HANNAH LIGHTFOOT.

D’ N THE CHEVALIER EO .

DR WILMOT’S POLISH

O TH M P . J. A S . S , . n

WI TH SOM E A DDI TI ON S F R OM ‘ E ’ , N OT S A N D Q UER IES

LON DON

W . G . SM ITH 32 WELLIN G TON STREET STRAN D W C , , , . .

1 6 8 7 .

E P R E FA C .

THESE N o tes on the st o ry of Hannah Lightfoot have been re print e d in compliance with suggestions from

a several quarters, that the proofs which they cont in of the utter groundlessness o f the scandal should be pre served in a more convenient form than the pages of

N ot s and ueries ll . e Q , in which they origina y appeared

A who v n writer, has ob iously paid much attentio

e l n a t he e o f to the subj ct, whi e admitti g th t evid nce

a o f u in t he the w nt tr th story, which is here adduced ,

l t wo is conc usive , thinks there are statements respect ing it which require further canvassing . One is Mr .

’

N . . 2md . 222 Ste inman Steinman s ( Q S i . ) state M A ment that a portrait of iss xford , the Fair Quaker,

n R n l l pai ted by Sir Joshua ey o ds, exists at Kno e , and

f . . a n E N . 1 o . st . & . the other, the st teme t D ( Q S

l o f 430 . ) that Dr James Da ton, the Madras Medical

H n ah Service , married a daughter of a n Lightfoot by

Ge orge III .

‘ Ho w le M the portraits at Kno , said to represent iss

’ Ax t o b e ford, the Fair Quaker, came so designated I

no t l m r know , but I wou d re a k that that mythic per

‘ ’ sona e e n g , the Fair Quaker, has never b e described PREF E iv AC .

M iss A . as a xford I may add , on the authority of

i M r . my fr end Scharf, that the picture does not

e n repr se t a Quakeress, for the lady is dressed in white satin with pink bows ; like the portraits of La

Bac elli Schinderlin n l c , and the , also at K o e , and

a b v painted by Sir Joshu , it is elie ed to have been added to the collection by the third Duke of Dorset

o f and like those portraits, is probably that of one his mistresses . With reference to the Dalton descendants from the supposed connection , I would remind the reader, that another family residi ng at the Cape of Good Hope

. 82 . claim the same origin ( 2 S N . 62 and I may add

l o f that, whi e these papers were in course publication

N otes and ueries an in Q , no less th three other families,

do no t whose names I think it right to publish , have been mentioned to me as the undoubted descendants

Bu t o f the King and the Fair Quaker . as the five families which claim such descent have no connection i w th each other, the reader will probably concur with me in the conviction that they have just as little con ne c t io n with George III . and his supposed Quaker mistress . Whether the King has or has not been

a s made the scapegoat for his father, has been sug

an o f gested , or y his brothers, is not the question which I undertook to investigate .

’

G W . G EOR E s S. 40 ST. Q S UARE,

M a 1 867 y . C O N T E N T S .

HAN N AH LI GHTFOOT

and Queries Of b r 2 9 1 6 and Fe rua y , , , M arch 1 6 ,

’ Q UEEN CHARLOTTE AN D THE CHEV ALIER D EON

e t d fr m N otes and ue r ies Of M 1 6 (R prin e o Q arch ,

’ DR . WILN OT s POLISH PRIN CESS

e i te d f m N o tes and Que ries Of J l 7 (R pr n ro u y ,

LORD CHATHAM AN D THE PRI N CESS O LI V E

N o w fi l e d ( rst pub i sh . )

A PPEN DI& .

‘ ’ ‘ ’ THE A UTHEN TIC RECORDs AN D SECRET HISTORY

R e d f o m N otes and ueries of M a c 9 ( printe r Q r h ,

H A N N A H LI H T T G FOO .

WHEN looking into that barefaced and impudent

Dr . l fiction, the pretended marriage of Wi mot to the

ni t a Princess Po atowski, o which I c lled the attention of the readers o f N otes and Queries in July 1 866

( 3rd S . x . p . I found the nam e of Hannah Light foot so mixed up with the affair that I could scarcely

’& resist the conviction that the Fair Quake r was as l mythica a personage as the Polish Prince ss . T M ’ he publication of r. Jesse s amusing M em oirs o the Li e and R ei n o eor &I & f f g f G ge . has brought before the public once more the alleged connection and marriage between George III . and Hannah

Lightfoot .

. e t o Mr Jess , however, gives some of the authorities which he uses an amount o f weight and credit which a little consideration will show they by no means de

. o ut t serve I propose, therefore, to point upon wha a mass of contradictory statements the scandal is

n in fir m n n fou ded, the co victio that if my readers do no t l go the ength of rejecting the story altogether, they will pause before they even believe that George

‘ ’ F m air Quaker, not Quakeress, was the na e by which the young a lady was generally design ted . N I 4 HAN AH L G HTFOOT .

H L il III . intrigued with annah ightfoot ; and w l feel thoroughly convinced that there is not a shadow of

truth in this alleged marriage, in which Mr . Jesse

seems disposed to believe . The first t hing that strikes one as remarkable with regard to this piece Of scandal is that no allusion to it is to be found (at least as far as I am able to trace) l in any historical , political, or satirical work pub ished

l m G . during the ifeti e of eorge III Walpole, whose industry in collecting gossip equalled the delight with

no which he disseminated it, has allusion to a story which he never could have know n and kept secret ; G but, on the contrary, speaks of Prince eorge at the

liais on very time when this must have existed , if it ‘ ’ n B haste . u t ever did exist, as bigoted , you g, and c

G . from the year after that in which eorge III died , the story has been continually reappearing in one o r

other of the many varied forms which it has assumed . The subject is probably of su ffi c ie n t interest to justify m y reprinting such notices on the subject as have no t already appeared in the column s o f N otes

and ueries . The M onthl M a a Q In the first , from y g

zine fo r A 1 82 1 pril , it will be observed the lady is spoken Of as a M iss Wheeler

All the world is acquainted with the attachment Of the late King to o the nam e o W H L R d dis a ea e d a beautiful Quakeress f f EE E . The la y pp r on the royal m arriage in a way that has always been interesting b ecause nd u a s . I l or nexplained mysteriou have been told she is sti l alive , was

. Of lately As connected with the life the late sovereign , the subject is curious ; and any information through your pages would doubtless be f d o r . agreeable to many your rea e s B . M ont/11 a I 1 M . 1 82 l vo . 52 . 3 . g g April , , li p . In ' the reply which this inquiry brought forth in A LI HANN H G HTFOOT . 5

z the July number of the maga ine, the lady becomes a M iss Lightfoot ; and the story is se t forth with some incidents which I here content myself with printing in italics

R e m im sc entia of r e m arkable Characte rs of the last Age

HAN N AH LI G H TFOOT F (The air Quaker) . I o f l i &n consequence the enquiry re ative to th s celebrated lady, in a m b late nu er, we have been favoured with the following letter from a re s e c t ab l e and p gentleman at Warminster, we are promised further info r On mation . enquiring Of the Axford family, who still are respectable o n son grocers Ludgate Hill , we traced a of the person alluded to in the n inf letter, by his second wife, Miss Bartlett, and ascertai ed that the or mation Of our correspondent is substantially correct . From him we a live d six we eks with her hus band learn that the l dy , who was fondly ro m hom e a attached to her, but one evening when he happened to be f , coa h and our to d c f came the door, when she was conveye into it and car ‘

e o fi o ne n . ri d at a gallop, no k ew whither It appears the husband was s ff incon olable at first, and at di erent times applied for information about f VVe m o u th his wi e at y and other places, but died after sixty years in

Of . sh h d total ignorance her fate It has, however, been reported that e a thre e so ns b y in she buried at her lover, since high the army ; that was I slin t on unde r another nam e a is still alive g , and even th t she & Your correspondent enquires (in your magazine for April) for some account of the Fair Quaker who once engaged the affections Of Prince G no t W H L R HAN N A H LI G T T . H F OO . eorge Her name was EE E , but She l ’ ived with her father and mother at the corner Of St. James Market, who ’ kept a shop there (I believe a linendraper s) . The Prince had often ’

his . noticed her in way from Leicester House to St James , and was

‘

. b e struck with her person Miss Chudleigh, late Duchess of Kingston, came his agent . ’ o o ut The royal lover s relations t ok alarm, and sent to enquire a young to man to marry her . Isaac Axford was shopman Barton the grocer on Lud ate H ill she c am e to the sho to bu g , and used to chat with her when p y r o erie g c s . Pe rr n of y of Knightsbridge , it was said, furnished a place meeting for o f d o n f the royal lover . An agent Miss Chudleigh calle Ax ord, and proposed that on his marrying Hannah he should have a considerable sum Of money . b a Off Hannah staid a short time with her hus nd, when she was taken

I . d in a carriage, and saac never saw her more Axfor learned that she I — M . or was gone with iss Chudleigh saac was a poor hearted fellow, , by

e a. making a bustle about it, he might perhaps have secured to hims lf 6 HANNAH LIGHTFOOT .

. resented a good provision He told me, when I last saw him, that he p ’ etition at St J am es p . , which was not attended to ; also that he had ’ e ceived so m e m on o his w e r ey from Pe rry n s assignees on acco unt f if . his Isaac lived many years as a respectable grocer at Warminster, na his c tive place, but retired from business before death, which took pla e - about five years ago, in the eighty sixth year Of his age . an Many years after Hannah was taken away, her husb d, believing her K and ar of e e v el N . dead, was m ried again to a Miss Bartlett ( Wilts) , by

a h r t Of 1 50l . On her succeeded to an est te at C e v e t about . a year the ’ i wi n l report reviv ng, a few years since, Of his first fe s bei g sti l living, ’ on a Mr. Bartlett (first cousin to Isaac s second wife) claimed the estate

the plea of the invalidity of this second marriage . l re It was said that the ate Marquis Of Bath, a little before his death, has t ported that she was then living, and the same been asser ed by other

gentlemen Of this neighbourhood . h was as Hanna fair and pure, as far ever I heard ; but report says ‘ o f Pe rr n not the purest all pures in respect to the house Of Mr. y , who ui 40l o ne left her an ann ty Of . a year . She was indeed considered as of i and em bon oint the beaut ful women Of her time, rather disposed to p . W A R M IN STERI EN SI S .

