Chapter XXI: Appendix (2)

“When the Princess’s escape became known at Carlton House (for it is
not at all true, as stated by Mr. Twiss, that the Prince and Bishop
went to see her at Warwick House to inform her of the new
constitution of her household, and that she asked leave to retire,
and escaped by a back staircase), the Regent sent notice to the
heads of the law, and of his own Duchy of Cornwall establishment.
Soon after these arrived, each in a separate hackney-coach, at
Connaught-terrace, the Princess of Wales’s residence. These were the
Chancellor, Lord Ellenborough, Mr. Adam, Chancellor of the Duchy of
Cornwall, Mr. Leach, the Bishop of Salisbury, and afterwards the
Duke of York. There had already come to join the Princess Charlotte,
Miss Mercer, now Lady Keith and Countess of Flahault, who came by
the Regent’s express desire as his daughter’s most confidential
friend; Mr. Brougham, for whom the young Princess had sent, as a
person she had already often consulted; the Duke of Sussex, whose
attendance he had taken the precaution of asking, knowing that he
happened to dine in the immediate neighbourhood; the Princess of
Wales, too, had arrived from her villa at Blackheath, where she was
when Mr. Brougham and Miss Mercer arrived; her Royal Highness was
accompanied by Lady Charlotte Lindsay, then in waiting. Dinner had
been ordered by the Princess Charlotte, and the party, except the
Duke of Sussex, who did not immediately arrive, were at table, when
from time to time the arrival of the great personages sent by the
Regent was announced as each of their hackney-coaches in succession
came into the street. Some were suffered to remain in these
vehicles, better fitted for convenience than for state; but the
presumptive heiress to the Crown having chosen that conveyance, it
was the humour of the party which she now delighted with her humour,
and interesting by her high spirits, like a bird flown from a cage,
that these exalted subjects should become familiar with a residence
which had so lately been graced with the occupancy of their future
Sovereign. Exceptions, however, were made, and the Duke of York
immediately was asked into a room on the ground floor. It is an
undoubted fact that not one of the persons sent by the Regent, not
even the Duke of York, ever was in any of the apartments above
stairs for one instant until the young Princess had agreed to leave
the house and return home. The Princess of Wales saw the Duke of
York for a few minutes below, and this was the only communication
between the company above and those below, of whom all but the Duke
and the Bishop remained outside the house. After a great deal of
discussion, the Princess Charlotte asked Mr. Brougham what he, on
the whole, would advise her to do. He said, ‘Return to Warwick
House, or to Carlton House, and on no account pass a night out of
it.’ She was exceedingly affected, even to tears, and asked if he
too refused to stand by her. The day was beginning to break; a
Westminster election to reinstate Lord Cochrane (after the sentence
on him which abolished the pillory, and secured his re-election) was
to be held that day at ten o’clock. Mr. Brougham led the young
Princess to the window, and said, ‘I have but to show you to the
multitude which in a few hours will fill these streets and that
park—and possibly Carlton House will be pulled down—but in an hour
after the soldiers will be called out, blood will flow, and if your
Royal Highness lives a hundred years it will never be forgotten that
your running away from your home and your father was the cause of
the mischief; and you may depend upon it the English people so hate
blood that you will never get over it.’ She at once perceived the
truth of this statement, and, without any kind of hesitation, agreed
to see her uncle below, and accompany him home. But she told him she
would not go in any carriage except one of her father’s, as her
character might suffer; she therefore retired to the drawing-room
until a royal coach was sent for, and she then went home with the
Duke of York.”—_Law Review_, No. XI., 280, _as quoted in Lord
Campbell’s “Life of Lord Eldon_,” p. 314.

END OF VOL. I.

C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOOTNOTES.

-----

Footnote 1:

Her works are “Dinarbas,” a sort of supplement to Johnson’s
“Rasselas,” published in 1790; “Marcus Flaminius: a View of the
Military, Political, and Social Life of the Romans,”—a classical novel
in two volumes, which, originally published in 1792, reached a second
edition in 1808; and “A Description of Latium, or La Campagna di Roma,
with Etchings by the Author,” which appeared in 1805.

Footnote 2:

Sir Joseph, then Lieut. Knight, obtained his first ship, the _Ruby_,
50, on the 31st July, 1746, and in the following year he sailed with
Admiral Boscawen’s fleet to the East Indies, whence he returned with
Commodore Lisle’s squadron, of which he took the command, as senior
captain, on that officer’s death at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1758,
Captain Knight was appointed to the _Fougueux_, 64, and greatly
distinguished himself under Admiral Keppel at the attack on the French
settlement of Goree on the African coast. He afterwards commanded the
_Belleisle_, and, in 1770, took out troops to Gibraltar in the
_Ramilies_, 74. On his return he was appointed to the _Ocean_, 90,
stationed at Portsmouth. At the grand naval review on the 24th June,
1773, he was knighted by his Majesty on board the _Barfleur_, under
the royal standard of England. On the 31st of March, 1775, Sir Joseph
Knight was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the white, but died
on the 8th of September following, after spending fifty-two years of
his life in the service of his king and country.

Footnote 3:

Wortley Montagu, son of the famous Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and the
first Englishman ever inoculated. He showed early symptoms of an
unsettled character, impatient of control, by three times running away
from Westminster School. Later in life he turned Roman Catholic, and
subsequently embraced Mahomedanism. He was the author of “Reflections
on the Rise and Fall of the Ancient Republics.”

Footnote 4:

Sir Anthony Dean was great-grandson of Mr. William Dean, a Lancashire
gentleman, who united the three manors of Hosedens, Caxtons, and
Dynes, about the year 1575. Sir Anthony, says Holman, “being very much
addicted to the Parliamentary cause, and presuming the structure then
raised would have stood for ever, exchanged his fair estate here with
Colonel Sparrow for Hide Park, which that colonel had obtained in
consideration of his zeal for the same prevailing cause. Thus he lost
the substance for the shadow.” The crest of the Dean family was: On a
torse ermine, and sable, a boar’s head couped or, muzzled gules.

