nly for the good of the State and for
the convenience of his creditors. The Princess of Wales was one of the
most unattractive and almost repulsive women for an elegant-minded man
that could well have been found amongst German royalty. It is not my
intention to recall the events of the Regency. It is well known that
the Prince became eventually so unpopular as to exclude himself as much
as possible from public gaze. His intimate companions, after the trial
of Queen Caroline, were Lords Cunningham and Fife, Sir Benjamin
Bloomfield, Sir William Macmahon, Admiral Nagle, Sir A. Barnard, Lords
Glenlyon, Hertford, and Lowther. These gentlemen generally dined with
him; the dinner being the artistic product of that famous gastronomic
savant, Wattiers. The Prince was very fond of listening after dinner
to the gossip of society. When he became George the Fourth, no change
took place in these personnels at the banquet, excepting that with the
fruits and flowers of the table was introduced the beautiful
Marchioness of Conyngham, whose brilliant wit, according to the
estimation of his Majesty, surpassed that of any other of his friends,
male or female.

PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES AT A FETE IN THE YEAR 1813, AT CARLTON HOUSE

Carlton House, at the period to which I refer, was a centre for all the
great politicians and wits who were the favorites of the Regent. The
principal entrance of this palace in Pall Mall, with its screen of
columns, will be remembered by many. In the rear of the mansion was an
extensive garden that reached from Warwick Street to Marlborough House;
green sward, stately trees, (probably two hundred years old), and beds
of the choicest flowers, gave to the grounds a picturesque attraction
perhaps unequalled. It was here that the heir to the throne of England
gave, in 1813, an open-air fete, in honour of the battle of Vittoria.
About three o'clock P.M. the elite of London society, who had been
honoured with an invitation, began to arrive--all in full dress; the
ladies particularly displaying their diamonds and pearls, as if they
were going to a drawing-room. The men were, of course, in full dress,
wearing knee-buckles. The regal circle was composed of the Queen, the
Regent, the Princess Sophia and Mary, the Princess Charlotte, the Dukes
of York, Clarence, Cumberland, and Cambridge.

This was the first day that her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte
appeared in public. She was a young lady of