W i 30 1 82 1 . arm nster, April M onthl M a 1 ol 532 . 1 82 v . . . . y g July , li p

This statement did not appe ar satisfactory at least

z and WA R to one reader Of the maga ine, accordingly M IN STER IEN SI S was invited to explain the following contradictions in his statement ; but no such expla nation appears t o have been offered

Yo u a u and your re ders, I feel no doubt, are partic larly obliged by the Warm insteriensis b ut communication Of your intelligent correspondent , as ffi he has not been su ciently explicit upon some points, I hope for my c uriosity he will answer the foll owing questions u s F 1 . Can yo r correspondent as ign any reason for the air Quaker being sometimes call ed Whe ele r and sometimes Lightfo ot 2 d ff ‘ . What was the motive that induce Miss Chudleigh to O er a ’ c onsiderable s um of money to Isaac Axford to marry Hannah Light foot W 3 . hen and where did the marriage take place Of Hannah Light

I . the foot, a Quaker, to Axford, and where is the evidence that she was ’ ua . an d same Q ker who lived at the corner Of St James Market, was a dmired by Prince George I 4 W Off P . here was she carried from in the coach and four 5 - u ? . Where and at what time was the law s it HANNAH LIGHTFOOT . a

6 . M r. t wh Did Bar lett succeed in his suit ; and if not, y

7 . i i ? Is Mr. Bartlett l v ng, and where

BR EN TFOR DI EN SI S.

1 2 ul 1 82 1 Brentford, J y . M onthl M a 1 82 1 1 09 . lii . . . y g Sept . , vol . p

z n In the same number Of the maga i e we have, ll n however, the fo owi g additional statement

' A nother c orresp onde nt writ es to the f ollowing efie ct d Isaac Axford ne ver cohabite with her . She was tak en away from the hurch do or ar o f c the same day they were m ried, and he never heard her afterwards . Miss Chudl eigh (the late Duchess Of Kingston) was the agent em to i ployed get Isaac to marry her, with a prom se Of a small sum Of was o n money . Isaac then a shopman to Bolton the grocer Ludgate i H ll, and she lived with her father and mother at the corner of ’ the Kin re uentl saw St . James Market, and g f q y her at the shop door as ia in oin to and ro m Parl m ent & c . he drove by g g f , Pe rr n o f at A Mr . y Knightsbridge was a relation Of hers, and his whic h I saac had death left her forty pounds a year, . Axford presented a petition t o the King himself about her in the Park his knee s , as directed, but obtained but little redress.

The next account from The M onthly M agazine

O l no t b e for ctober deserves specia attention , only cause it gives a precise date and a precise locality for

her ri o f l mar age, but from its peculiarity sty e , which

o f fl no t Of Ol smacks the orid, if elegant, style ivia Wilmot Serres ~

H an ah Li ht o ot h F urther P articulars f n t e F air Quaker . o g f ,

Hannah Lightfoot, when residing with her father and mother, was frequently seen by the King when he drove by going to and from the She elo ed in 1 754 Parliament House . p , and was married to Isaac Axford ’ at Keith s Cha el m p , which y father discovered about three weeks after, an d none of her family have seen her since, though her mother had a t wo letter or from her, but at last died Of grief. There were many fabu

lous stories about her, but my aunt (the mother of H . Lightfoot) could

never trace any to b e true . ’ Of t n The above is a copy a cousin Of H . Lightfoot s letter o me o in r o f ff qui y of particulars this mysterious a air, and who is now living and one more likely to know the particulars than any else . The general 8 I F HANNAH L G HT OOT . belief of her friends was that she was taken into ke ep ing by Prince G eorge

hi m . directly after her marriage to Axford, but never lived with - f n I have lately seen a half pay cavalry O ficer from India, who k ew a gentlem an Of the name of D alt on who married a daughter Of this H . L o ightf ot by the King, but who is dead, leaving several accomplished c o m in t o daughters, who, with the father, are g England ; these daughters are secluded from society like nuns, but no pains spared in their education probably on the arrival of this gentleman more light will be thrown upon the subject than now exists . The person who wrote the above letter is a m was re distantly rel ted to me, and y mother (deceased some years) lated to H . Lightfoot and well knew her. I never heard her say any more than I have described already, except that she was short Of stature

AN IN I R . and very pretty . Q U RE

Herts . 2 1 M onthl M a . Oct . 1 8 1 . 97. y g , p

A t t he risk o f trespassing somewhat heavily on the 1 patience Of the reader, must before I close this branch o f my subject call attention to a still fuller and more curious statement derived from the same source

F urther de tails re lative to the F air Quaker .

The accounts published in your magazine relative t o the Fair Quaker ff protected by the late King, di ering in some respects from that which I ’ u have received from my relatives, who were her father s neighbo rs, I here give you their account . ’ St. James Market, now pulled down, and absorbed in the improved state of the space between Pall Mall and Piccadilly at the end next the s —a fle Haymarket, consisted before its dilapidation of two part daily sh o n o f market, and an open Oblong space, the east side the other, called

r for M r. the count y market poultry and other country produce . ’ W s s o n Of heeler s hou e was the ea tern corner house, and the south side

this Open part, and abutting upon Market Lane, a narrow lane which o ut ran Of Pall Mall at the back of the Opera House , the lower end of W ’ d which, as far as where heeler s house stoo , is now covered over and

e . made into an arcad I well remember the shop, which after the decease Of the Old folks was kept by their son until the recent destruo ’ l tion . It was a linendraper s, and , as the principa part Of the business l a e y with the country market peopl , the proprietors were accustomed to Of ff t keep a cask Of good ale, a glass which was always O ered to heir

customers . e a Of - At that tim the rav g es the small pox, unchecked by inoculation , left but few women who were no t marked by its destructive powers ; and LI F 9 HANNAH G HT OOT . the possessors of a fair unsullied face were followed b y crowds Of ad m ir rs e . Such was the case Of the Misses Gunning, who paraded the ’ d d l . Ma l in St James Park, guarde by a troop of admirers with rawn d t o i o n swor s, prevent the populace from encroach ng this hallowed spot i s WV l . sacred t o genti ity. The train Of M s as she passed to and from the ’ ’ w u R ow . as as . meeting in Hemming s , St Martin s Lane, n merous m a W ar o f m n Being before the A eric n , the spirit de ocracy had not i tro duc e d i and its levell ng principles, the royal family, the nobility, and even Of d the gentry , were beheld with a kind awe, which ren ered the presence o f troops o r constables necessary for their protection . The royal family d proceeded to the theatres in chairs, prece ed only by a few footmen, and W followed by about a dozen yeomen . hen they went to the Opera they r entered at the back door in Market Lane, which was near the count y market ; and therefore to avoid the length Of that narrow passage, they ’ h . t e s and passed up St Alban s Street, skirted half outh Of the market, On had then only a few paces to go down the lane . these occasions the

l a . inens were t ken out Of the eastern window, and Miss W sat in a chair f t o see the procession . The fame of her beauty attracted the notice o the i r a t o Pr nce, and the e were not wanting those who were re dy fan the

flame and promote the connection . — . One M w and his wife then lived in Pall Mall ; their house was the d a and resort Of the gay worl , and the m ster mistress were equally ready o r an d to assist the designs of the gamester the libertine, to conceal the

. n gallantries Of a fashionable female To this man, familiarly k own about the court by the name o f Jack M the taking away of the was m Fair Quaker com itted . ’ n n Havi g received his orders, he proceeded to a watchmaker s shop o Of e the east side the country market, which commanded a good vi w of ’

W . d heeler s house, in order to reconnoitre Repeating his visits, un er o f n o r l pretence repairi g regu ating his watch, he discovered that a ’ t o W was female named H frequently went heeler s, and well acquainted with the daughter ; and the skilful intriguer was not long be fore he discovered that this woman was precisely fitted for his

purpose . ’ H had . W Mrs formerly been a servant at heeler s, since which ’ o ne - she had been in service at Betts , a glass cutter in Cockspur Street, a t large house facing Pall Mall, af erwards occupied by Collet, who mar i d ried his widow, and before the recent destruct on ivided into two o r h ’ ’ t ree tenements one a toolmaker s, another a watchmaker s . She had ’ a then been lately disch rged from Betts . Inste ad Of going into another s o ne d H service , being a hand ome woman, Of the apprentices name d t d of marrie her, and she was almost immediately af erwar s laid hold by Jack M and re adily engaged in procuring the Fair Quaker for the

r d r . P ince, which her previous familiarity ren e ed easy As the parents al to M r v lowed their daughter go out with s . H inter iews were thus i o n Obtained between the part es ; and, the elopement, it was found that 1 0 LI HANNAH G HTFOOT .

tri . Old M r her clothes and nkets had been clandestinely removed s . was Wheeler never recovered from the shock, and it said she descended

the grave with a broken heart . i t o M and on A handsome reward was no doubt g ven Jack , the hi s arrival Of the Queen, a relative was, through interest, appointed her and n has a n English teacher, a other gr dually proceeded si ce to the bench H . . 5o0l of bishops Mrs was said to have received . for her share in W s the business . hatever might be the sum, her hu band was by means w - S Of it enabled to go into partnership ith a fellow apprentice , one a who had then just returned from the E st Indies, whither he had been sent to one o f the N ab ob s along with some lustres to unpack and put them o ne up, and had thus accumulated a small sum . The was a parish

apprentice, the other the son of a poor clergyman . They opened in oppo sition to their former master a shop at the corner of Cockspur Street and t s ff Hedge Lane, afterwards called Whitcomb S reet, which has al o su ered

dilapidation, but the shop has reappeared in splendour . m Such is the history Of this elopement, which I received fro my ’ of mother s relations, who had peculiar means knowing the facts ; as ’ m - s one also fro a fellow apprentice Of H , Stock, who kept the Lion and Lamb at Lewisham and whose wife (who afterwards married hi - of a Mr. Peter W te Of that village) had also been a fellow servant — ' ’ H s wife while at Betts . was F a was It generally reported that the air Qu ker kept at Lambeth , or some other village o n the south Of the Thames a notion which pro bably arose from its being most customary with the Prince to ride o u t over Westminster Bridge ; but I have heard it said that she resided at b wi ’ Knights ridge, at a farm which supplied the royal family th asses

milk . The house being retired from the road, and less than a mile from e the palaces, was well adapt d for the purpose of private visits . the It is scarcely worth while to notice, that those who say King saw he r as he passed to and from the Parliament House can have no know ’

d . le ge of that part Of London, and the situation of her father s shop ’ H — s Was not Mrs . maiden name Lightfoot ? This might pro - - - in F . bably be ascertained by the register Of St . Martin the ields As the W heelers would naturally use that name in relating the story, as being n that by which they could best desig ate her, has not some confusion ari sen between the two females concerned in the elopement ?

T . G . H .

o o O n We i e ead ins We shall be lad the ane dote sbor e . v r er ti g f c f g y tion to the abo ve but still r el on the c om m unication ro m Warm inster , y f , ’ ed her as Whe eler s niece and the w e o A a o rd —M onthl which describ if f f . y 51 - 8 M a 1 822 . . . 7 . y. July , vol liii pp

H T . . u This lette r from G . brought a f rther c o m

H . I nunic atio n W. a n / from of W rminster, who havi g, 1 1 HANNAH LIGHTFOOT .

as he says, begun the debate , claimed the privilege of the last word .

