Regency Ladies

He almost invariably took his meals in his private apartment with the Queen, and these repasts-though this is certainly not to the discredit of their Majesties—were of the simplest. A more temperate couple there was not in the kingdom. Still, the public thought it the duty of Royalty to make some sort of display-bread and circuses are an inalienable right of the subject. The result was a flood of lampoons, one of which may be quoted:

Cæsar, the mighty King who sway'd

The sceptre, was a sober blade;

A leg of mutton and his wife

Were the chief comforts of his life.

The Queen, compos'd of different stuff,
Above all things ador'd her snuff,
Save gold, which in her great opinion,
Alone could rival snuff's dominion.

One of the few relaxations that their Majesties allowed themselves was a reading from Shakespeare. Mrs. Siddons was generally sent for, but was always kept standing during the entertainment, which want of consideration was duly pilloried by "Peter Pindar":

Ready to drop to earth, she must have sunk,
But for a child that at the hardship shrunk—
A little prince, who marked her situation,
Thus, pitying, pour'd a tender exclamation:
"La Mrs. Siddons is quite faint indeed,
How pale! I'm sure she cannot read :
She somewhat wants, her spirits to repair,
And would, I'm sure be happy in a chair."
What follow'd? Why, the r-y-l pair arose
Surely enough, one fairly may suppose!
And to a room adjoining made retreat,
To let her, for one moment, steal a seat.

The Ladies of the Bedchamber were the Duchess of Hamilton, the Countess of Effingham, the Countess of

Northumberland, the Countess of Egremont, the Viscountess Weymouth, and the Viscountess Bolingbroke. Beyond these, in her early days in England, the Queen saw no one but the King. This continued till the first child, the Prince of Wales, was born," Mrs. Harcourt noted in her Diary, "then the Nurse and Governess, Lady Charlotte Finch, coming into the room was a little treat; but they had still for years no other society, till by degrees the Ladies of the Bedchamber came far more frequently, and latterly the society, for various reasons— the children growing up, the journeys, etc.—was much increased. Expecting to be a Queen of a gay Court, finding herself confined in a convent, and hardly allowed to think without the leave of her husband, checked her spirits, made her fearful and cautious to an extreme, and when the time came that amusements were allowed, her mind was formed to a different manner of life."

This solitude, it must be remembered in mitigation of her faults, was forced upon Charlotte when she was only seventeen. Like a good wife, however, she found good and sufficient reasons for the seclusion in which George immured her. "I am most truly sensible," she said, "of the dear King's great strictness, at my arrival in England, to prevent my making acquaintances, for he was always used to say that, in this country, it was difficult to know how to draw a line on account of the politics of the country, and that there never could be kept up a society without party, which was always dangerous for any woman to take part in, but particularly so for the royal family; and with truth do I assure you that I am not only sensible that he was right, but I feel thankful for it from the bottom of my heart." The King presumably liked this quiet life, since it was his own choice. The Queen, however, when still

in her teens and then in the early twenties, must have hankered, girl-like, after some brightness and variety, in fact, there is little doubt that she was far from happy for many years. George was as much a martinet in his treatment of his Consort as in the discipline he ordained for his children.'

This was very loyal of the Queen, but there is no doubt that their mode of living, to which she became accustomed, had the deplorable effect of her endeavouring to bring up her children in the same isolation, with what disastrous results is well known.

The Queen as a bride read English every morning with Dr. Majendie. On her arrival in England she was almost totally unacquainted with the language, which gave an opening for the bitter wit of Lady Townshend, who, on hearing that Lady Northumberland had been appointed a Lady of the Bedchamber, remarked: "It is a proper appointment, for, as the Queen knows no English, that lady will teach her the vulgar tongue." Later in the day Charlotte did some needlework, and then walked with the King. In the evening in the country there was some singing or a game of cards; in town, an occasional visit to the theatre.

Presently, of course, there was the royal nursery, to which Charlotte could and did devote herself. She saw the children bathed in the morning, and visited the schoolroom. As they grew up, the elder boys and girls were allowed to breakfast occasionally with their parents, and once a week the entire family went to

'George, Prince of Wales (1762-1830); Frederick, Duke of York (1763-1830); William, Duke of Clarence (1765-1837); Charlotte, afterwards Queen of Würtemberg (1766-1828); Edward, Duke of Kent (1767-1820); Augusta (1768-1840); Elizabeth, afterwards Princess of Hesse-Homburg (1778-1840); Ernest, Duke of Cumberland (1771-1851); Augustus, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843); Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (1774-1850); Mary, afterwards Duchess of Gloucester (1776-1857); Sophia (1777– 1848); Octavius (1779-83); Alfred (1780-82); Amelia (1782-1810).

Книги