malice of my enemies to fix upon me the shadow of any one imputation which could render me unworthy of their society or regard.

"Your Majesty will, I am sure, not be displeased that I should relieve myself from a suspicion of disrespect towards your Majesty, by making public the cause of my absence from court at a time when the duties of my

station would otherwise peculiarly demand my attendance.

"I have the honour to be,

"Your Majesty's most obedient Daughter-in-law and servant,

"Connaught House, May 24th, 1814.”

"CAROLINE, P.

THE QUEEN TO THE PRINCESS Of Wales.

"Windsor Castle, May 25th, 1814.

"The queen has received this afternoon the Princess of Wales's letter of yesterday, in reply to the communication which she was desired by the Prince Regent to make to her; and she is sensible of the disposition expressed by her Royal Highness not to discuss with her topics which must be painful to both.

"The queen considers it incumbent upon her to send a copy of the Princess of Wales's letter to the Prince Regent; and her Majesty could have felt no hesitation in communicating to the illustrious strangers who may possibly be present at her court, the circumstances which will prevent the Princess of Wales from appearing there, if her Royal Highness had not rendered a compliance with her wish to this effect unnecessary, by intimating her intention of making public the cause of her absence.

"CHARLOTTE, R."

THE PRINCESS OF WALES TO THE QUEEN.

"The Princess of Wales has the honour to acknowledge