H . l These are the last words which W . c aims the privil ege Of having ; and in which the Fair Quaker

o r H n is no longer Wheeler Lightfoot, but a nah

Whitefoot .

’ It Fai n t ite oot is certain that the r Quaker s name was Ha nah f , and ' W A xfo rd s o wn not heeler . I showed to niece only yesterday the i dm account g ven by T . G . H . She a its all he says about the situation Of way o f in the shop, and the Prince George got a sight her his frequent TO was as visits to the Opera House . put a stop to these visits the re on o f r t o who had he r her being mar ied Axford , paid some attentions while ’ he was shopman at a grocer s on Ludgate Hill . Mrs . S his niece, t rri d e told me yesterday, that af er they ma e they cohabit d for a fortnight o r day three weeks, when she was one called out from dinner, and put

s Off and he . into a chai e and four and taken , never saw her afterwards S Mrs . says it was reported that the Prince had several children by he r o ne o r Of . , two whom became generals in the army W d ri hen Axfor , many years after, mar ed a second wife , and it was e rt was l o n r po ed that Hannah sti l living, the late Lord Weymouth e nquiiy asserte d that she was not then living . W . H .

IVarm inste r Jul 5 . , y

M onthl M a . . 22 . . 1 1 6 . y g Sept , vol liv . p

hl M z n . l The M ont a a i e 1 82 2 vo . In y g for Dec ,

1 o n . 4 0 liv p . , the discussion is carried by a cor ‘

Curiosus C . respondent signed , lapham , Sept

a a e A who, fter st ting that he had d alt with xford the grocer at the corner of the Old Bailey fo r ’ nearly half a century a heavy and silent man , who would never communicate a word o n the sub — j e c t says that the marriage with Axford was a matter of arrangement through the mediation of a

t m n cer ain e i ent surgeon Of that day, and doubts the T cohabitation after the ceremony . hat there were a

l — o ne n few chi dren who was in the army, but ever 1 2 HANNAH LIGHTFOOT .

f became a general o ficer, was said to have been seen

M s in company with Dr . at Pari at the com m e nc e m e nt R Of the French evolution, the Doctor ’ urio su s well knowing him and his history . C then refers to some other Quaker lady who had a strong

o n f o f a A hold the a fections the roy l donis, but the ‘ attempt was instant ly and peremptorily disc o unt e

’ nan e d c by the lady . Thus ends the history as far as The M onthly

M agazine is concerned . — — Our next extract a long o ne is from a pamphlet 1 824 published in , written by some one who had Obv iously been behind the scenes d uring the exciting ’ period of the Queen s trial . It is written in a better style than some other pieces of secret history which we shall have occasion t o notice

un The Queen at this time laboured under a very curious, and to me f l li t O . accountable, species de usion She fancied herself in rea y neither a i his h queen nor a wife . She bel eved present Majesty to ave been al F u ll his actu ly married to Mrs . itzherbert and she as f y believed that

late Majesty George the Third was married to Miss Hannah Lightfoot, f the beauti ul Quakeress, previous to his marriage with Queen Charlotte ; that a marriage was a second time solemnized at Kew (under the colour ’ Of an evening s entertainment) after the death Of Miss Lightfoot ; and as that lady did not die till after the births of the present King and his i Y he r M Royal H ghness the Duke of ork, ajesty really considered the M Duke of Clarence the true heir to the throne . Her ajesty thought also that the knowledge Of this circumstance b y the ministers was the true cause Of George the Fourth ’ s retaining the Tory administration

when he came into power . How the Queen came seriously to entertain such romantic suppositions

as se m e . d d the , it is not for to know It may be perhaps regar e as a melancholy proof Of the principles and ab ilities O f some persons surround l did l ing roya personages ; but that she entertain them I know wel , and ’ d f i . let any of her Majesty s friends contra ict me they can If they do, and u they require me to mention my author, I will do so if called pon e in a proper manner and in a prop r place .

Indeed I was myself requested to call upon Mrs . Hancock to make

1 4 HANNAH LIGHTFOOT .

a a o f Mr. Axford , in the me ntime, not he ring anything his wife , and d i his probably consi er ng marriage not strictly binding, since it had never e d d t be n consummated, married another la y, name Bar lett, then living at N of fift - Keevil, in orth Wiltshire and , after the expiration y eight n an li c of his years, died without ever bei g able to obtain y intel gen e first b nda — Three things are very remarkable in the history of this lady viz . that she was never personally known to the public ; that her residence while alive was never p ublicly known ; and that so strict a secrecy was ob d n served at her eath, that it is nowhere upon k own record, though it has f i o of . been sa d that she died grief in the parish St James, and was o f n buried under a feigned name in the parish Isli gton, where probably of she may rest without a stone to tell the history either her life, death,

o r . A n H istorical F ra m ent guilt, innocence, splendour, misfortune g - r lative to Her late M a est ueen Caroline . 44 50 . e j y Q , pp There are one or two points in this statement

which deserve notice . First, it is clear that as early

as 1 824 M rs . Wilmot Serres was mixed up with the

M rs H story ; and next, what could . andcock , who was only a friend of this myste rious Hannah Lightfoot mean by her documents were in her o wn possession ? ? What documents could she possibly have Has no t

. M r the writer rather confounded Mrs Wilmot and s .

’ Handc o ck s l no t rep ies, and was it the former who ’ spoke o f her documents ? E t — 1 832— igh years after this namely, in the scan dal was revived in that notorious collection o f libels The A uthentic R ecor ds of the Court of England for the

last Sevent Years t y , where, af er telling how the

’ Prince of Wales, when passing through St . James ‘ saw t e n Street and its immediate vicinity, a mos gaging and prepossessing young lady dressed in the ’ a garb usually worn by the female Quakers , it is st ted that he became so enamoured of her that

At length the passion o f the Prince arrived at such a point that he felt assure d his happiness o r misery depended upon his receiving this lady in HANNAH LIGHTFOOT . 1 5

g od marria e . Up to this peri the Prince had at all times exhibited and expressed his high regard for all virtuous undertakings and engagements ; n h but he well k ew t at virtue could seldom be found in a court . One di a of the on and in vidu l only was the friend prince this occasion, 1 759 le all in the year the prince was g y married to this lady, Hannah f r F ositive Light oot, at Curzon St eet Chapel, May air . The only p wit ’ al i eldest o f Y ness of roy fa th was the prince s brother Edward, Duke ork, & 0 . &c . , who at all times was the adviser or friend of George, and whose — . P 2 3 honour the Prince knew was inviolable p . and .

But A uthentic terrible events followed , says the R ecorder

had The ministry soon became aware that some alliance been formed , and their im i tat ion was soon f ollo we d by exclam at ion

N a O fie o u y, not only did they cry, h , , y naughty & n boy which is, I suppose , what the writer mea s by ‘ ’ n e followed by exclamatio , but they mad him

marry another wife, and Miss Lightfoot was disposed of during a temporary absence of his d satig cwtor t brother E ward , and from that time not any f y idings have

s l . One d reached those mo t interested in her we fare thing only transpire , was a oun ent le m an ff r which , that y g g named Axford was o e ed a large to w amount, be paid upon the consummation of his marriage ith Miss

L f t ff . The e ight oo , which o er he accepted king was greatly distress d - and le all - the to ascertain the fate of his much loved g y married wife, ' Quakeress ; and be entrusted Lor d Chat ham to g o in disguise and endea u to c d vo r tra e her abo e but the search was fruitless, and again the King — 5— P . was almo st distracted p 7 .

But A uthenti Re order n o t according to this c c , only

was the King distracted, but the Queen , who knew 1 7 6 5 his secret, was no less so ; and, in , insisted upon ‘ l n . being agai married , and Dr Wi mot by his

’ M at ajesty s appointment, performed the ceremony ’ The h E their palace at Kew . King s brot er dward

on the was present upon this occasion , as he had been ’ two form er ones I The book we have here quoted contains many other 1 6 HANNAH LIGHTFOOT .

l and s passages equal y clear consistent, but it detract

an perhaps from its value as authority, that the publisher o f it was indicted for a libel of a revolting

o f C n character upon the Duke umberland , contai ed ’ ‘ in a deposition which a certain individual was ih ’ Th c line d to give . e very individual on whose pre tended deposition the libel was founded was, however, l produced in court and utter y denounced it, and the

l n The publisher was consequent y co victe d . book is

said to hare b en su r the n e pp essed . But the story we have just told from the A u thentic R ecords is rep eated in another work of sim ilar l 1 832 character, which a so bears the date of ; though ,

e e as it will presently be se n , ther is reason to believe

ir ulated c an l it was not c c , for it scarce y be said to

l o r . T have been published , til a year two after his is

The Se re t His tor o the Cour t o En land ( te . B c y f f g , S y the R i ht H onorable Lad A nne H am ilton Sister o g y , f his G r a e the resent D ulce o H a m ilton and Brandon c p f ,

and of the Countess of D unm ore .

o f two Mr . Jesse speaks these literary productions as being composed by persons not ill-inform ed in the — s ecr et his tory of the cour t a point on which we by no

means agree with M r . Jesse ; and we are surprised l that, as he seems to have especia ly consulted them ,

f The Criti it never struck him that, as Pu f says in c,

’ ‘ t - in e when hese writers , not ill informed the secr t ‘ history o f the court do agree their unanimity is

’ wonderful, and that having the books before him he should no t have discovered that The Secret His tory (with which the lady whose name appears o n the ‘ HANNAH LIGHTFOOT . 1 7

title -page had no more to do than Hannah Lightfoot

The A uthenti R e ords n herself) is only c c ewly revised .

T u arterl R eview his the Q y , in reviewing the latter, A 1 8 . showed as long since as pril 83 (vol lxi . R p . where the eviewer, after expressing his belief that the publication of the A uthentic R ecords ‘ and Secret H istory was not instigated so much by individual mal ice as by a reckless and shameless

ain desire of g acting upon low, brutal , and malignant ’ ir ula ted natures , tells us how the books were c c , not published

i fo r The former publicat on, which is about the size usually sold seven o r e under the lo ak eight shillings, was circulat d, c , at the modest price of l l . l a o f sum d t o cre du , and the extravagance the was a ecoy make the lous suppose that there must be something very p iquant in so dear a — o n r —r volume . The present work is the same p inciple etailed by a n s t o f Lad A nne woma , who in the du k comes the door and of ers y ’ & H am ilton s Jo urna l m one at the sa e modest price of guinea per volume .

