20

Royal Christening.

The Royal Baptism was soon after appointed for Thursday, the 11th of February.

At half past four, their Majesties and the Princesses went in two coaches down the Park to Carlton House, where, on arrival, the King and Queen were received by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and attendants: the younger Princesses, and the rest of the visitors, had arrived before them; dinner was served up soon after, which consisted of two full courses, and a desert, in the most elegant and frugal style-none but the Royal Family and relatives sat down to table.

The Princess of Wales was the hostess. At halfpast nine o'clock, by the King's own appointment, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the State Officers of the King and Queen's Household, and the several attendants of their Majesties and the Royal Family, had previously arrived. They were ushered into the great Audience Chambers, at the head of which was the Princess, who lay in a state cradle, with the attendants.--The ceremony of christening was then performed.-Sponsors, the King and Queen, and the Duke and Dutchess of York. After the christening, there was a general distribution of refreshments; but every thing indicative of the promised economy.

On the unhappy disunion of her Royal Parents, almost immediately after that period, we should not descant, were it not that much of the illustration of

Conjugal Differences.

21

her future character is dependant upon that event, and others connected with it: we may, therefore, premise, that as early as the following April, an actual, though not an open separation had taken place, yet upon a most liberal and guarded footing, according to the wishes of her illustrious Father, who expressly stated to his Consort, that tranquil and comfortable society was in their power, though inclination might not be so; and he therefore proposed to restrict all their intercourse to that, promising at the same time to subscribe to her own conditions, that even in the event of any accident happening to the Princess Charlotte, he would not infringe the terms of the restriction, by proposing, at any period, a connection of a more particular nature.* It was not, however, until sixteen years afterwards, that these particulars were correctly known; and, when known, they only excited anxiety and sorrow for the august Parties themselves, though now they become productive of the deepest regret, when just bereft of the only existing hope of that Royal Line.

It was a happy circumstance, that the breach was not then so wide between the illustrious parents as it afterwards became; of course her earliest years were spent under the domestic tuition of her Royal Mother, who appeared to take a

* Vide, The Prince of Wales's Letter, 20th April, 1796, (B.)

22

Early Education.

peculiar interest in this promising and endearing child. We may add, that these hours of infancy were spent in the most advantageous manner for a constitution naturally infirm, but without neglecting the first dawn of a mind which, from all that has appeared of it, seems to have been blessed with vigour, originality, and a desire for knowledge, the most ardent. Though under her Mother's personal inspection, we believe the youthful Princess had a separate establishment, at Shrewsbury House, on Blackheath, in the immediate vicinity of her Mother's residence, where the parental plans of instruction were aided by the Dowager Countess of Elgin as Governess, with her assistant Miss Garth, until she was six years old, and some time afterwards by Miss Hunt. During this residence of the youthful Princess at Shrewsbury House, her Mother's visits were most judiciously restricted to one day in the week; her Royal Highness finding that all her injunctions were faithfully attended to on the part of her instructors, and as strictly adhered to by the pupil. The day of visit was therefore a day of jubilee, even whilst occupied in parental examination; but the remainder of the week was thus left for uninterrupted study.

Much was expected from this truly English education, from her very childhood; for, even in her earliest years, she displayed that temper and those feelings exactly resembling what every Englishman

Episcopal Benediction.

23

would desire, and conceive necessary, in an Engfish Princess. In corroboration of this, we with pleasure insert an interesting anecdote, at the very infantine age of five years, extracted from the journal of the venerable B. Porteus, Bishop of London, exhibiting traits of mind and disposition as honourable to the early promise of our beloved, departed Princess, as the truth and simplicity of the narration are to the pastoral and episcopal character of the good prelate himself.

"Yesterday, the 6th of August, 1801, I passed a very pleasant day at Shrewsbury House, near Shooter's Hill, the residence of the Princess Charlotte of Wales; the day was fine, the prospect extensive and beautiful, taking in a large reach of the Thames, which was covered with vessels of various sizes and descriptions; we saw a good deal of the young Princess: she is a most captivating and engaging child; and considering the high station she may hereafter fill, a most interesting and important one. She repeated to me several of her hymns, with great correctness and propriety; and, on being told, that when she went to South End in Essex (as she afterwards did for the benefit of seabathing) she would then be in my diocese, she fell down on her knees, and begged my blessing. I gave it to her with all my heart, and with my earnest secret prayers to God, that she might adorn her illustrious station with every Christian grace; and

24

State Regulations.

that if ever she became the Queen of this truly great and glorious country, she might be the means of diffusing virtue, piety, and happiness, through every part of her dominion."-Patriotic was that wish-awful was that prayer! But the will of Providence be done! The venerable and the youthful saints have now met in Heaven!

At a proper period, in the year 1806, the Bishop of Exeter, a man of eminent piety, of profound learning, and of amiable manners and disposition, was appointed to the important office of her private tutor, by the parental choice of his Majesty, who, by the customary law of England, as well as by the feudal, is guardian of all infants, and of course more particularly of his grandaughter and the heiress presumptive of his crown. Perhaps a more judicious choice could not have been made, for the presumptive heiress to a throne, than DR. JOHN FISHER, now Bishop of Salisbury, aided by the Rev. Dr. Nott as sub-preceptor, under whose peculiar instruction, her Royal Highness's accomplishments were not confined to her own language, but extended to a reasonable tincture of classical literature. Of this fact, indeed, no doubt can exist, since it is confirmed by the authority of the late venerable Bishop of London; who, in another conversation which he stated to have taken place at her mother's house at Blackheath, reported her not only to have been of the most inquisitive, but of