Footnote 5:

Miss Palmer, frequently mentioned in Madame D’Arblay’s Memoirs. After
Sir Joshua’s death she married Lord Inchiquin.

Footnote 6:

Bennet Langton, who succeeded Dr. Johnson as Professor of Ancient
History in the Royal Academy.

Footnote 7:

The well-known Topham Beauclerk, son of Lord Sydney Beauclerk, of whom
Dr. Johnson said: “Beauclerk’s talents were those which he had felt
himself more disposed to envy than those of any he had known.”

Footnote 8:

Joseph Baretti was a native of Piedmont. He published an Italian and
English dictionary, and several other works of less importance. Miss
Burney says of him in 1779: “Baretti worries me about writing—asks a
million of questions of how much I have written, and so forth, and
when I say ‘Nothing,’ he raves and rants and says he could beat me.”
He was for some years Foreign Secretary to the Royal Academy.

Footnote 9:

Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu, author of an “Essay on the Genius and Learning
of Shakspeare.” She also wrote three “Dialogues of the Dead,” which
were printed with Lord Lyttleton’s.

Footnote 10:

Mrs. Anna Williams was the daughter of a Welsh physician. Miss Burney
calls her “an exceeding pretty poetess.” She died in 1783.

Footnote 11:

John Hoole, the translator of Tasso, Ariosto, &c. He was born in 1727,
and died in 1803.

Footnote 12:

This is an error. Mrs. Yates certainly spoke the Epilogue, but she
took the part of Aspasia. Miss Hopkins appeared as Mandane.

Footnote 13:

Frederick of Denmark, when crown prince, married Louisa, youngest
daughter of George the Second.

Footnote 14:

The Princess Caroline Matilda, posthumous child of Frederick, Prince
of Wales, was married to Prince Christian, afterwards King of Denmark.
She died at Zell, in Hanover, in 1775.

Footnote 15:

The “New Bath Guide,” by Christopher Anstey, of whom Miss Burney
sarcastically remarks: “If he could but forget he had written the
“Bath Guide,” with how much more pleasure would everybody else
remember it.”

Footnote 16:

In this year Miss Knight’s journals commence. The title-page of the
first volume bears the motto:

“Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum,
Tendimus in Latium.” VIRGIL.

Footnote 17:

John Chetwode Eustace, a Roman Catholic clergyman, and author of “A
Classical Tour in Italy.” He died at Naples in 1815.

Footnote 18:

M. Mignet, in his lectures on the history of the League, dryly
remarked: “Les Jesuites, pour arriver à leurs fins, osèrent tout—même
le bien.”

Footnote 19:

In another note-book Miss Knight observes of M. de Brienne: “His
manners were elegant, but not conciliating, and his effrontery
appeared to me astonishing.... He was of an ancient and distinguished
family, and, probably, had he been brought up to a military
profession, would have been a man of honour and agreeable in society.
I believe he was liberal, and in many respects useful in his diocese.
He was at the head of those who were called ‘Evêques Administrateurs,’
in opposition to the ‘Dévôts,’ or pastoral bishops: both had their
defects, and helped on the Revolution in different ways; for the first
were too often libertines, and the second intolerant and illiberal.”

Footnote 20:

The singular liberality of this discourse, viewed with reference to
the time and place of its delivery, and to the profession of the
speaker, is beyond all praise. The archbishop was nearly a century in
advance of his age.

Footnote 21:

François Joachim Pierre de Bernis belonged to a noble but impoverished
family, whose paternal estate was near Pont St. Esprit, in Languedoc.
He had a great talent for Anacreontic poetry, and his verses were
lively and elegant, but too highly coloured for young readers. Though
short, and by no means remarkable for beauty of face or figure, he
was, when young, universally known as _le joli petit abbé_, and
_l’aimable abbé_. In his early years he was often subject to great
pecuniary embarrassments, but was always cheerful, always the
gentleman, and always well received. He gained the favour of Madame de
Pompadour by his verses, and of the king by a memoir on the dispute
between the Parliaments and the Jesuits. He was sent as minister to
Venice, and while there took priest’s orders, lest the Princesse de
Rohan should ask him to marry her on the death of her husband, who was
then past recovery. The princess and he had long been attached to one
another, but he considered himself too much her inferior both as to
rank and fortune to make a graceful figure in the world. His conduct
on this occasion did not forfeit him the friendship of the princess,
for she left him her entire fortune at her death; but he nobly gave it
up to the Rohans, reserving for himself only a ring, on which was a
Moor’s head, and this he wore as long as he lived, in remembrance of
her. On his return to France he was made prime minister, but was soon
displaced by the Choiseul party. He was then created a cardinal, but
lived in a sort of disgrace until the accession of Louis XVI., when he
was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of his Most Christian Majesty
at the Court of Rome, whither he had gone for the Conclave of
Ganganelli. He was subsequently dismissed from this post for refusing
to take the oath exacted by the revolutionists, and was deprived of
the revenues of his benefices in France. He had, however, a pension
from Spain, and he received at his house in Rome, where he still
continued to reside, Mesdames Adelaide and Victoire, the daughters of
his old master, Louis XV. He bore his change of fortune with dignity
and temper, and died about eighteen months before the French took
possession of Rome.—_From MS. Notes by Miss Knight._

Footnote 22:

The dinner-hour was two o’clock, and the company generally dispersed
at four, or a little after, so that between that and the Ave Maria, or
close of day, there was time for those, who did not go home to sleep,
to visit anything they wished to see.—_MS. Note by Miss Knight._

Footnote 23:

“By bribing or beating.”

Footnote 24:

“Do me the favour to place yourself here, Signor Ambassador.”

Footnote 25:

Literally, “a vacant seat,” but a term applied to the ceremonies on
the death of a pope.

Footnote 26:

“In fiocchi” is equivalent to our phrase “in gala costume.” It was
derived from the tassels with which the horses were ornamented in
state processions. Hence, probably, the vulgar phrase “in full fig,”
and “figged out.”

Footnote 27:

“What is Rome about?” “Works of mercy. She clothes the naked, and
enriches the honest.”