We presume the game was not very profitable ; for some years afterwards the remainder of the book was ff o ered by, probably, the very same woman to a well known bookseller, who declined the purchase, and copies were to be procured a few years since at a very trifling price . ‘ n l But a . , s ys Mr Jesse , si gu arly enough , we find more than o ne o f the statements contained in The A uthentic R ecords and in The Secr et H is tory endorsed by the respectable authority o f a no less well ’ l B n informed person than Wi liam eckford ; addi g,

The identity o f the books was very clearly shown in N otes and ue ries of 9th 1 86 7 i Q the March , by a gentleman who has k ndly permitted r me to p int it in the Appendix . (See Appendix A . ) B 1 8 HAN NAH LIGHTFOOT .

‘ His n diff accou t, it is true , ers in detail from some ’ An d others . this opens up two curious questions

fi rst , what degree of reliance can be placed upon the ‘ C ? onversations in question secondly, where did B eckford pick up the information with which, in the

s m sti ed ? present ca e , he y fi the reporter of them ‘ A o f N otes and ueries Calc u t ~ correspondent Q , ’ t e n sis l , asked ately upon what authority do the — Conversa tions rest ? The answer is simple upon

M r B ddin . C e that of yrus g, a gentleman upon whose

But good faith every reliance may be placed . , in

o f spite that, I do not believe they are to be de ’ pended upon as evidences o f Mr . Beckford s real

ni . H opi ons aving heard this often stated , I have B applied to a gentleman who knew Mr . eckford

fer m n . extremely well , infor atio upon the subject A fter saying that he agreed with me in my estimate o f o f Conversations n the value the , and stati g that B ’ l for the last ten years of Mr . eckford s ife not a day between the months o f January and Jul y passed

t wo without his being or three hours in his company, he adds

o f I have no recollection his having mentioned Hannah Lightfoot, but wi n I do remember distinctly talking th him frequently about Ju ius, and

hi F . an . t o believe that he attributed the authors p to r cis As Dr Wilmot, he u sed to make facetious observations about him in connexion with i h . . de l te d in m st cation Olivia Wilmot Serres But Mr Beckford g y ifi , and would often tell me hilariously how he had humbugged people .

A nd then proceeds to express his belief that Beckford often exercised this perverse humour on the reporter .

M r . B ? Now, what did eckford profess to believe

His N ew M onthl M a azine story, as reported in the y g , ’ H 'r 1 HANNAH LI G TF o o . 9

N t and u ri 2 1 6 o es e es l st . o l . lxxn . . v p (see Q , S ‘ m arr b r ied D . x . was that the parties were y

Wilm ot the au thor o Junius & C , f at Kew hapel, in 1 75 9 ll E C , Wi iam Pitt (afterwards arl of hatham)

Ann T t he and aylor being witnesses , and for aught I ’ know the document is s till in exis tence &

o f l It certainly is . It is one seve ra produced at

t t he the late memorable rial , and pronounced by L C i B ‘ f ’ ord h ef aron gross and rank orgeries, and which are , we believe , impounded in Sir James

’ Wilde s Court at the present moment . Is there any sane man in England who believes

o r B that Wilmot was Junius that a man o f Mr . eck ford ’ s sagacity and intelligence gave credence to such an absurdity ? This statement alone is sufficient to

Conversa tions f show that the , however faith ully they

as i l may have been reported, are of no value histor ca evidence . The allusion to the certificate proves clearly that

Mrs . Olivia Wilmot Serres was the authority which suggested to Beckford this figm ent & though in which

r of her many pamphlets she first introduced D . Wilm ot as the party who performed the marriage ceremony between the Prince and Hannah Lightfoot i I have not yet been able to ascerta n . l ’ n Dr . Wi mot s ame was, as far as I have traced , first introduced into connection with t he subject before us in the A uthentic R ecor d and Secret His tory ; an d this will probably suggest to my l readers , as it has done to myself, the probabi ity that

M rs . Serres was mixed up with these disreputable

B 2 20 HANNAH L1 GHTFOOT .

. T l u Dr . books r e, that Wi mot is in these books m t o re - d al erely stated have marrie the roy pair, and is no t represented as having anything to do with the

The marriage o f the fair Quaker . latter was more l - l ikely an after thought, suggested, as the ady would

dis over o the certi a tes & probably have said, by the c y f fic I do not know when these documents were first given to the world but in 1 8 58 they were printed in The A eal or R o alt pp f y y, and reprinted in the same

l r work ast year, and as litera y curiosities , and giving completeness to the materials for a full history of the scandal , are here printed in full

1 7th 1 759 . April , The marriage of these parties was this day duly solemnised at Kew e of o f Chapel, according to the rites and ceremoni s the Church England, by myself,

I M . J . W L OT E G E G OR P . AN N H H A . Witnesses to this marriage

W . Pitt .

Anne Taylor .

h 1 27t 759 . May , to f This is certi y that the marriage of these parties, George Prince of h Wales to Hanna Lightfoot, was duly solemnised this day according to of n the rites and ceremonies the Church of E gland, at their residence at

Peckham, by myself. I M J . W L OT . G H GEOR E GUELP . N N H I G H F HA A L T OOT. Witnessesto the m arriage o f these parties

William Pitt . An ne Taylor .

R George Whereas it is o ur Royal command that the birt h o f ’ O a live, the Duke of Cumberland s daughter, is never m de known to the o ur i nation during reign but from a sense of relig ous duty , we will that she F o ur be acknowledged by the Royal amily after death, should she

22 HANN AH LIGHTFOOT .

l i . 0 Wapping N , he was a inendraper, and l ved at ’

0 . St . James s Market . N , that was her uncle

But these are mere t rifle s . She no doubt had a

na . me , and lived somewhere l Wel , the Prince saw her as he went from Leicester ’ ’

H to . . ouse St James s No, that s wrong ; it was as he

O . went to the pera No, you are both wrong it was as he went to the Parliament House &

& Never mind where he saw her he did see her, and fell in love with her ; and , as neither his mother the i B Pr ncess Dowager nor Lord ute looked after him , and he was then nearly sixteen years old , he married ’

1 754 I N o no t t 1 75 9 . her in , that s righ ; it was in Bu t it does not m atter when he married ; he did ’ N o C l . marry her at Keith s hape in May Fair , it

o . was at Peckham . N , it was at Kew

N o all He r , that is a mistake . royal lover never l married her . Isaac Axford married her and eft her

l n . at the chape door, and ever saw her after that

l o r Yes , he did ; they ived together for three four ‘ s ecr etl weeks, and then she was carried away y in a

’

i saw . carr age and four, and he never her after that

Wrong again . It was the King from whom she

was l so strange y spirited away, and he was distracted ;

sent Lord Cha tha m in dis uise fo r ' he r and g to hunt , yet he could never find her . ’

. A No, that s all wrong It was xford who could no t find her, who petitioned the King to give him ’

. m a back his wife at St Ja es s . No, th t was at Wey k ’ hi n n t . am rk . o on s ees i S J es s P a mouth N , it was ,

as directed. HANNAH LIGHTFOOT . 23

But would it no t be a sheer wast e ' o f time to c o n tinne this list of contradictions ? N o two blacks H will ever make a white . owever large a mass of contradictions may be , the formula which shall con vert it into one small historical truth has yet to be d U iscovered . ntil that time arrives, I shall rest

o f convinced , and trust the readers these hasty notes

l o f H wil share my conviction , that the story annah

i n L ghtfoot is a fiction , and nothing but a fictio , from beginning t o end .

for o f the law o f Fortunately the cause truth , evi dence which regulates Sir James Wilde ’ s court does no t govern the court o f historical enquiry . In this

n ma l latter, pri cipals y be examined ; and being enab ed , H therefore , without the assistance of Mr . ume , to call

G . eorge III as a witness , I venture to think that his Majesty will prove distinctly the utter groundlessness i o f . O n the L ghtfoot scandal f course , the evide ce is not direct, for in all probability the King had never

u im heard o f Hannah Lightfoot . B t it is scarcely less

n o n portant, showi g as it does his Opinion such mat

o f ters , and the improbability his having been engaged in anything o f the kind .

In the valuable collection of Letters of G eorge I I I .

to Lord N orth M r . , lately published by Murray, we find the King writing to his friend and minister with ’ reference to the Duke o f Cumberland s intrigue with 1 0 G L 45 . 5 77 Lady rosvenor ( etter , Nov , )

I cannot enou gh express how much I feel at being in the least con cerned in an affair that my way of thinking has ever taught me to behold as highly improper. 2 4 HANNAH LIGHTFOOT .

T l no t his is anguage perfectly consistent, only with

Walde rave what g and Walpole have told us , but with n all we know of George III . ; but utterly i consistent with the truth of the Lightfoot story . A L . 654 . 1 0 gain , in a letter to ord North ( No , Dec , him ‘ consulting , as he expressly says , as a ’ i friend, not a minister, about the establishment wh ch

n o f l was then to be formed for the Pri ce Wa es , the King says

an d d I thank Heaven, my morals course of life have but little resemble those too prevalent in the present age and certainly of all the Objects o f this life, the one I have most at heart is to form my children that they of may be useful examples and worthy imitation .

This is no t the language o f a man who had been engaged in a disreputable intrigue with the fair

Quaker . But a still more remarkable declaration on the part Of the King (with reference to this question) is contained in his letter to Lord North o n the subject of ’ i R n . the Prince o f Wales s connection w th Mrs . obinso The letter is so striking that I give it without abridge ment

O (N .

. 28 1 781 Windsor, Aug , , 40 9 A . H . min . pt . I am sorry to be obliged to Open a subject to Lord N orth that has in c on long given me much pain, but I can rather do it on paper than versation it is a subject of which I know he is not ignorant . My eldest a and son got last ye r into a very improper connection with an actress, a o f d ff riendl o f woman in i erent character, through the f y assistance Lord t Maldon ; a multi ude of letters passed, which she has threatened to o f a publish unless he, in short, bought them her . He had m de her very sic foolish promisses ( ) which , undoubtedly, by her conduct to him, she entirely can celled . I have thought it right to authorise the getting Of - H them from her, and have employed Lieut . Col . otham, on whose dis i n c re ss o sic d . no w ( ) I could depen , to manage this business He has 25 HANNAH LIGHTFOOT .

to on brought it a conclusion, and has her consent to get the letters her - 5 000l. dl I receiving , undoubte y an enormous sum ; but wish to get my o u t so n o u t Of this shameful scrape . I desire y will therefore see Lieu AM H Y B I N G A BLE . . I A AT Col Hotham, and settle this with him PP E To SAY TH AT I N EV E R WA S PERS ON ALLY EN GA G EI) I N SUCH A TRAN S ACTI N WH I CH E H A S M AKES H E F THI S TH E T N G E & O , P R P EEL S RO R

Is it to be believed that had there been o ne atom of foundation for the Lightfoot scandal Lord North would have been ignorant o f it ; or that the King would have given utterance to the important de cla ration—J I am happy at being able to say that I never was personally engaged in such a transaction ? ’

H n M r avi g been most positively assured that . B urn had, in the course of those researches to which we are indebted for his valuable publications on the ‘ R ’ l subject of Parish egisters , actua ly found a cer tifi c at e of the marriage Of the Prince and Hannah B . o n Lightfoot, I ventured to write to Mr urn the

He subject . informs me that he never saw any such certificate ; that he does not believe that any such ’ C marriage took place ; that if it was at Keith s hapel , 2 5 1 754 it must have been before March , , when marriages ceased there ; and reminds me that after l that date any such marriage wou d be void . 26 QUEEN CHARLOTTE

QUEEN CHARL O TTE A N D THE CHEV ALIER

’ D EO N .

