r of her door,' to quote her own complacent
phrase, 'was never still.' The Duchesses of Portland, Devonshire and
Cumber-land were among her visitors.

How much pop-limbo has been talked about the Princes denial of the
marriage! I grant that it was highly improper to marry Mrs. Fitzherbert
at all. But George was always weak and wayward, and he did, in his great
passion, marry her. That he should afterwards deny it officially seems
to me to have been utterly inevitable. His denial did her not the
faintest damage, as I have pointed out. It was, so to speak, an official
quibble, rendered necessary by the circumstances of the case. Not to
have denied the marriage in the House of Commons would have meant ruin
to both of them. As months passed, more serious difficulties awaited the
unhappily wedded pair. What boots it to repeat the story of the Princes
great debts and desperation? It was clear that there was but one way
of getting his head above water, and that was to yield to his father's
wishes and contract a real marriage with a foreign princess. Fate was
dogging his footsteps relentlessly. Placed as he was, George could not
but offer to marry as his father willed. It is well, also, to remember
that George was not ruthlessly and suddenly turning his shoulder upon
Mrs. Fitzherbert. For some time before the British plenipotentiary went
to fetch him a bride from over the waters, his name had been associated
with that of the beautiful and unscrupulous Countess of Jersey.

Poor George! Half-married to a woman whom he no longer worshipped,
compelled to marry a woman whom he was to hate at first sight! Surely
we should not judge a prince harshly. 'Princess Caroline very gauche
at cards,' 'Princess Caroline very missish at supper,' are among the
entries made in his diary by Lord Malmesbury, while he was at the little
German Court. I can conceive no scene more tragic than that of her
presentation to the Prince, as related by the same nobleman. 'I,
according to the established etiquette,' so he writes, 'introduced
the Princess Caroline to him. She, very properly, in consequence of my
saying it was the right mode of proceeding, attempted to kneel to him.
He raised her gracefully enough, and embraced her, said barely one word,
turned round, retired to a distant part of the apartment, and calling
to me, said: 'Harris, I am not well: pray get me a glass of brandy.' At
dinner that evening, in the presence of her betrothed, the Princess
w