Footnote 28:

“The Eagle has gone to Germany, the Lilies to France, the Stars have
returned to the sky, and nothing remains but the Wind.”

Footnote 29:

“Your eminence, I remember, was nuncio at Brussels, and stood well,
but wished for something more, and was made nuncio at Naples; stood
better, but wished for something more, and was made cardinal; stood
excellently well, but wished for something more, and was made
secretary-of-state. I see that you stand marvellously well now, but
who knows if you will not again wish for something more?”

Footnote 30:

_Bargello_, a sheriff.

Footnote 31:

General Kinsky, who generally accompanied Joseph II. on his travels,
was sent for the night before his Majesty set out for Italy, but could
not be found. The next morning he waited as usual upon the emperor,
who told him he was going to make a tour. He then walked down stairs,
and desired the general to get into the carriage that was standing at
the door. “Where is your Majesty going?” asked the general. “To
Italy,” replied the emperor. “But I have nothing ready.” “It does not
signify: a few shirts can be got anywhere.”—_Miss Knight’s Journal._

Footnote 32:

The Princess Croce was of a lively disposition. Being at St. Peter’s
on Good Friday, when the people were going up to kiss the relic of the
Cross, she said to the gentlemen who were with her, but loud enough to
be heard by the whole congregation, “This is _my_ fête, so you ought
to kiss me.”—_Miss Knight’s Journal._

Footnote 33:

An English lady remarked of Marchesi’s singing: “Cela est fort joli,
mais il ne va pas au cœur.” To which the emperor dryly replied: “Ces
choses doivent aller prémièrement à la tête, et ensuite au cœur,” and
turned on his heel and moved away.—_Miss Knight’s Journal._

Footnote 34:

A small copper coin worth about three-farthings.

Footnote 35:

Count Haga sees everything, and pays nothing.

Footnote 36:

“If he does not intone he will not get out of tune.”

Footnote 37:

“Do you stand here to eat your neighbour?”

Footnote 38:

“Because you catch the breath of all who come in.”

Footnote 39:

The original scene of a popular anecdote is laid by Miss Knight in
Florence. One of the miscellaneous entries in her journal for the year
1783 records how a Moorish ambassador was greatly fêted in that city,
but was chiefly pleased with a grand ball at which all the Florentine
nobility were present. It must have cost a great deal of money, he
said, to pay so many women for dancing.

Footnote 40:

The Princess Louisa Maximiliana of Stolberg-Gœdern married Charles
Edward Stuart, commonly called the Young Pretender. At his death, in
1788, she removed to Paris, accompanied by Count Alfieri, the famous
poet, to whom she is said to have been subsequently united by
marriage. Miss Knight takes a more favourable view of the countess’s
conduct and character than was altogether justified by the real facts
of the case.

Footnote 41:

Henry Benedict Maria Clement Stuart, brother of Prince Charles Edward,
born in 1725, was made a cardinal in 1747 by Pope Benedict XIV. His
valuable collection of paintings and antiques was plundered by the
French in 1788, and his property confiscated. He then removed to
Venice, where he endured considerable privations, until George III.,
hearing of his distress, generously bestowed upon him a pension of
4000_l._ a year. The cardinal returned to Rome in 1801, and continued
to reside there until his death in 1807. His learning, piety, and
virtues commanded the esteem of his contemporaries, with the
exception, apparently, of his sister-in-law and her immediate circle
of friends.

Footnote 42:

The Pretender himself told the Commander D’Olomieu that he was in
England in the year 1752, at the invitation of the minister, and that
he saw many people and was well received, though the person at whose
house he lodged knew not who he was. At Dover he went to the house of
a gentleman who belonged to the opposite party, but who treated him
with great respect and civility.—_Miss Knight’s Journal._

Footnote 43:

The Commander D’Olomieu told me, that when the Bailli de Suffren
brought over in his xebecque M. de Choiseul and his lady, the duke
being then appointed ambassador at the Court of Rome, the latter
presented him with a handsome snuff-box with the portrait of the
duchess. The bailli took a key out of his pocket, wrenched off the
portrait, which he kept, and returned the box to the ambassador.—_Miss
Knight’s Journal._

Footnote 44:

The King of Sweden appears to have been partial to this kind of
entertainment, if we may judge from an interesting letter, descriptive
of an ascent in his presence, dated from Naples February 19, which
appeared in the _European Magazine_ for April, 1784. Gustavus III. was
mortally wounded, March 16, 1792, at a masked ball, by Ankerstroem, an
officer dismissed from the Guards.

Footnote 45:

General Elliott was himself the most abstemious man in the garrison,
his diet being exclusively confined to vegetables, milk, puddings, and
farinaceous food.

Footnote 46:

This was not the only poetical effusion of the gallant general. He
also composed the following lines on a young lady who died in
consequence of dancing too much, and drinking too much lemonade, at a
ball:

“Do you know who’s gone away?
Do you know who’s gone away?
The masquerade and lemonade
Have done for Jenny Conaway.”
_Miss Knight, on the authority of Lieutenant Koehler._

Footnote 47:

“How can you expect that the son of the eternal father should give you
anything?”

Footnote 48:

“I rested afterwards at the house of a Monsieur Loriol. He was an old
man, with a white ribbon in his button-hole, and a good-humoured
countenance, which became ten times more beaming upon our informing
him, when he made the inquiry if I knew the Lady K., as he called her,
that I was acquainted with her. ‘Ah!’ said he, ‘she is an excellent
lady; she lived here eighteen months, and made drawings of all the
ruins in this neighbourhood. She had a very cross mother, but was
herself a most amiable person;’ and then he showed me two of Miss K.’s
gifts to himself, a pocket-book and snuff-box, of which, with some
Derbyshire spar, he seemed very proud.”—_Lady C. Campbell’s Diary
&c_., vol. ii.

Footnote 49:

At Savona, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, Lady Knight and her
daughter received many civilities from the French consul—Signor
GARIBALDI, a Genoese.

Footnote 50:

“Oh! that is quite another thing. Here we spend money—there we make
it.”

Footnote 51:

It was during her residence at Genoa that Miss Knight published her
first work, “Dinarbas,” a continuation of “Rasselas.”

