JOURNAL CONTINUED—1825.
April 1st.—Good Friday. On the 2nd I was invited to breakfast in Baron G.’s apartment, where I met all the Queen’s ladies and gentlemen. We had a little music, and painted eggs were placed on the floor, between which the young ladies danced blindfolded. The two young Princes, Frederick and Augustus, came to dinner, and are to stay till Wednesday. In the evening there was an Italian from Brescia with canary-birds, that played tricks. At tea the Queen-Dowager gave eggs, and little presents of purses, bracelets, crosses, seals, or something of that sort, to all the ladies. She gave to myself a seal, a watch-key, a cross in bronze, a steel buckle in the shape of a lyre. A few days previously she had presented me with a writing-box of her own painting, an amethyst ornament, and some German books.
April 21st.—I left Louisburg with great regret, and slept that night at Carlsruhe.
[On the 28th, Miss Knight reached Paris, having travelled by way of Rheims, where great preparations were making for the approaching coronation of Charles X. Lord Grenville had succeeded Sir Charles Stuart as British Ambassador at the French Court. The Duke of Northumberland was also in Paris on a special mission, to represent the King of England at the coronation. His Grace’s suite was very brilliant, his liveries in the old-fashioned style magnificent, and his carriages and horses the admiration of the Parisians. On the 7th of June the Duke, assisted by Lord Grenville and Sir George Nayler, Garter King of Arms, invested the King of France with the insignia of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.]
June 15th.—Went with Lady Downshire and Lady Mary Hill to the great ball at the Duke of Northumberland’s. The Dauphin, Dauphiness, Duchess de Berri, and the Orleans family were there; as also the young King and Queen of Würtemberg, who are here under the title of Count and Countess Teck. There were fireworks, splendid illuminations, white and gold banners intermixed with flowers, and the Duchess of Northumberland had a dress trimmed with lilies for the occasion. There were about fifteen hundred people, but the apartments are large, and there is a very long gallery, so that the crowd did not appear so great. All the young noblemen[[101]] belonging to the embassy had lilies in their button-holes, and stood on the stairs to present a bouquet to each lady as she came up.
[Towards the end of June, Miss Knight returned to London.]
July 13th.—Dined with Princess Augusta, and afterwards went with her to the Duke of Sussex’s, at Kensington Palace. He gave a dinner to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and a few people were invited for the evening. All the Royal Family were there, for besides Princess Augusta, there were present the Duchess of Kent, the Duchess of Gloucester, and Princess Sophia, Princess Sophia Matilda (the Duke is gone to Cheltenham), Prince Leopold, and the Duke of Brunswick and his brother. The Duchesses of Bedford and Hamilton, Lady Jersey, and several gentlemen, were also there. Mathews, the comedian, gave two acts of his Imitations, which were very laughable. We came away before one.
September 10th.—Went to Claremont on a visit to Prince Leopold and the Duchess of Kent. His mother, the Duchess of Coburg, is also staying with him. The little Princess Victoria is very like our Royal Family, and very handsome. I was much overpowered at coming to this place. The poor old servants so glad to see me! I walked in the Park with the Baroness de Spinetti, the Duchess of Kent’s lady, and wished to see the cottage begun by Princess Charlotte, and which has been converted into a monument to her memory, but the good lady thought it would afflict me.
11th.—Sunday. Went to church at Esher with Prince Leopold, attended by Sir Robert Gardiner and the Duchess of Kent. After service the Baroness de Spinetti and I called upon Lady Gardiner, and saw some fine sketches, taken by Sir Robert in Spain and Sicily. In the evening we looked over prints, and the Prince, the Duchess of Kent, and Princess Feodore, sang. The Duchess of Coburg has two young ladies with her as maids of honour.
12th.—Left Claremont after breakfast, and went to Thomas’s Hotel, Berkeley-square, where I found Lady Downshire, Lady Mary Hill, and Lord Augustus.