with a gin
bottle in her hand, on the other hand recommends the old queen to
qualify the Bath water with a dash of "Old Tom," advice which is
seconded by the old woman next her. Behind this last stands the
physician, watch in hand, watching, and moreover predicting in very
plain terms, the expected action of the medicated water. The folks
behind make their observations on the old lady's appearance. "Well, I
declare," says one, "I see nothing extraordinary to look at." "Why, she
doant look a bit better than oul granny," remarks a country joskin. "Who
said she did, eh, dame?" replies her companion. Poor old Queen Charlotte
was never a beauty, and those who remember her exaggerated likenesses in
the satires of Gillray, will not fail to recognise her in the present
satire. One of her well-known habits is referred to by the snuff-box
which lies at her feet.

[Illustration:
_Published February, 1818, by_ S. W. FORES, _50, Piccadilly_

A PEEP INTO THE PUMP-ROOM, OR THE ZOMERSETSHIRE FOLK IN A MAZE.

_Face p. 57._]

The poor old lady was beyond the help of the Bath waters or of any
earthly assistance. We find Mrs. Piozzi writing a few months later on:
"Nothing kills the queen, however. It is really a great misfortune to be
kept panting for breath so, and screaming with pain by medical skill:
were she a subject, I suppose they would have released her long ago; but
diseases and distresses of the human frame must lead to death at
length," which was the case with the poor old queen, who died nine
months after the date of the satire (in November, 1818).

The announcement of the marriages of four of her children this year,
viz.: of the Princess Elizabeth to Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse
Homburg; of Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, to Victoria, daughter of the
Duke of Saxe-Coburg (and mother of Queen Victoria), on the 29th of May;
of Adolphus Frederick, Duke of Cambridge, to Augusta, daughter of the
Landgrave of Hesse, on the 1st of May; and of William Henry, Duke of
Clarence (afterwards William the Fourth), to Adelaide, daughter of the
Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, on the 11th of July, gave rise to a coarse
though admirably executed caricature entitled, _The Homburg Waltz, with
Characteristic Sketches of Family Dancing_, in which all these royal
personages, with the Regent at their head, are seen prominently figuring
amongst the dancers.

INVENTION OF THE KALEIDOSCOPE.

A forgotten but ingenious instrument, the kaleidoscop