H l t aving, as I trust, successfu ly vindica ed

G eorge III . from the slander which connected his n i H Li ht o t v n ame w th that of annah g , I e ture to attempt a similar act of justice to his exemplary

Scandal against Queen Elizabeth is as old as the

b u t l n C in hills , scanda agai st Queen harlotte, except the libellous pages o f The A uthentic R ecord o r

The Secret H istor l y was , to me at east, a thing

o f n unheard until some months si ce, when my atten tion was called to a libellous calumny in which her ’ Majesty s name was mixed up with that o f no less ’ D Eon Th notorious a person than the Chevalier . is

’ ' disgusting stuff was to be found inthe M e m oire o f ill d M . Ga ar e t that celebrated diplomatist, by , pub lishe d in two octavo volumes as long since as 1 836 . All the endeavours I then made to Obtain a copy o f o n that book , for the purpose of seeing what

ail lard authority M . G e t made such an extraordinary

h M r . c arge , having failed , I was compelled, like ’ Micawber, to wait till something turned up . That something has turned up very unexpectedly ’ in the shape of a new edition Of M . Gaillarde t s ’ M em oire o ne , which its preface has rendered of the ’ AN D THE CHEVALIER D EON . 2 7 most extraordinary books which I have ever met

with . In Un A this preface , which is headed cte de ’ ’ ll rd e t un A d A c c u sat io n . Gai a e t Contrition cte , M tells us that in 1 835 he Obtained from some members of the Chevalier ’ s family many papers and documents calculated to throw new light upon his history ; and

tM e Du e B at the same from the de roglie , then

Aff Mi ne t ni o f . Mi ster Foreign airs , and M g , Directeur C l A des hance leries, permission to ransack the rchives ’ fo r the whole period o f the Chevalier s political

O l an career . ne wou d have thought y biographer might have been satisfied with such an accumulation

of new materials .

ill t Bu de . t . Ga ar It was not so , however, with M he shal l tell ho w he set t o work in his o wn words

’ ’ Mais j eus al ors un tort qu e xplique nt ma jeunesse e t le genre de lit ’ ’ - térat ure e e . e t e dans lequel j m tais essayé J avais vingt cinq ans, j le N venais de faire jouer drame de la Tour esle, avec Alexandre Dumas e ne révais a e t e j que péripéties compliquées, amours tr giques, s crets ’ . L du d Eo n e ténébreux a vie Chevalier , telle que j venais de la par ’ ’ u n avo ir courir, si accidentée qu elle fut, me parut encore trop simple po r a e e e t pas une partie cachée, qui échappait tout s les r cherches, qui devait ’ ’ etre d aut ant plus graves qu on en avait anéanti les traces avec plus de ’ ’ J n — i — . e c ét a t un soin me disais qu n homme , car bien homme, qui e s le a avait rempli des missions secr tes ous costume de femme, vant de Officie lle m e nt c e d prendre costume, avait nécessairement avoir des ou n un le aventures, piquantes, ou terribles, aya t rapport forcé avec

dénou m e nt sa e . e fo i trou ve la de carri re Je crus, m me de bonne , avoir ’ p iste de la p lus grave de c es aventures am o urese s dans le s lettres d audiences ’ ’ noctur nes accord es ar la eu ne reine d A n le terre au Che valiere d E on é p j g , a res to air de 1 763 F p p , paix aussi nécessaire que honteuse pour la rance, au sujet de laquelle la presse anglaise accusa le m i nisters e t la cour de ’ s étre a o u i d fran aise . l issés corrompre sédu re, par la iplomatie g t done e t il ce Mon imagina ion travailla , résulta de travail que mon ’ ’ c om o d e a u e a e r o m anes ue livre se p sd un p r tie authentique e t d n p rti q . -ét re il a Malgré cela, ou peut a cause de cela, se vendit beaucoup ; tel 28 QUEEN CHARLOTTE

’ on t nu point que, depuis longtemps, n en rouve plus exemplaire en

librairie .

n . l r The italics are mi e M . Gail a de t tells us he was often requested to reproduce a new edi tion ‘ ’ re duit e a i e t é la part e purement historique s rieuse, lin but for various reasons felt disinc ed to the task . Some years afterwards he saw the announcement of a ’ volume on the subject of the Chevalier D Eo n by M .

L éd du Sie le ouis Jourdan , r acteur c , but the title , Un H erm ap hroditef led him to pay no attention to it f till he met M . Jourdan one day at the O fice of the T Sie le n . c , whe he asked him to send it to him his

s do— a M . Jourdan promi ed to promise which , how l f ever, was never fulfil ed . Some time a terwards accident brought Un H erm ap hrodite under the notice

ill rd t o f M . Ga a e , who found the author in his preface boasting of the numerous masses ‘de documents a ’ ’ eine s ou onnes p p q , which he had had to wade through

o f in the preparation his book , while he passed over ’ G aillarde t s without notice M . previous labours in the

But le t M aillarde t no w ll same direction . . G te his o wn story

Or ne e t u e re , quelles furent ma surprise ma stupéfaction, lorsq e j le e non trouvai production la plus compl te de mes Mémoires, seulement an d s la fond , mais aussi dans la forme, non seulement dans leur partie t ff e . En authentique, mais encore surtout dans leur partie fictive e et, ’ ’ r c e ai cs c est su tout que j inventé, qui est faux historiquement parlant ’ ’ qui aséduit l aut e ur de l H erm ap hr odite e t lui a paru c onstituer la réalité

la m oins contestable .

G aillarde t m an M . knew that the Chevalier was a , but the mistake ’ is l e Faubl in h first edition was his supposing him to be type de as. In o ne his second edition, which is a very interesting book, and we presume t he n o f which may be depended upon, he explains stra ge conduct the in to Chevalier certain matters have arisen from his love Of notoriety, ’ a il t a e n res S a vier e . and the f ct that étai p p , inon tout fait g

30 QUEEN CHARL OTTE

&

‘ m inatio ns are fully detailed as part o f the fictions ‘ aillard which M . G e t describes himself as having cru e t dit - with what overwhelming force do his o wn

UN E A R R ETA IT words apply to himself, REINE DEVO E

’ A CE QU IL PA R A tT UN M ORCEAU TR OP A PPETISSA N T ’ ’ Y E A DAT POUR QU IL E G R DE PRES . Here then we have this atrocious scandal 'dis

O who o in avowed by its riginator, , the new edition of ’ b o Ok n Le V erite sur his , which has for its run ing title ’ E n u la Chevaliere d o all . , of course omits all sion to it

But a it may be said , the story is so bsurd, the book in which it is propagated so little known , that it is surely never worth taking notice of it . My answer

al is , that a c umny such as this should always be de n o unc e d an d exposed ; and more especially as it , has

’ been put into print, and that, too, in a book which

o n l professes to be founded historica materials . In the latter case the wrong is indefinitely increased ; for

l re it is liab e to be quoted without suspicion , and T c e iv e d as true without question . his very scandal

t 1 858 not in an has been referred to as recen ly as , y l obscure pub ication little likely to be referred to, but

l l ll - and con in no ess popu ar, we known , frequently ’ ’ sult e d N ouvelle Bio ra hie G enerale book than the g p ,

1 . 1 . . 03 tome xvi . p , n It is true that the editor of the Biograp hie doubts the truth of the story ; but nevertheless in this work of recognised authority M .

’ aillarde t s r l G figment is treated , not as the g oss ibel

d o ne which it is, but as the eliberate statement of who had made the life of the alleged partner o f the

’ Queen s misconduct his spe cial study . ’ AND THE CHEVALIER D EON . 3 1 .

I trust I may be permitted, by way of postscript , to give a curious picture of bookmaking in Paris as detailed in the preface and epilogue o f the book before

illard t . a e us . When M G discovered the daring piracy C of which he had been the victim, he ommenced pro

c e e din s . g to recover damages against M Dentu , the i n . u of U publisher, and M Lo s Jourdan , the author

hr dit H erm a o e . . p M Jourdan pleads as an excuse,

o i a But I did n t write the book . It was wr tten by ‘ ’ unk ui young friend of mine , then nown , aujourd h ’ a é le honorablement pl c dans journalisme , who , being

o f in want money, at my suggestion that he should exam ine into and write the Life of the Chevalier

’ d Eo n a , undertook the t sk , and after some time

. d brought me a large MS which I rea , revised , and

D . r i The rn l E. a ria t d . o e s gned jou a ist , who really pp p ’ illard s l . Ga e t M fictions , p eads as his excuse his youth hi and his belief that they were storical facts , and , as

. n such , common property Ster e would , we think , scarcely have applied t o the bookmaking world of Paris his well-worn saying They manage these ’ in things better France . ’ 3 2 DR . WILM OT S

L T’ L H R R . O O D WI M S P IS P INCESS .

There is o ne chapter in the Wilmot -Serres romance o A which, though slightly t uched upon by the ttorney ’ G l ause celébre enera in the late c , deserves a few re marks ; one personage who every now and then comes ‘ ’ o n o f the scene, like a shadow and so departs, ll whose presence, however, for reasons which wi

o appear hereafter, it is desirable some rec rd should l be preserved . I a lude to the Princess Poniatowski, l l Dr . W v and whom i mot is al eged to ha e married, by whom he is said t o have become the father o f the sup posed Duchess o f Cumberland . — ‘ ’ This Princess is like Dame Quickly one don t ’ know where to have her . We first get a glimpse o f ’ Li r . Jam l in 1 8 1 3 e o D . es Wi m o t her , in Mrs Serres f f ( an impudent and foolish attempt to prove him the

The L etters o Junius writer of f ) , where, in a note at 1 1 . 6 p , we read

E e . l When the Princ ss Of Poland visited ngland, Dr Wi mot attended o ur her to the university . She valued author exceedingly during her in and invited him to the Court o Po land frs residence England, f ; she quently corresponded with him after her departure from this kingdom .

rw e In 1 8 1 5 Lord Wa ick communicat d to Mrs . ’ Serres the startling and agreeable fac t that she was — the daughter o f the Duchess of Cumberland and not

l D o f only to Mrs . Serres, but a so to the uke Kent, POLISH PRINCESS . 33 who seems to have been no sooner le t into this grave secret than he was seized with the same mama for writing certificates and declarations fo r which all t he parties to it are so remarkable a mania which mani fe st e d itself in making its victims forget their grammar ‘ ’ f or s rin all and orthography, spell o fspring f p g ; and alike endeavour to hide the mysteries with which they T were familiar under the most transparent veil . hus l h we find Dr . Wilmot cautiously concea ing t e names

o f e Junius , Lord Shelburne, and Wilk s, under the f — o S L d ne . occult symbols Ju , S , J W l C in in whi e Lord hatham , a document which he pledges himself not t o betray the Duke o f ’ ‘ C r umberland s second mar iage , writes about the l b — ’ aws against y, and the Duke of Kent in like ‘ n F - t e and R —l man er writes , M g ’ fo r he n birthright, fear anybody should guess mea t ‘ ’ ‘ ’ fi rst and h marriage royal birt right .