Footnote 52:

In the course of the preceding year Miss Knight brought out a work in
two volumes, entitled “Marcus Flaminius, or a View of the Life of the
Romans,” of which Miss Burney said: “I think it a work of great merit,
though wanting in variety, and not very attractive from much
interesting the feelings. But to Italian travellers, who are classy
readers, I imagine it must be extremely welcome, in reviving images of
all they have seen, well combined and contrasted with former times of
which they have read. The sentiments interspersed are so good, I wish
for more; and the principles that are meant to be recommended are both
pure and lofty. It is not a work which you will read quickly through,
or with ardour, but it is one, I think, of which you will not miss a
word.”—(_Madame d’Arblay’s Diary_, vol. v.) In 1805, Miss Knight
published also a quarto volume, entitled “A Description of Latium, or
La Campagna di Roma,” a work displaying a sound knowledge of classical
literature, together with a familiar acquaintance with the places she
describes.

Footnote 53:

Even the Protestantism of Dr. Johnson might have forgiven this as an
outburst of anti-republican zeal. See _antè_, Chapter I.

Footnote 54:

The late Duke of Sussex.

Footnote 55:

Sir William Hamilton, who was at that time sixty-eight years of age,
had been for nearly half that period British minister at the Court of
Naples. He had then been married to Lady Hamilton nearly seven years.

Footnote 56:

There was at that time a treaty between Naples and France, by which
the former bound herself not to admit more than two English ships of
war at a time into any Neapolitan or Sicilian port.

Footnote 57:

Maria Caroline, daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria. She was married,
in 1768, to Ferdinand IV., King of Naples, son of Charles III. of
Spain. A woman of great feminine beauty, but of a masculine
understanding, she has earned for herself an unhappy notoriety in
history as a princess of a cruel and ferocious nature, pitiless and
unscrupulous in the attainment of her ends. But it may be doubted
whether her vices have not been exaggerated both by English and French
historians. At all events, it should be borne in mind that she was
mated to a very weak prince, and that his feebleness rendered
necessary, in the troublous times in which their lot was cast, an
assertion of her masculine strength.

Footnote 58:

Afterwards Sir W. Hoste, K.C.B. His Memoirs and Correspondence were
published by Lady Hoste in 1833.

Footnote 59:

Afterwards Admiral the Honourable Sir Bladen Capel, K.C.B. Hoste and
Capel brought a letter of introduction from Nelson to Lady Hamilton,
in which he says: “I beg leave to introduce Captain Capel, who is
going home with my despatches, to your notice. He is a son of Lord
Essex, and a very good young man. And I also beg your notice of
Captain Hoste, who to the gentlest manners joins the most undaunted
courage. He was brought up by me, and I love him dearly.”

Footnote 60:

There is some error in these statements. Captain Capel, not Captain
Hoste, was appointed to the _Mutine_ on the promotion of Captain
Hardy. Hoste was appointed to her afterwards. The battle of the Nile
was fought on the 1st of August. The despatches were not received in
London till the 2nd of October.

Footnote 61:

Afterwards Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge.

Footnote 62:

This is the Captain, afterwards Sir Alexander, Ball, of whom Coleridge
has given an interesting account in one of the numbers of the
_Friend_. There was an early coldness between him and Nelson, but the
great storm of the 20th of May, 1798, had brought them together, under
very interesting circumstances, and a close friendship was cemented
between them. Captain Ball was created a baronet in 1801, and was for
some time governor of Malta, where he died in 1809.

Footnote 63:

In Nelson’s published correspondence there is a letter to his wife
descriptive of his reception at Naples. The following passage will be
read with interest:—“I must endeavour to convey to you something of
what passed; but if it were so affecting to those who were only united
to me by bonds of friendship, what must it be to my dearest wife, my
friend, my everything which is most dear to me in this world? Sir
William and Lady Hamilton came out to sea, attended by numerous boats,
with emblems, &c. They, my most respectable friends, had nearly been
laid up and seriously ill; first from anxiety, then from joy. It was
imprudently told Lady Hamilton in a moment, and the effect was like a
shot; she fell apparently dead, and is not yet recovered from severe
bruises. Alongside came my honoured friends; the scene in the boat was
terribly affecting; up flew her ladyship, and exclaiming, ‘Oh, God! is
it possible?’ she fell into my arm more dead than alive. Tears,
however, soon set matters to rights, when alongside came the king. The
scene was, in its way, as interesting; he took me by the hand, called
me his deliverer, his preserver, with every other expression of
kindness. I hope some day to have the pleasure of introducing you to
Lady Hamilton; she is one of the very best women in the world; she is
an honour to her sex.” The hero was then drifting to his destiny. It
may be stated here that Nelson—then Captain Nelson—had first made the
acquaintance of the Hamiltons at Naples in 1793. He had made a strong
impression on them both. Sir William had predicted that, though only a
little fellow, and not very handsome, he would live to become the
greatest man that England had ever produced.

Footnote 64:

This was the unfortunate Prince Caraccioli, whose execution has thrown
so deep a shadow over the history of the connexion between Nelson,
Lady Hamilton, and the Queen of Naples.

Footnote 65:

Sir John Francis Edward Acton, Bart., of Aldenham, Salop, born 1736 or
1737, after a chequered and romantic career, became the favourite of
Queen Caroline of Naples, the prime minister, and commander-in-chief
of the naval and military forces of that kingdom. He bore an
implacable enmity to the French, which appears to have been cordially
reciprocated, for after the complete overthrow of the
Austro-Neapolitan army under General Mack, the French insisted upon
General Acton’s retirement from public affairs, and at a later period
(1803) he was compelled to withdraw into the island of Sicily. He died
at Palermo in the year 1811. All the biographical notices of this
remarkable man, being evidently derived from one common unauthentic
source, are equally full of errors and misstatements. His brother,
Joseph Edward, was also in the Neapolitan service, and was appointed
governor of Gaeta. It is said that he was originally in the French
army, and was present at the battle of Rosbach, but at the outbreak of
the Revolution emigrated to Naples. The Acton family were Roman
Catholics. The Neapolitan minister left two sons, the second of whom
became a cardinal. The widow of the younger brother (Baron Acton)
married the present Lord Granville.

