quent conduct.

"The gracious Prince," says

Horace Walpole, "so far from attempting an apology, spoke not a word to his mother; but on her retreat gave her his hand, and led her into the street to her coach, still dumb; but a crowd being assembled at the gate, he kneeled down in the dirt, and humbly kissed her Majesty's hand. Her indignation must have shrunk into contempt!"

Excited, however, as may have been the Queen's feelings, she carefully concealed them from the crowd. "When the Prince," says the Duchess of Marlborough, "led the Queen to her coach, which she would not have had him have done, there was a great concourse of people, and notwithstanding all that had passed before, she expressed so much kindness, that she hugged and kissed him with great passion. How this will end," adds the Duchess, "nobody yet knows; at least I am sure I don't. I have not heard yet of any christening being directed; but for that I am in no manner of pain; for if it be never christened, I think 'tis in a better state than a great many devout people that I know. What I apprehend most is, that the crown will be lost long before this little Princess can possibly enjoy it."* So hearty was the detestation conceived by the old Duchess both for George the Second and Sir Robert Walpole, that she grew to love and eulogize the Prince, merely because he opposed his father and thwarted the first minister. In her

* Opinions of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough.

"Opinions" will be found a lengthy apology for the Prince's conduct, but her narrative is too long for insertion, and her arguments too trifling to merit the task of refutation.

The excuses, which, in deference to public opinion, the Prince found himself called upon to make for his conduct, are scarcely deserving of notice, still less of credit. They amount to mere idle assertions, that the Princess was seized with the pains of labour much sooner than had been expected; that he considered it more advisable to remove her to a spot, where medical aid might be certainly obtained, than to wait for its arrival; and he added, that in the hurry of his departure he had forgotten to apprize their Majesties of his design. In addition to these apologies, which were made verbally to Lord Hardwicke and others, he addressed a number of written appeals both to the King and Queen, in which he earnestly and submissively entreated their forgiveness. All his entreaties, however, proved of no avail. In regard to the letters addressed personally to the King, it was objected by him, that they contained expressions calculated to offend and provoke the Queen; and, moreover, that however humble might be the Prince's language, his letters contained not the slightest promise of an amendment of conduct, and no assurance of future subordination to his will. As regarded the Prince's letters to the Queen, the King insisted that they displayed evident marks of intentional disrespect,

and especially pointed out the fact that the words "your Majesty" were never used, but only the expressions "Madame" and "vous."

66

The person who most zealously exerted his good offices at this period, with the view of effecting a reconciliation between the Prince and his father, was Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, and from the interesting account which he has bequeathed us of his individual share in the negotiations, he was certainly of opinion that the Prince was not entirely irreclaimable. That the Chancellor, in his endeavours to restore unanimity to the royal family, was influenced by principles of duty and not of interest, is evident from a striking passage with which he concludes the narrative of one of his interviews with the heirapparent. Having intimated to the Prince that he should do the utmost in his power to effect the desired reconciliation, My Lord,' said the other, 'I don't doubt you in the least, for I believe you to be a very honest man.' as I was rising up," adds the Chancellor, “he embraced me, offering to kiss me. I instantly kneeled down, and kissed his hand, whereupon he raised me up and kissed my cheek. The scene had something in it moving; and my heart was full of the melancholy prospect that I thought lay before me, which made me almost burst into tears. The Prince observed this, and appeared moved himself, and said, 'Let us sit down, my Lord, a little; and recollect ourselves, that we may not go out thus.' Soon after which I took

6

And

my leave; and went directly to the House of Lords."

The circumstances which principally tended to prevent the renewal of kindly intercourse between the father and son, were the highly exasperated state of the Kings feelings, and the unkindly intervention of Sir Robert Walpole. The conduct of the minister, at this state of the proceedings, was little to his credit. He most unjustifiably permitted political interests and feelings to bear on the private dissensions of the royal family, and, as appears by the unprejudiced statement of Lord Hardwicke, endeavoured to foment rather than to allay their animosities. His motives were sufficiently evident. He was aware how heartily he was detested by the Prince and his confederates, and apprehended, not without reason, that his own dismissal from office would be made the price of a reconciliation between the father and son.

Supported by Walpole in his violent resentments, the King eventually came to the stern determination of peremptorily ordering the Prince to quit the royal roof. With this purpose, on the 10th of September 1737, a written message, signed with the King's name above, and with his initials below, was presented to the heir-apparent by the Dukes of Grafton and Richmond, and the Earl of Pembroke. In this document his "extravagant and undutiful behaviour" was commented upon in the harshest terms, and he was ordered to quit St. James's with all his family, as

soon as such removal could be effected without inconvenience to the Princess. The Prince immediately obeyed the command; repairing in the first instance to Kew, and subsequently to Norfolk House in St. James's Square, which henceforward became the rendezvous of the principal persons in opposition, and the focus of political intrigue.

In addition to the public act of driving his son from St. James's, the King issued an order, prohibiting such persons as visited the Prince or Princess of Wales from attending his own court. Copies, moreover, of the Royal message, and of the whole of the correspondence which had passed during this unhappy business, were forwarded to each of the foreign ministers in England, and to the British ambassadors abroad.* These documents proved the Prince's recent conduct to have been equally unjustifiable and unwise, as was fully admitted by even his own friends. Lord Bolingbroke writes to Sir William Wyndham from France: "I am at a loss to find the plausibility or the popularity of the present occasion of rupture. He hurries his wife from Court when she is upon the point of being delivered of her first child. His father swells, struts, and storms. He confesses his rashness, and asks pardon in the terms of one who owns himself in the wrong. Besides that all this seems to

The foreign ambassadors in England were requested not to visit the Prince's family, as "a thing that would be disagreeable to his Majesty."-Marchmont Papers, vol. ii. p. 83.