Nothing could more perfectly resemble a convent than this residence; but it was a seat of happiness to Princess Charlotte compared with the Lower Lodge at Windsor, and she was anxiously desirous to remain in Town as much as possible. It was announced to us that we were to be one week in Town and one at Windsor; that when in Town we were to dine at Carlton House, to go to the Play and Opera, and to have a party at Warwick House, besides balls and great parties at Carlton House. Invitations were already sent out for a ball, which was to take place on the 9th of February, previous to which there was to be a Drawing-room.
On the 24th, which was Sunday, we went to the Chapel Royal, the Duchess of Leeds and I attending her Royal Highness; and we found the Duke of Cambridge there. We were told that the Prince would come in the course of the morning to Warwick House, and dressed early to receive him. He came not; the Duchess dined with us; and Sir Henry Halford came in the evening with a message from the Prince, to say that we were to dine with him next day. On the 25th we went at seven, and I was presented to the Regent in form. There was no lady to meet us but Miss Goldsworthy.[[118]] The Dukes of York, Cumberland, and Cambridge were there; Lord Yarmouth, the Chancellor, Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, and Colonel Bloomfield. The royal Dukes were all very gracious, and promised their support, which I asked; the Duke of Cumberland only saying, I wanted no support but that of my own talents and merits. The Princes showed off; learning and information were the order of the day. Lord Yarmouth was very attentive, and sarcastically answered the Chancellor’s exaggerated delight in the sufferings of Bonaparte’s army, and the cruelties of the Russians. At ten we were ordered into the next room to take coffee, and then went home.
The lower apartments of Carlton House, in which we dined, were close, and too warm. They were fitted up with great splendour and elegance, and contained some good pictures, and much ornamental decoration of bronze and china. The Prince’s table was well served in every sense of the word, and he did the honours of his house well, though not with sufficient ease, and rather with assumed than real self-possession. He talked but little to Princess Charlotte, and not with the manner or voice of affection. His greatest attentions were for Miss Goldsworthy, which, in one point of view, was amiable, but which, from subsequent circumstances and conduct, proves what were the ideas and intentions of the Prince at that early period of the new arrangements. Every consideration was to be sacrificed to the plan of keeping the Princess Charlotte as long as possible a child; and, consequently, whoever belonged to her was to be thought a nurse or a preceptress, inferior, of course, to the nurses and preceptresses of the Princesses her aunts.
On the 27th we returned to Windsor, which was at that time considered as the chef-lieu; but Princess Charlotte had a very troublesome cold, and the Lower Lodge was so damp, that Sir Henry Halford seemed disposed to listen to her remonstrances, and willing to persuade the Prince to let her remain in Town when she next went thither (which was to be on the following Monday, 1st of February), at least until her cold should be perfectly removed. She was indeed by no means well; for, besides her cold, she had a little nervous fever, occasioned by all she had gone through, and particularly the scene with the Chancellor.
At Windsor we found Lady Catherine Osborne and her governess, who were allowed to live in the house with us. The good Duchess of Leeds was a Miss Anguish,[[119]] daughter of a Norfolk lawyer, and, with her sisters, had been noticed for singing agreeably Handel’s music. The late Duke of Leeds married her, when Lord Carmarthen, having been divorced from his first wife, by whom he had the present Duke and other children, one of whom was married to Lord Chichester, a friend of the Regent, and employed by him to negotiate with his stepmother the present arrangements, though Sir Henry Halford was the principal agent. The Duchess had two children of her own, Lord Sidney Osborne, who has the Beaulieu estate; and Lady Catherine, an elegant little girl of fifteen,[[120]] who danced well, could play a little on the pianoforte, and speak a little French. She was to be a companion to Princess Charlotte, and it was proposed she should have, when in Town, parties of young ladies not presented—that is to say, children’s balls.
All this was evidently pursuing the plan of protracted infancy, and was to be grafted on the education of a schoolboy, which had been the King’s plan, to a certain degree, and to which the Prince had added lessons of politics from Mr. Fox’s school, and had ordered that Mr. Adam and Dr. Short should give her instruction in the laws of England, of which she was to make an abstract. But when the Prince’s politics changed, and Princess Charlotte, in understanding, penetration, and stature, was become a woman, desirous to acquire more knowledge of public affairs and general society, alive to everything, and capable of forming a judgment for herself, the new plan of sending her back to the nursery was adopted, and everything was done to promote it.
Such was the situation of affairs into which I perhaps heedlessly had plunged myself, and I was romantic enough to think I could be of use; and when Lord Moira was endeavouring to persuade me to accept the place offered me, I told him my sole motive then was to assist in rescuing a noble young creature from surrounding persecution, to give her room to show what she really was, misunderstood as she appeared to be, and certainly capable of becoming a blessing to her country, or the reverse. For her character was such, I said, as not to promise mediocrity, and much must depend upon the discipline of the next year or two. Measures such as had recently been pursued with her must drive her, I urged, to despair, and spoil her disposition, if not counteracted by affection and tenderness. Talents and genius must be encouraged to become useful. If endeavours are made to lower or extinguish them, what must be the result? As I spoke, I saw the tears roll down the cheeks of Lord Moira, and he said, “This is what I felt for her father; he was everything that was amiable, and still I cannot help loving him.”[[121]]
It was necessary that I should be presented to the Queen in my new capacity, but the Duchess of Leeds was ill. Lady Harcourt, the Queen’s lady in waiting, was also not well, and it was not till Sunday, the 31st, that it was decided Lady Isabella Thynne, in waiting on the Princesses, should present me. This was necessary, as we were to dine next day with the Princess of Wales, on our way to Town, and it was right I should first pay that respect to the Queen.
Nothing could be more disagreeable. Her Majesty, however, spoke to me, for she inquired after Princess Charlotte, but added, she did not believe she was very ill. I was soon dismissed, and went round to all the Princesses, who received me very kindly, and lamented the coldness with which I was treated.
Soon after I returned to the Lodge, the Queen and Princesses came to visit Princess Charlotte.