Footnote 66:

Pius VI. was removed to Valence, notwithstanding his ill health and
advanced age, on the 14th July, 1798, and died there on the 29th
August, 1799, in his eighty-second year.

Footnote 67:

Miss Knight is somewhat unjust to the French general, Lespinasse,
whose portrait Angelica painted gratuitously. It was done by her own
desire, as an acknowledgment of the kind and courteous treatment she
had experienced at his hands, her house being specially exempted from
having soldiers billeted on it.

Footnote 68:

Sir Harris Nicolas says that this verse is attributed to a Mr.
Davenport. It was, in reality, written by Miss Knight herself.

Footnote 69:

Admiral Blanquet, whose flag was on the _Franklin_ (80), was taken
with his ship in the battle of the Nile. He was a brave and an honest
man, distinguished for his candour and ingenuousness.

Footnote 70:

The _Vanguard_, Nelson, had left Naples for Malta in October, but had
returned to the former place early in November. Miss Knight thus
records his arrival in her Journal:—“_November 5, 1798._—Appeared in
sight Admiral Nelson, in the _Vanguard_, with the _Minotaur_, Captain
Lewis, from Malta, and they were all day coming in; but the admiral
came on shore at four o’clock, and went immediately to Caserta, where
he was scarce arrived when the hereditary princess was brought to bed
of a daughter, and the bells were ringing, guns firing, &c. Next
morning the admiral presented to the king the French colours taken at
Gozo, telling his Majesty that he had sixteen thousand more subjects
than before.”

Footnote 71:

Killed very shortly afterwards at the defence of St. Jean d’Acre,
under Sir Sidney Smith.

Footnote 72:

“As there is but one inn in Palermo, we were obliged to agree to their
own terms (five ducats a day). We are but indifferently lodged;
however, it is the only inn we have yet seen in Sicily, and may be
said to be the only one in the island. It is kept by a noisy,
troublesome Frenchwoman, who, I find, will plague us.... She is as fat
as a pig, and as ugly as the devil, and lays on a quantity of paint
that looks like a great plaister of red morocco. Her picture is
hanging in the room where I am now writing, as well as that of her
husband, who, by-the-by, is a ninny: they are no less vile curiosities
than the originals. He is drawn with his snuff-box open in one hand,
and a dish of coffee in the other, and at the same time ‘fait
l’aimable à madame.’ I took notice of this triple occupation, which
seemed to imply something particular. She told me that the thought was
hers; that her husband was exceedingly fond of snuff and of coffee,
and wanted by this to show that he was still more occupied with her
than with either of them. I could not help applauding the ingenuity of
the conceit. Madame is painted with an immense bouquet in her breast,
and an orange in her right hand, emblematic of her sweetness and
purity, and has the prettiest little smirk on her face you can
imagine. She told me that she insisted on the painter drawing her
‘avec le souris sur le visage,’ but as he had not esprit enough to
make her smile ‘naturally’ she was obliged to force one ‘qui n’étoit
pas si joli que le naturel, mais qui vaudroit mieux que de paroître
sombre.’”—_Brydone’s Tour through Sicily and Malta._ Letter xxi.

Footnote 73:

“As for Sicilian airs, which are graceful and pathetic,” &c.—_History
of Music_, vol. iv.

Footnote 74:

Mrs. Cadogan was mother of Lady Hamilton. In one of the supplementary
chapters of Mr. Pettigrew’s Life of Nelson, it is stated that Lady
Hamilton, “by her connexion with Mr. Greville, is reputed to have had
three children, named Eliza, Anne, and Charles. She always passed for
their aunt, and took upon herself the name of Harte. In the splendid
misery in which she lived, she hastened to call to her her mother, to
whom she was through life most affectionate and attentive, _and she
passed by the name of Cadogan_.” There is a little confusion in this.
It does not appear very plainly whether Emma or her mother, at that
time, passed by the name of Cadogan. Mr. Cadogan and Alderman Smith
paid the last expenses ever incurred in the name of Lady Hamilton, and
the former gentleman brought Nelson’s daughter from Boulogne, and
handed her over to the motherly care of that hero’s sister, Mrs.
Matchan.

Footnote 75:

Among other statements was one to the effect that the queen was on
board, and witnessed the execution.

Footnote 76:

The Honourable George Keith Elphinstone, second son of Lord
Elphinstone, was created Lord Keith, for his services, in 1797, at the
Cape.

Footnote 77:

This stanza was written by Miss Knight, whom the officers of the fleet
called Nelson’s “charming poet-laureate.” Mr. Pettigrew, in his Life
of Nelson, says that it was written on the occasion of the capture of
the _Guillaume Tell_, the following having been previously written to
celebrate the capture of the _Généreux_:

“Lord, thou hast heard our vows!
Fresh laurels deck the brows
Of him we sing.
Nelson has laid full low
Once more the Gallic foe;
Come let our bumpers flow
To George our King.”

Footnote 78:

Mr. Pettigrew prints the first part of this stanza:

“While thus we chant his praise,
See what new _glories_ blaze,
New _trophies_ spring.”

Footnote 79:

The Queen of Naples was in despair about the supersession of Sir
William Hamilton, and used to write, at this time, about the “fatal
Paget,” the “inevitable Paget,” in terms of pitiable distress.

Footnote 80:

For an interesting sketch of the chequered career of this lady, and
for an able vindication of her character, see the Appendix to
Pettigrew’s Life of Nelson, and _Blackwood’s Magazine_ for April,
1859, No. dxxxiv.

Footnote 81:

Lord Nelson also kept in his cabin a coffin made out of the mainmast
of _L’Orient_, presented to him by Captain Hallowell, of the
_Swiftsure_. See Southey’s Life of Nelson.

Footnote 82:

The passion, in those days, for Delias and Celias was unconquerable,
else “Emma” would have been quite as metrical and much less pedantic.
Mr. Pettigrew has printed these lines with the substitution, or
perhaps restoration, of Emma for Delia, as “A Song addressed to Lady
Hamilton on her Birthday, April the 26th, 1800, on board the
_Foudroyant_, in a gale of wind.”