But in 1 81 5 n though , , Lord Warwick a nounced to

Of Mrs . Serres that she was the daughter the Duchess C l of umber and, he seems very unaccountably to have omitted the additional interesting fact that she was

the granddaughter of a Princess . Strange omission this of Lord Warwick ; but still the fact must hav e

fo r been forgotten , two years after Mrs . Serres had ascertained her descent h'o m the Duchess of Cumbe r

o s R v e s in The Tim es o f Dr. Smith, the c un el of Mrs . y , is reported e 2 t o a d o d l d Jun h ve state that ab ut seventy ocuments wou d be pro uced , t - o f containing for y three signatures Dr. Wilmot, sixteen of Lord Cha o f - d o f . tham, twelve Dunning, twelve George III , thirty two of Lor d o f W r an o f . a wick, eighteen the Duke Kent What an ingenious mode o f keeping State secrets ’ 34 DOCTOR WILM OT S

i n 1 8 1 7 land , we find her, a pamphlet published in ,

Junius Sir Phili Fr an is D enied entitled , p c , asserting, ’ at . 6 . M R R p Dr Wilmot was NEVER A IED, and drawing from that circumstance additional arguments f in favour o his identity with Junius .

A s . far as we have been able to ascertain , Mrs Serres did not put forth any claim to be a descendant 1 82 1 from a Polish Princess until , when she made

T he Britis h Lum i nar the following announcement in y, which was understood to be the Princess o f Cumber

’ land s Official organ ; at which time also she declared her right to the throne of Poland

f F Dr . Wilmot, in early li e, was a ellow Of Trinity College he was a - l an d d high spirited, independent character, of great ta ent, the frien and

o f . favourite many of the young nobility then at Oxford Stanislaus, and afterwards King of Poland, was at that time studying at Oxford, SI S Dr . Wilmot became intimate with him . Stanislaus had a TER living Poniat ouski and with him (Princess ) , a very beautiful young creature ; from the intimacy which subsisted between the prince and the doctor, he was frequently in company with the young princess ; a mutual attachment took place between them ; but the princess was not rich ; and they were at length privately married . Only a few confidential friends were acquainted with the transaction, for had it been generally an d known, the doctor would have lost his fellowship his other high pretensions .

In due time the princess presented Dr. Wilmot with a daughter .

Some family and political matters separated the parties for a while . He the doated upon his lovely child , who, we believe, was placed under f o f . o care Mrs Payne, the sister of the doctor and the wife Captain

Pa me . All the time the doctor could spare from his studies and different o c u at ions i u c p he devoted to his beloved and interest ng child, who grew p the beautiful image Of her royal mother, with a mind as superior as her o f an d person , and at the age of eighteen the Duke Cumberland the Earl o f Warwick be came her admirers ; at length the earl gave way to the d 4 . the uke, and on March , they were married by Dr Wilmot at o f house Of his friend , Lord Archer, in the presence Lord Brook (after

. A dde z w to wards Lord Warwick) and Mr , which was only kno n a few persons about the Court . POLISH PR INCESS . 35

The apparently happy duke and his lovely bride lived in hopes that they should soon be allowed to mak e their m arriage public ; b ut in the year 1 7 71 a transaction took place which proved a cruel deathblow to th s fo r d ff e . I young duche s, she never recovere the e ect Y n and at t anhe d t o u ou g, amiable, beautiful , and tenderly the d ke, she took leave o f him and went to W arwick in a state of misery not to be

u . On described . A premat re birth at seven months was the consequence 3 1 772 to n Tuesday, April , , she gave birth the Pri cess Olive at the house

o f M rs . W w W o f ilmot, in Jury Street, in the to n Of arwick . The Earl W W . m arwick and Dr ilmot were both present, which fact is confir ed by f their separate a fidavits . The unfort unate duchess was conveyed t o France in a state scarcely t o es d o f b be d cribed, where she afterwards die in a convent a roken ’ — 1 22 u - G s M a . 8 . xc . . 5 t . . 6 . en 3 t heart g July , vol Part ii pp (quo ed from

The Br itish Lum inar of . l 6t h y Dec ,

But the mystery is at length cleared up . We are no w told that Lord Warwick did no t reveal the whole story o f her birth and connection in 1 8 1 5 but deli

no t vered to her a sealed packet, which was to be

o f opened until after the death the King ; but which ,

t o l n n with strange disregard so so emn an inju ctio , 1 8 1 9 was opened in , though the King did not die till 1 820 ; and that packet for the most part related to the marriage o f Dr . Wilmot with the Princess Ponia

t o wski .

’

H M rs . owever, as Serres grandmother, the Princess

w i o n n 1 7 Poniato sk , gave birth to a daughter Ju e ,

’ 1 750 t o , we are very glad find for the lady s sake that

She was married . We presume this event took place

1 749 . in ; but , unfortunately, Dr Wilmot, fond as he seems t o have been o f writing down all the great

e t o secrets with which he was entrusted, se ms never have taken sufficient care o f the Polish interest of his

s and where when o r descendant , has not certified , ,

m who he married . ’ 36 DOCTOR WILM OT S

A al r R e o o alt . 7 . In the pp f y y, it is said (p ) Dr Wilnro t contracted a private b ut legal marriage with

A the Princess of Poland , D UGHTER of Stanislaus, last ’ A A al King of that country . s the author o f the pp e had access to all the documents, how comes it that, 1 1 h while M rs . Serres in 82 declared the lady to ave

R o f A eal been a SISTE Stanislaus , the pp , published in

1 858 1 866 t o and republished in , declares her have R ’ ? . M rs . v e s s been his DAUGHTER Dr Smith, y counsel, d who ought to know, having oubtless studied the case t very closely, re urns to the original version , and says the lady was the Princess Poniatowski, SISTER of the

King of Poland . C O 2nd . t o n the June, Dr Smith produced the ourt

Bio ra hie Universelle an article in the g p , for the pur pose o f proving the biography of Dominic Serres .

Had l o f the earned Doctor, in turning over the leaves

o f that useful book , glanced his eye at the Life Stanis l aus, and been startled by the announcement

’ ” Ce p rince n avait p as été m arié 2

T and here the statement is, at any rate ; the fact is B . ut so . Stanislaus never was married this is not

The o f C re all . favourite atherine was, no doubt, a markable man but he would have been a very 1 732 remarkable man indeed if, born in , he was the

father o f a marriageable daughter in 1 749 . ’ So much for Dr . Wilmot s marriage with a DA UG H

TER o f Stanislaus .

Le t us now see whether the story which Dr . Smith

— ri e adopted namely, that this supposititious P nc ss was

’ 38 DOCTOR WILM OT S

— 1 764 into a Princess o f Poland in 1 749 o r t o Show where Poniatowski was when the pretended marriage took place ; o r to prove that his visit to England did no t occur till five years after the date which M rs .

Serres assigned to it . Parodying what the Lord Chief Justice said of the

o f certificates the pretended Lightfoot marriage, that ’ they were gross and rank forgeries, it may safely be declared o f the two versions o f the Wilmot-Poniatow — ski marriage t hey are gross and rank fabrications ; ’ ‘ M r a 1 1 7 s . 8 and Serres st tement in that Dr . Wilmot ’ o ne o f was never married , remains the few statements made by her entitled to credit .

W l o u r hi st hurriedly penning these lines , attention was attracted to the date mentioned above as that of

o f O —J T A 3 the birth the Princess live uesday, pril , 1 7 It is very seldom , in connection with this

o ne de fi case , that gets anything quite so precise and T nite . he importance of a royal birth of course justi fies and accounts for the minute and unwonted par l H B ’ t ic u arity . appening to have at hand Mr . ond s

ll n Cal t exce e t Perpetual endar, we though we would T f o A l . test this uesday, the third pri No sooner said ’

M r . B t . 1 7 72 han done For , ond s contrivance at nf m i L once i or ed us that D was the Domin cal etter, and that the 1 st April was o n a Wednesday ; the 3rd i T r . C was therefore a F day, and not a uesday ould

T the 1 3 ? 1 3 o n it be uesday, th No, the th was a

T 23rd ? N t he 23rd . O Monday r uesday the O, was POLISH PRINCESS . 39 o n How ? a Friday . was it to be accounted for We soon discovered . The person who endeavoured to

’

n . B ascertain the day of the week , not havi g Mr ond s

l a little chronologica machine at hand , and not being very profound chronologer, calculated the date accord in o ld l 3rd A g to the sty e , under which the of pril

1 7 7 2 T nf would have been a uesday, but, u ortunately fo r hi m 1 752 or her, the style was changed in , twenty years before the date assigned to this illustrious birth . 40 LORD CHATHAM AN D

LORD CHA THA M A N D THE PRINCESS

OLIV E.