Footnote 83:

Nelson shifted his flag to the _Alexander_ on the 28th of June. On the
24th, Lord Keith, commander-in-chief, had arrived at Leghorn. He
thought that Nelson was too much disposed to employ his Majesty’s
ships in the service of the Queen of Naples, and the _Foudroyant_ was
ordered off to Minorca to be refitted. Lord Keith, however, authorised
Nelson to receive the Queen and her family on board the _Alexander_,
and to convey her to Palermo or any other desirable port. Her Majesty,
alarmed by the attitude of the populace of Leghorn, embarked on board
the _Alexander_ on the 9th of July, but landed again on the following
day, and started for Florence. Nelson, the Hamiltons, and Miss Knight
followed.

Footnote 84:

For a more detailed account of this journey, see a letter from Miss
Knight to Sir E. Berry, given in the Appendix. It is taken from the
fourth volume of the Nelson Despatches, edited by Sir Harris Nicolas.

Footnote 85:

Harrison, quoted by Sir H. Nicolas, says the 26th. It is stated, too,
that on the 29th (Nelson’s forty-second birthday) a grand fête was
given to him by the Archduke Charles. It is strange that it should not
have been recorded by Miss Knight if it actually occurred.

Footnote 86:

Baron de Breteuil returned to France in 1802, but never again took
part in public affairs.

Footnote 87:

This is an error. At the age of eighteen, young Dumouriez
distinguished himself at an affair of the advanced posts, under
Marshal d’Estrées, and in the following year he obtained a cornetcy of
horse.

Footnote 88:

Sister of the famous _émigré_, Count de Rivarol.

Footnote 89:

Southey tells this anecdote with more point. “A German pastor,” he
says, “between seventy and eighty years of age, travelled forty miles
with the Bible of his parish church, to request that Nelson would
write his name on the first leaf of it. He called him the Saviour of
the Christian world. The old man’s hope deceived him.”—_Southey’s Life
of Nelson_, chap. vi.

Footnote 90:

Klopstock lost his first wife, Margaret Müller, in 1758, and regretted
her loss until his own death, and his remains were laid in the same
tomb. His second wife, Madame de Winthem, whom he married in 1791, was
a lady of excellent character and rare merit: she was a widow at the
time of her marriage with Klopstock.

Footnote 91:

A German portrait-painter, patronised by the Empress Maria-Theresa. He
is best known, however, by his illustrations of Klopstock’s “Messiah.”

Footnote 92:

The Wrestlers’ Arms.

Footnote 93:

“The year 1800, though marked by no great political event, obtained a
disastrous celebrity as a year of scarcity. At the commencement of
harvest the rain descended in torrents, the lowlands were deluged with
water, the crops were spoiled, the price of wheat rose to more than
120s. a quarter, and people resorted to all sorts of devices to
economise the consumption of bread. Potatoes, potato flour, and rice,
were the ordinary substitutes, and an Act of Parliament forbade the
bakers to sell any but whole meal bread.”—_The Diaries and
Correspondence of the Right Hon. George Rose_, vol. i. p. 280.

Footnote 94:

Sister of Lord Moira, afterwards Marquis of Hastings. In the two
following chapters of this Memoir there is frequent notice of Lady
Aylesbury.

Footnote 95:

Mrs. Fitzherbert must, at that time, have been in her forty-fifth
year. She was about twenty-nine when she first attracted the attention
of the Prince of Wales, who was six years her junior. They were
married according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, on the
21st of December, 1785. When Miss Knight met Mrs. Fitzherbert on the
occasion referred to (1800-1), the prince had been married for some
time to Caroline of Brunswick. That ill-omened event took place on the
8th of April, 1795.

Footnote 96:

Daughter of the Earl of Dunmore. Lady Augusta was married to Prince
Augustus (Duke of Sussex) at Rome, according to the rites of the Roman
Catholic Church, and afterwards at St. George’s, Hanover-square. She
had two children by the prince, but after her marriage was declared
illegal, she refused to have further intercourse with him.

Footnote 97:

The Rev. William Nelson, who succeeded to the earldom on Nelson’s
death, but left no issue.

Footnote 98:

The preliminaries were signed in London on the 1st of October, 1801,
and in Paris on the 5th of the same month. The Treaty of Peace was
concluded at Amiens on the 27th of March, 1802, and war again declared
on the 18th of May, 1803.

Footnote 99:

Son of the Marquis of Aylesbury.

Footnote 100:

Correspondence of Henrietta Louisa Fermor, Countess of Pomfret, and
Frances, Countess of Hartford, afterwards Duchess of Somerset.—Three
vols. 8vo. London: 1805.

Footnote 101:

On the 31st of May the Duke of Cumberland returned to town from a
dinner at Greenwich, in order to be present at a concert for the
benefit of the Royal Society of Musicians. He retired to rest about
one o'clock, and awoke a little after two, in consequence, as he
thought, of a bat flying about the room. He had actually, however,
received a severe sword-cut on the head, which was quickly followed up
by a second. As his royal highness sprang out of bed the assassin cut
him across the arm, and, in all, inflicted some half-dozen wounds
before the duke could make his escape from the room. His cries quickly
brought an English valet (Neale) to the spot, when a sabre belonging
to the duke was found on the floor of the bedroom. Sellis, his
Corsican or Italian valet, was then discovered stretched on his bed,
partly undressed, and with his throat cut from ear to ear. The
circumstantial evidence in proof of his guilt was conclusive, though
many calumnious stories were afterwards circulated tending to
criminate the duke himself, who had stood godfather to Sellis's last
child. At the coroner's inquest the jury brought in a verdict of "felo
de se," and the body of the wretched man was accordingly buried in
"the high road" in Scotland-yard.

Footnote 102:

The Princess Amelia was born on the 7th of August, 1782, and died on
the 2nd of November, 1810. From her earliest infancy she was extremely
delicate, and perhaps for that reason was the especial favourite of
the king. His malady was greatly aggravated by the shock which he
sustained one day when he visited her during her last illness. The
princess slipped upon his finger a ring, containing a lock of her hair
under a crystal, and beneath the hair were inscribed her name and the
words “Remember me.”

Footnote 103:

Previously Princess Royal of England.

Footnote 104:

This would have been a gross breach of etiquette. In Madame d’Arblay’s
Memoirs there are some good-naturedly satirical directions given as to
the conduct to be observed in the presence of royalty. “You must not
upon any account stir either hand or foot. If, by chance, a black pin
runs into your head, you must not take it out. If the pain is very
great, you must be sure to bear it without wincing; if it brings the
tears into your eyes, you must not wipe them off; if they give you a
tingling by running down your cheeks, you must look as if nothing was
the matter,” &c. &c.—Vol. ii. p. 407.

Footnote 105:

Lady George Murray was widow of Lord George Murray, Bishop of St.
David’s. George the Third, proposing to appoint her preceptress to
Princess Charlotte in 1805, commanded Mr. Rose to state distinctly
what he knew about that lady. Mr. Rose then said, “that as a girl she
was remarkably amiable, and very innocent; that she had been married
when little more than a child to a young man under age; that she had
conducted herself most unexceptionably, to say the least, both as a
wife and mother; that he had never heard a syllable to her
disadvantage, but much in her commendation.”—_Diaries and
Correspondence of the Right Hon. George Rose_, vol. ii.

Footnote 106:

The pall was supported by the Viscountess Cranley, Lady E. Thynne, the
Countess of Ely, and Lady G. Murray. The chief mourner was the
Countess of Chesterfield, whose train was borne by Lady Halford, the
wife of the eminent physician, supported by the Countesses of
Macclesfield and Ilchester. The ladies attendant on the Queen and
Princesses who were present on this occasion were Lady Albinia
Cumberland, Miss Goldsworthy, Mrs. Williams, Hon. Mrs. Fielding, Hon.
Mrs. Egerton, Hon. Miss Townshend, Madame and Mademoiselle
Beckersdorff, Miss Knight, Mrs. Adams, Miss Montmollin, Miss Planta,
Miss Gaskin, Miss Byerley, Mrs. Davenport, and Mrs. Robinson. The
funeral took place in the evening of the 14th of November.

Footnote 107:

The words of the concluding verse of the sixteenth Psalm: “Thou wilt
shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy
right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

Footnote 108:

The comet of 1811 was first discovered at Viviers by M. de
Flanguergues on the 25th March. It was seen at Marseilles by the
Messrs. Pons on the 11th April, and at Paris on the 20th May. It then
became invisible until some time in August, when it was first seen in
England. Its nearest approach to the earth was on the 24th of October,
on which the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ remarks: “We regret to say that
the awfully sublime stranger will not much longer appear to the same
advantage to our view.” The length of its tail was conjectured to be
between twenty and thirty millions of miles.

Footnote 109:

The Princess’s governesses were the Countess Elgin and Baroness de
Clifford. In 1809, Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury, was appointed her
Royal Highness’s preceptor, with Drs. Nott and Short as his
assistants.

Footnote 110:

Afterwards Lady Charlotte Bury, authoress of “A Diary Illustrative of
the Times of George the Fourth,” and of many now forgotten novels,
such as “The Disinherited,” “The Devoted,” “Flirtation,”
“Fortune-Hunting,” &c.

Footnote 111:

Lady Aylesbury died in Seymour-street, on the 8th of January, 1813.

Footnote 112:

Lady Aylesbury’s niece.

Footnote 113:

Daughter of Lord Keith; afterwards Baroness Keith (1823)—married in
1817 the Count de Flahault, the present (1860-61) French Ambassador at
our Court.

Footnote 114:

Lord Eldon’s grandfather, William Scott, of Sandgate, was “said to
have been clerk to a ‘fitter,’ and who, in the latter part of his
life, himself became the owner of several ‘keels’—a ‘fitter’ being the
person who buys and sells coals between the owner of the mine and the
shipper, and who conveys them in ‘keels,’ or barges, from the higher
parts of the Tyne to Newcastle or Shields, where they are loaded for
exportation.”—_Lord Campbell’s Life of Lord Eldon._

Lady Charlotte Campbell thus relates this scene at second-hand:
“Sunday, 17th (January), Lady de Clifford came and told the Princess
all the story of the Regent’s scolding Princess Charlotte over again,
and repeated what he had said in respect to her never having an
establishment till she married. He had also, she said, called her a
fool, and used other violent language. The Chancellor told the
Princess Charlotte that if she had been his daughter, and had written
him such a letter, he would have locked her up till she came to her
senses. ‘Rather violent language,’ said Lady de Clifford, ‘for a
coal-heaver’s son to the future Queen of England.’”—_Diary
Illustrative of the Times of George the Fourth_, vol. i.

Footnote 115:

Lord Moira’s wife, a Countess in her own right.

Footnote 116:

In Lady C. Campbell’s “Diary Illustrative of the Times of George the
Fourth” there occurs the following entry, under the date of the 24th
of January: “She (the Princess Charlotte) told her mother that there
had been a great battle at Windsor between the Queen and the Prince;
the former refusing to give up Miss Knight from her own person to
attend on Princess Charlotte as sub-governess; but the Prince Regent
had gone to Windsor himself, and insisted on her doing so, and the
‘old begum’ was forced to submit, but has been ill ever since, and Sir
Henry Halford declared it was a complete breaking up of the
constitution (to the great delight of the two Princesses who were
talking about the affair). Miss Knight was the very person they wished
to have; they think they can do as they like with her.” Upon this the
editor remarks in a footnote: “In this idea their Royal Highnesses
were much mistaken; for Miss Knight was a person of uncompromising
integrity and steady rectitude of conduct. A devoted royalist, but not
a sycophant, no one has proved more than she has the fallaciousness of
Court favour. The Queen Charlotte never forgave her for having left
her service to attend the young Princess Charlotte, and the Regent
afterwards dismissed her in an unjust manner from the post in which he
had himself placed her, and which every one who knows Miss Knight is
confident she never was unworthy of.”