I have lately been reminded of an interesting c on n n versatio I once had with the late Mr . J . Wilso

C o f roker, in which he maintained and illustrated one his no favourite canons , that there are tests of truth so severe and so much to be depended u pon as dates ; and l I propose , as a supp ement to what has just been

the read, to apply this test to a few of documents produced in support Of the remarkable claim o f Olive

f o f Wilmot to the title o Princess Cumberland . I select fo r the purpose of being submitted to such test those Papers which Lord Chatham is represented

o r to have witnessed countersigned , so far as the collee

Cha tham G renville tions of , , and other correspondence,

M rs published since . Serres put forth her absurd

o f o f claims, furnish the means testing the dates these

D ocum ents by genuine Papers . Lord Chatham ’ s signature as William Pitt is affixed to the certificates o f the pretended marriage o f the

o f w H Prince Wales ith annah Lightfoot, first cele b rat e d o n 1 7 th A 1 7 59 , as it is alleged , at Kew, pril ,

M a t o n 2 7t h . and af erwards, the y, at Peckham Now,

2 7th M a — a the y was Sunday, day, one would think , rather unlikely (though I speak in great ignorance of the domestic arrangements of Royal households) fo r a young Prince to select for absenting him sclf from his THE L E PRINCESS O Iv . 41

f . amily for the purpose of getting married Sunday,

2 7t h ' 1 759 o ne May , was , moreover, a day would believe especially inconvenient for the Great Commoner to be engaged in such a transaction ; as we find in the l 1 renville Corres onden e V o . . . 30 G p c , i p , a letter from H M M r . G n him to renville , dated ayes, o day, May 2 8 ‘ H ’ , announcing Lady ester s safe delivery ’ that morning o f a son . I do not much depend

upon this, but taken in connection with what follows , ’

n . it deserves, I thi k , the reader s attention

The e . celebrated stat sman, Mr Pitt, having twice witnessed the Lightfoot marriage , was obviously the fittest person in the world to witness that Of the Duke o f C Ol h umberland and ive Wilmot, whic took place ,

the o n 4th M 1 7 6 7 according to certificate, the arch , in t he presence of George R . ; Chatham ; and War ’ C wick . Lord hatham must have made great exertions to have affixed hi s signature to this int e re st m g docu

o n — 3rd M 1 7 6 7— ment, for the preceding day arch as

ha th m r C a r n n . Co es o de e V o l . . 228 we learn from p c , iii p , that having occasion to uni te to the King ( 1 pre Sume no t expecting to have the pleasure o f meeting l wi L A ’ W him on the fo lo ng evening at ord rcher s , here l C the marriage was solemnised) , he emp oys Lady hat ‘ ham He to write for him and tell his sovereign that, is most unhappy to continue o ut o f a condition to ’ ’ attend his Majesty s most gracious presence ; while

o n 7th the , the King writes to him (Obviously keeping

a o n 4th c an very secret their pleas nt meeting the ) , I

’ W m was r o n the illia Pitt bo n, remarks Lord Stanhope, ’ 28th 1 59 — o P 1 7 e L c itt . May , at Hay s, near Bromley, in Kent . if f , i . 42 LORD CHATHAM A N D

i no t conclude without desiring to learn how you

n o n n o u t conti ue , and insisting y our not comi g till ’ can Chatham Cor res onden e you do it with safety ( p c , iii . T A ’ hough the marriage took place at Lord rcher s , by some unaccountable oversight that nobleman S omitted to ign the certificate , or, to use the word o f the App eal for R oyalty

Still there was wanting the signature of one witness of the marriage ; of and in order, therefore, to put the fact beyond the reach cavil, a third certificate was drawn up and signed in the following terms

Lords Chatham and Archer solemnly protest that the marriage o f F O Henry rederick Duke of Cumberland and live my daughter, the said ’ ’ u D ke s present Duchess, was solemnised legally, at the latter nobleman s

L 4th 1 76 7 . residence, Grosvenor Square, ondon, by myself, March ,

. I M (Signed) J W L OT . (Signed)

3 N o v .

U t l nfor unately, the p ace where this document was

no t . S dated is stated We will upply the omission . A H In a letter from Mr . ugustus ervey to Mr . ‘ ’ G B o v . 3 renville, dated at ath , that very day, N , 1 7 67 ‘H C we read, ere Lord hatham is , and goes o ut every day on horseback when the weather lets ’ l A . him . So that Lord rcher and Dr Wi mot jogged ’ together down to Bath t o get Lord Chatham s signa ’ ture to a third certificate o f Olive Wilmot s m arriage Well may the author o f the Appeal to R oyalty e xclaim

an That man must be a more th usually intrepid infidel who, in the f the face o such documents as these , will venture to disbelieve that Duke i W 4th o f Cumberland was lawfully marr ed to Miss ilmot on the March 1 76 7 .

‘ o nl The first ce rti ficate was signed J . Wilmot v . THE PRINCESS OLIVE . 43

I am afraid a goo d many readers must by this time ‘ be included in the class of more than usually in ’ infidels trepid . ’ vi M r . Pitt ha ng witnessed Queen Hannah s mar ria e was l l g , it natura that she should se ect him as a f o l . H witness her wi l It was executed at ampstead,

7th 1 7 68 was ni July , , and witnessed by Dun ng and Th Pitt . e great Commoner must have shown extreme

o ne al i and devotion to this of his roy m stresses, must ‘ have put himself to serious inconvenience t o Sign this ’ as e touching paper, it is styled by the writ r of the

A l ha tham ppea ( iii . for it appears from the C

Corres onden e on 1 6th p c , that the June he was at H ‘ l ayes , so much indisposed as to be quite unab e to write and o n the l 6t h July ( Ibid . Lady Chatham writes to Lord Radnor o n account o f Lord Chatham continuing much indisposed and unable to

’ H n H n r write . o w severely Quee an ah must have e pro ache d herself when she saw the sick an d suffering Earl enter her presence in obedience to her mandate &

The A eal next documents printed in the pp , which

S C o n l st are igned by hatham , are dated the May and i 2 md M ay 1 7 73 respectively . The first is a declarat on by which Lord Chatham binds himself to pay £500 ’ yearly to the Duke o f Cumberland s infant daught T l S . W his paper bears the ignatures Of the King , J i mot,

R l C and as obert Wi mot, and Lord hatham , is dated, ‘ 1 7 7 I have said , this first day Of May but where

Th o f executed does not appear . e document the ‘ 2nd following day, dated Kew Palace, May , is the State paper by which the King commanded 44 M LORD CHATHA AND THE PRINCESS OLIVE .

‘ in return or on dential s ervi es rendered our that, f c fi c

’ selves by D octor Wilm ot in the year 1 7 Olive s

n birth should be kept secret during his reig , but be l R l acknow edged by the oya family after his death . This paper is countersign ed by Lord Chatham and

Lord Warwick .

A S - Letters o it appears, by the recently published f

G eor e the Third to Lord N or th g , that the King was at

’ din not at Kew the this time resi g, , but at Queen s

o ne n house, wonders that the docume t should have been

' dated at Kew; but we will not stop to enquire into

o r o f 2 1 st o f that, why the next document, the the

w Ol o f Lan same month , hich created ive Duchess C caster, and which also is witnessed by Lord hatham, ’

. s should be dated from St James s . Our present que C B tion is with Lord hatham , who , writing from urton

P n se nt u o n 24th 1 773 y to Lord Shelb rne, the May

Chatham Cor res onden e . a o f p c , iv m kes mention ‘ o ur l l most we come guest, Lord Stanhope , who eft us

’ 24th M a 1 7 o n ri d l . 73 F ay ast Now, the y in was a ’ M onday ; the Friday last was consequently the very 2 1 st M ay o n which day Lord Chatham was at Burton

P nse nt R y , and could not have countersigned the oyal ’ warrant at St . James s . It is also evident, from the preceding letters , that he had been there for a cousi de rable time, and could not have countersigned the

1 s documents of the t and 2nd of May . A re my readers surprised if I confess that my infi ‘ ’ de lit I y becomes more and more intrepid , and that feel assured that, after what I have shown them , they will attach just as much value to the se ce rtificates as

and I do, no more

& APPENDI .

— investigated the subject either ( 1 ) that Mrs . Serres

o f H i a wrote the accounts annah L ghtfoot, which p pe are d most opportunely in the M onthly M agazine in 1 82 1 and 1 822 ; her acknowledged petition t o the C rown , with a view to establish her legitimacy as

d o f H o f C m aughter enry Frederick , Duke u berland , having been presented in 1 8 1 9 ; and her Sta tem ent

to the En lish N a tion in ludin erti a tes and con g , c g c fic ’ ’ firm ations of the P rincess Olive s r oyal p a rents

m arria e and her bir th g , , having been published in A 1 822 . o f n Further, that she was the author H is torical F ragm ent rela tive to her la te M aj es ty Queen

Caroline 1 824 , which appeared in ; and that the two

t wo o f works (or rather the editions the same work) ,

A uthenti R e ords o the Court o En land the c c f f g , and

Se r et H istor o the Court o En land the c y f f g , came from the same active and unscrupulous pen ; or that ( 2 ) M rs . Serres was in direct communication with the

o f writers all these works , who reproduced her state

ments in her o wn words . Let us compare the following quotations

L of of L R e v . e The ife the Author the etters of Junius, the Jam s D D lat e F Wilmot, . . , ellow Of Trinity College, Oxford ; Rector Of Barton ’ Ou- - A ul ce st e r o ne of the Heath and , Warwickshire , and his Majesty s N v justices Of the peace for the county By his iece, Oli ia Wilmot

Serres . d and Dr. Wilmot live in habits of friendship confidence with some of n M r the most distinguished characters o f the age . Amo g them were . L N l t Grenville , ords orthington , She burne , and Sackville , together wi h

d M r l . the . . . celebrate Wi kes, Mr Thurlow, and Mr Dunning The late o f Bishop Worcester, Lords Plymouth, Archer, Sondes, Bathurst, Gros ve nor o n w m , Craven , and Abington were terms of intimacy ith him , ore - particularly the three first named noblemen . He was well acquainted with man y members of the Administration fro m 1 766 to 1 773 ; and there s is no question but his political inform ation wa derived from these sources . & 47 APPENDI .

Then take the expressions u sed in the Secret His ~

tor o the Co ur t o En land y f f g , published nineteen years later (page 48 )

N umerous disquisitions have been written to prove the identity of an s Junius but, in spite of m y arguments to the contrary, we recogni e R e v . W D . D him in the person of the James ilmot, . , Rector of Barton ’ o n- - A ul ce ste r W w the Heath, and , ar ickshire, and one of his Majesty s justices of the peace for that county . W in 1 720 Dr. ilmot was born , and during his stay at the university i i and d became int mately acqua nted with Dr . Johnson, Lord Archer, Lor as N n Plymouth, well as Lord orth , who was then entered at Tri ity F m d o i College . rom these gentle en the doctor imbibe his political p o to nions, and was intr duced the first society in the kingdom .

o f We have , then , a facsimile what most readers will accept as a genuine Serres document

as Ju— S s I have this day completed my l t letter of , and sent the ame — — L d S ne . J. W 1 7 to March ,

I regar d it as almost a matter o f certainty that these two sets of passages were written by the same

. l person ; and who but Mrs Serres wou d describe Dr . Wilmot in the terms made use o f in the second quotation I have just finished a very careful perusal o f the

Secret His tor o the Cour t o En land in y f f g , published

1 3 The 8 2 . Lightfoot scandal forms an integral part

o f the whole scheme of the work , which is evidently

written from beginning to end by the same hand .

It may be well to mention that the correctness of M r . ’ s A u thenti R ecords Jes e s impression , that the c and the

Secret Histor e ff y were writt n by di erent persons , is positively disproved by more than o ne statement in 1 5 6 the latter work . We are told at page that

A uthentic R ecords o the Court o In a former work Of ours, called the f f 48' & APPENDI .

En land o f r ri g , we gave an account the ext aordinary and myste ous murder o ne l of of Sel is, a servant the Duke Of Cumberland, which occurred this I n year. that account we did what we conceived to be o u r duty as — we T TH & historians spoke the RU The truth, however, it appears, is not

always to be spoken , for his Royal Highness instantly commenced a ‘ ’ ersecution p against us for a malicious libel .

A 1 96 gain , at page

I n l still be this character on y did we publish what we believed, and lie ve truth of A uthe ntic R e c ords , to be the , in our former work the , and ur which we have considerably enlarged upon in o present undertaking.

The Histori al Fra m ent T c g quoted by Mr . homs at

1 1 0 Se ret H istor l p . , and the c y, are, I be ieve, our ‘ ’ only authorities for the statement that Queen Caro ‘ ’ line was acquainted with the fact o f George the

’ Third s marriage with the fair Quaker .

The statements stand as follows in the t wo works . In the His torical Fragm ent we are told

The Queen &Caroline&at this time laboured under a very curious, and

. in to me unaccountable, species of delusion She fancied herself reality

neither a queen nor a wife . She believed his present Majesty to have

been actuall y marri ed to Mrs . Fitzherbert ; and she as fully believed that his late Majesty George the Third was married to Miss Hannah Light s foot, the beautiful Quakere s, previous to his marriage with Queen

Charlotte ; that a marriage was, a second time, solemnised at Kew (under the colour o f an evening entertainment) after the death of Miss Lightfoot ; and as that lady did not di e till after the births o f the present o f Y King and his Royal Highness the Duke ork, her Majesty really con

sidere d the Duke of Clarence the true heir to the throne .

All this may be gathered, piecemeal , from the

Secret His tory . 228 In a letter, stated by this slanderer, at page , to have been addressed by Queen Caroline to her hus ~

band, we have the words

To you it is well known that the good King, your father, has inva riably t reated me with the most profound re spe ct and pro per attention APPENDI& . 49

his t l and Majes y would have done me more essentia service long since, had it not been for the oath he gave to Lord Chatham , to preserve from all p ublic investigation the connexion formed in 1 759 with the

Quakeress . A t p . 83

I n t he n was m arried to M rs early part of this year the Pri ce . F itzherbert . The Queen insisted on being told if the news o f his marriage were ‘ ’ ‘ Y e s an d correct . , madam, replied he ; not any force under heaven l m sha l separate us . If his M ajesty had been as fi r in acknowledging his m arria e m no w o f g , he ight have enjoyed life, instead being a misanthrope ’ as he is . At 1 0 7 page we have , in a copy of a letter alleged to have been wri tten to the Princess Caroline o f

B w G n al 1 794 runs ick, by eorge Pri ce of W es, , the following words

se cret an d unha o f i Learn, then, the pp y situation the pr nce whom they to o u a o u wish you espouse . I cannot love y ; I c nnot make y happy ; h my heart as long ceas ed to be free . She who possesses it is the only t o l to &c . woman whom I could unite myse f agreeably my inclinations,

It is pretended that George the Third wrote at the C l same time to the Princess aro ine , and to her mo ther the Duchess o f Brunswick In the former forgery he is made to say I have explained to my sister the probable difficulties which my son George may mention but they must not have any weight in your mind and co nclusions . In the latter

H e may please to plead that he is already marri e d and I fear he will resort to any measure rather than an honourable marriage . A t page 37 we read

Early in the year 1 765 the Queen was pressingly anxious that he r a and the marri g e with the King should again be solemnised ; , as Queen was then pregnant, his Majesty readily acquiesced in her wishes . Dr. l b ’ d Wi mot, y his Majesty s appointment, performe the ceremony at their ’ ’ l a t pa ce at Kew . The King s brother, Edward, was present upon his

s . occa ion also, as he had been on the two former ones D 50 A PPENDI& .

e n H I believe that, h ceforward, the name of annah Lightfoot will cease to have any place in the secret history o f England & but I trust that the editor of Notes and Queries wi ll not allow the enquiry to be closed until every statement regarding this mythical l personage shal have been thoroughly sifted . I have again gone over the statements which appeared in the ‘ ’ and o f The First Second Serie s Notes and Queries . only assertions which still appear to need canvassing

ar E . 1 . x e . st . . those made by, D ( S and by Mr

2nd . . T G . Steinman Steinman ( S i hese are confirmatory o f the statement made in the letter ‘ ’ nthl M a azin O 1 A n M o e . 82 1 signed Inquirer, y g , ct ,

. T 90 91 t. cited by Mr homs at pages , of your curren

ff . volume , to the e ect that Dr James Dalton , of the

M o f adras Medical Service, married a daughter

H nn a ah Lightfoot by the King, and had by her a C l n A 1 854 daughter, aro i e ugusta, who was, in , the

w of D Pr the rch Es . o f Ab e r o h C ife aniel y , q , g , aer m art hen l , who has had by her no ess than fourteen

A n o f children . fter the ma ner all these evidences, ’ 1 4 E . 5 Inquirer o f 1 82 1 and . D of 8 are quite ir ’

f . re c o nc ile ablc o n the subject o Dr Dalton s family . The former tells us that he had several accomplished

u En da ghters, who, with the father, are coming to g land ; these daughters are secluded from society like ’ nuns, but no pains spared in their education . It is distinctly stated that the mother was then dead .

The other authority states that Dr . Dalton left by

l — H A o f this ady four children enry ugustus , the

R al o r R t H A oy s, l st Foot egimen ; awkins ugustus , A PPENDI& . 5 1 of the Royal N avy ; Charlotte A ugusta (all three of whom died a few years afterwards) ; and Caroline

’

A . ugusta It rather singularly occurred that, a few

n H weeks since, I sent a paper relati g to annah Light

’ l n li foot to the late venerable John D A t o of Dub n .

n m e o n l 0th o f J Writi g to the anuary last, only ten

days previous to his decease , he used the following striking expressions

fl fo r I may say brie y, indeed I have not strength to meander far over a o f sheet of paper, that concerning the Princess Olive Cumberland has fo r b - stiha been years y gone, put forth to the public on vouchers and that w d and d have broken do n in the san , I woul say it was well such a superstructure failed . I confess that I have little regard for romantic schemes that seek to se t aside the succession o f such sovereigns as the W F o ur o wn late illiam the ourth , and best Queen that ever wielded the s ceptre of England .

I had then forgotten the n am e o f Dr . Dalton but

I think that , had the above story not also been a

o his own nam e myth , the great genealogist f would

n hl d The not thus have oticed a pamp et entitle ,

P rincess Olive o Cu m ber land H annah Li htfoot f , g , a nd the A uthor o the Letters o Juniu f f s .

CALC UTTEN SIS.

LON D ON

P R I N T E D B Y S P O T T I S W O O D E A N D C O .

HEW-STREET SQ UA R E ‘ A Y S ’ — D U U . A the nre um . LEARNE , CH TT , EF L

E V E R Y S A T U R D A Y 2 4 P A G E S , ,

Price FOU RPEN E of all Book se ll e rs or st am ed t o o b Po st F V EPE E C , , p g I NC y , ,

CONTAINING EV ERY W EEK A V ARIETY OF A M U SIN G ARTICLES ON THE F OLL OWING SU BJE CT S EN G L H R H AN D COTT H H TO IS , I IS , S IS IS RY ll s ra e d b r al om m u a s and e d te d m e s i u t t y o igin C nic tion in i Docu nt . B OGRA H U C I P Y, including npublished orrespondence o f m e n M e n and e orde d a s o e e d w t i U c c c c i h he m . E n t , nr F t nn t t B BL OGRA H ll O f E A I I P Y , more especia y nglish uthors, wi h o ice s of rare and k o w di i o s o f h e i r W rk s and e s n t N t un n n E t n t o , Not o An o m s o k s A utho rshi p o f ny o u B o . O ULAR AN TIQUITIES A N D OLK LORE P P F , pre he fas -fadi n re li s o f the Old M t l i e s s e rving t t g c y ho og . BALLA AN D OLD OETR Hi DS P Y , with storical and

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o f Old am il i e s com le i of Pe di re e s & c . F , p t on g , M CELLAN EOU N OTE UER E A N D RE IS S S , Q I S, P S o n i s o f LE T L TORY OP O G R PHY E A RT LIE po nt ECC SIAS ICA HIS , T A , FIN S , TU R L T ORY M I ELL EOU A T Q U T E U M M T PH OT O NA A HIS , SC AN S N I I I S , N IS A ICS ,

G R PH Y & c . A ,

P N F T HE E REC EN T O IN IO S O PR SS . I n m uzzl e I a lied t o t hat m o st u se ful e rio d cal N ote s a nd Que r es and o b t ai ne d an y p , pp p i , i , ’ — s 1 6 im m e dIate ans we r. D EA N O F C AN T E RBU RY I n G oo d Wo r d Fe b . 8 6 . , — — ' That use ful re susc it ant o f de ad k n o wl e dg e yclept N otes a nd Quer ies t he ant I q uarIe s ’ — 1 4 329 ne ws a e r . ua rterl R e v ew, N o . 8 . . p p Q y i , p The I n v al uab le run ning co m m e nt ary wrt h which N o te s and Que ri es acco m p any e ve ry ’ — w rI 1 4 1 6 c urre nt t o ic of l t e rar I nt e re st . Satur da R e v e A l 8 6 . p i y y i , p ,

S R S is b l s e d e e r Sa rda r e 4d O r s t am AN D Q U i h ic . ed NOTE E IE pu v y tu y, p p i s n t l - t o o b Po s 5d . It s al s o i s e d i M o h Par s a nd i alf Ye arl g y t, u n y t ; n H y o o 03 d a d V o l m e s e ach i h c i us de x rice 1 . 6 . clo h b o r s . u , w t p In , p t The S b sc ri io fo r St am e d o i e s fo r Six M o t hs fo rwarde d di re c fro m u pt n p C p n , t - l d x i 1 s 4 t t he P ub lish e r i cl di t he alf Ye ar e , s 1 . h which m a b e ( n u ng H y In ) , y - a d b o s - ff e rde r a ab le at t he S trand o s ff e t o W LL M p i y P t O ic O , p y P t O ic , I IA I H GR EI G S M T . m s I Spe cim e n se nt fo r F i ve St a p .

3 2 W E L L I N G T N S T R E E T ST R A N D W C O , , . nd b o rde r o all Bo okselle rs a nd N ei l 's /h e A y f n.