Footnote 117:

Warwick House stood at the end of Warwick-street, which stretches from
Cockspur-street towards Carlton House-terrace, but terminates in a
cul-de-sac. The site of the house itself, between which and the
gardens of Carlton House there appears to have been a private
communication, is now occupied by some livery stables. Warwick House
was formerly the residence of Sir Philip Warwick, the well-known
Royalist writer, who was born there in 1609. The street, which was
built at a later date, was called after the Warwick family, and still
retains the name.

Footnote 118:

Sister of Colonel Goldsworthy, one of the royal equerries most
frequently mentioned in Madame D’Arblay’s Memoirs. She was very deaf,
and in the habit of falling asleep at the dinner-table.

Footnote 119:

Daughter of Thomas Anguish, Esq., a Master in Chancery.

Footnote 120:

Catherine Anne Sarah, daughter of fifth Duke of Leeds, born 1798;
married, in 1819, to J. Whyte-Melville, Esq., of Bennochy.

Footnote 121:

“He (Prince Regent) was indeed,” said the Duke (of Wellington), “the
most extraordinary compound of talent, wit, buffoonery, obstinacy, and
good feeling; in short, a medley of the most opposite qualities, with
a great preponderance of good, that I ever saw in any character in my
life.”—_Raikes’s Journal_, vol. i.

Footnote 122:

“Miss Knight is appointed sub-governess to the Princess Charlotte of
Wales in the room of Mrs. Udney, who retired with Lady de
Clifford.”—_Morning Chronicle_, January 30.

“Miss Knight, who succeeds Mrs. Udney as sub-governess to the Princess
Charlotte, is the daughter of the late admiral who died in the
Mediterranean, and who, when in Italy with her father, may be
remembered by her verses on the transactions then occurring there.
Since her return she has been in attendance on the Queen.”—_Morning
Chronicle_, February 1.

Footnote 123:

“Miss Knight is not appointed sub-governess to her Royal Highness the
Princess Charlotte. Miss Knight is one of the _ladies companions_ to
her Royal Highness, and is the daughter of the late Sir Joseph
Knight.”—_Morning Chronicle_, February 4.

This contradiction, however, did not remove the impression that Miss
Knight was the governess of the Princess. Sir Harris Nicolas, in his
edition of the “Correspondence of Lord Nelson,” speaks of her as
“preceptress” and “sub-governess,” and Lord Colchester, in his
journal, does the same.

Footnote 124:

Nephew of George the Third, and brother of Queen Caroline, afterwards
killed at Quatre-Bras.

Footnote 125:

The Duke of York’s country residence.

Footnote 126:

The Duke of Gloucester was first cousin of the Regent. He died on the
20th of November, 1834, at Bagshot, after a painful illness of fifteen
days, aged fifty-nine. He married in 1816 the Princess Mary, his
cousin, sister of the Regent. “He was not a man of talent, as may be
inferred from his nickname of _Silly Billy_, but he was a quiet,
inoffensive character, rather tenacious of the respect due to his
rank, and strongly attached to the ultra-Tory party. His father, the
late Duke, married Lady Waldegrave; thus he was uncle to Mrs.
Darner.”—_Raikes’s Journal_, vol. i.

Footnote 127:

Lord Eldon.

Footnote 128:

According to “The Mirror of Fashion,” Miss Knight wore on this
occasion “a dress of orange-coloured satin, with draperies of silver
gauze, tastefully separated with net silver rolio, forming a lacing
between each, through which the colour of the satin under-dress was
discovered; the whole trimmed with handsome silver cords and tassels;
robe, black velvet.”

Footnote 129:

Cambridge House, South Audley-street.

Footnote 130:

“The Mirror of Fashion” informs us that Miss Knight’s dress was “of
white net, spangled all over with gold, and ornamented with broad
borders, with wreaths of fancy flowers, over a rich white satin slip.”

Footnote 131:

Afterwards William the Fourth.

Footnote 132:

This letter occupied a column and a half of the _Morning Chronicle_ of
the 10th of February, and is dated from Montague House, January 14,
1813. On the 11th of February that journal gave the following account
of the mode by which the letter in question had come into its
possession: “It was transmitted on the 14th ult. to Lord Liverpool and
Lord Eldon, sealed by Lady Charlotte Campbell as lady in waiting for
the month, expressing her Royal Highness’s pleasure that it should be
presented to the Prince Regent; and there was an open copy for their
perusal. On the 15th, the Earl of Liverpool presented his compliments
to Lady Charlotte Campbell, and returned the letter unopened. On the
16th, it was returned by Lady Charlotte, intimating that as it
contained matter of importance to the state, she relied on their
laying it before his Royal Highness. It was again returned unopened,
with the Earl of Liverpool’s compliments to Lady Charlotte, saying
that the Prince saw no reason to depart from his determination. On the
17th, it was returned in the same way by command of her Royal
Highness, expressing her confidence that the two noble Lords would not
take upon themselves the responsibility of not communicating the
letter to his Royal Highness, and that she should not be the only
subject in the empire whose petition was not to be permitted to reach
the throne. To this an answer was given that the _contents_ of it had
been made known to the Prince. On the 19th, her Royal Highness
directed a letter to be addressed to the two noble Lords, desiring to
know whether it had been made known to his Royal Highness by being
read to him, and to know his pleasure thereon. No answer was given to
this letter, and therefore, on the 26th, she directed a letter to be
written expressing her surprise that no answer had been given to her
application for a whole week. To this an answer was received addressed
to the Princess, stating that in consequence of her Royal Highness’s
demand, her letter had been read to the Prince Regent on the 20th, but
that he had not been pleased to express his pleasure thereon. Here the
correspondence was closed, and some days after this copies of the
letter were in circulation, but we know not from what quarter they
originated.” The letter will be found in the Appendix.

Footnote 133:

The Princess of Wales then resided at Brandenburg House, at
Kensington.

Footnote 134:

Lord Liverpool was, at that time, Prime Minister. His premiership
commenced in 1812, and ended in 1827.

Footnote 135: