it was in operation, and so far as sound scholarship was concerned. Confining the prince to his studies, with almost monastic seclusion and severity, it caused his ready mind to accumulate an unusual store of valuable knowledge. Nor can the nation now be strangers to its beneficial result. To some of its severer features we were perhaps indebted for the highest qualifications of the late king, and the noblest embellishments of the man. But no sooner did its operation cease, than it was found to produce effects, which its royal author, and its noble and reverend agents, were the first to discern and deplore. It had too long shut out the world from the view of the prince, and, by not graduating his advance towards the public scenes of life, rendered those scenes, when at last he was at liberty to survey them as be pleased, too novel and enchanting, too luxuriant and overpowering He had been confined so long, and restrained so much, that when the period of emancipa tion somewhat suddenly arrived, he deemed it impossible to enjoy too large a portion of the pleasure, which presented itself on every band. On his release from the control of

tutors and governors, who had scarcely loosened the rein before they were required altogether to drop it, numbers of a perfectly

opposite character were in waiting to celebrate his freedom, and administer to his gratification and delight. Among them, the nation must ever lament, were certain indi

viduals, celebrated for the splendour of their talents and vices, and, in their earliest intercourse with the prince, much more ready to corrupt his morals by the one, than to enlarge and elevate his mind by the other. According to the busts and portraits of the young prince at this period, he was of an elegant, though, for his age, of rather a robust figure, and his open countenance corresponded with what was reported of bim, that he was subject to sudden and violent impressions, was of a warm temper, but was generous and friendly."

No sooner was he out of his pupilage than he commenced his patronage of the turf. He was a warm friend to the prize ring, and to what were then termed "the good old English sports," such as bull-baiting, &c. &c., and which the improved sense of the times has now voted barbarous. In his patronage of stage-fighters, he was kept in countenance by his uncles, particularly the Duke of Cumberland, who had been a constant attendant upon their exhibitions, and was the companion of Broughton until he sold his fight to Slack, when his royal highness retired from the ring in disgust., The love of horse racing, however, became an absolute passion with the young prince, and he defended his inclinations to his father, by drawing a parallel between his at

tachment to the racing ground and his màjesty's excessive predilection for hunting.

At the very early age of nineteen, the prince engaged in an amour with a beautiful and accomplished actress, the wife of an attorney named Robinson. Mrs. Robinson possessed great personal charms, a lively imagination, a well-informed mind, warm and generous affections, but considerable vanity. In the character of Perdita, in the play of "The Winter's Tale," she eminently excelled, and she enjoyed for a long time the approbation of the public. His royal highness at this time was in his nineteenth year, and Mrs. Robinson in her twenty-first. Impressed by her charms and captivated by the graces of her acting, he determined on becoming more intimately ac quainted with her, and Lord Malden (afterwards Earl of Essex), conveyed to her a letter, expressing those sentiments of affection with which he was inspired. A secret epis→ tolary correspondence commenced, Lord Malden was the channel of communication, and a personal interview was desired.

We waited

He was the most

"At length," says Mrs. Robinson, when Colonel Tarleton, an evening was fixed for writing some years afterwards to her friend, this long-dreaded interview. Lord Malden and myself dined at the inn on the island between Kew and Brentford. the signal for crossing the river in a boat, which had been engaged for that purpose. Heaven can witness how many conflicts my agitated heart endured at this most important moment! I admired the prince; I felt grateful for his affection. engaging of created beings. I had corresponded with him during many months, and his cloquent letters, the exquisite sensibility which breathed through every line, his ardent professions of adoration, had combined to shake my feeble resolution. The handkerchief was waved on the opposite shore; but the signal was, by the dusk of the evening, rendered almost imperceptible. Lord Malden took' my hand, I stepped into the boat, and in a few minutes we landed before the iron gates of old Kew Palace. The interview was but of a moment. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of York were walking down the avenue. They hastened to meet us. A few words, and those scarcely articulate, were uttered by the prince, when a noise of people approaching from the palace startled us. The moon was now rising, and the idea of being overheard, or of his royal highness being seen out at so unusual an hour, terrified the whole group. After a few more words of the most affectionate nature, uttered by the prince, we parted, and Lord Malden and myself returned to the island. The prince never quitted the avenue nor the presence of the Duke of York during the whole of this short meeting. Alas! my

friend, if my mind was before influenced by esteem, it was now awakened to the most enthusiastic admiration. The rank of the prince no longer chilled into awe that being who now considered him as the lover and the friend. The graces of his person, the irresistible sweetness of his smile, the tenderness of his melodious, yet manly voice, will be remembered by me till every vision of this changing scene shall be forgotten. Many and frequent were the interviews which after wards took place at this romantic spot; our walks sometimes continued till past midnight, the Duke of York and Lord Malden were always of the party, and our conversation was composed of general topics.

a

"The prince had from his infancy been wholly secluded, and naturally took much pleasure in conversing about the busy world, its manners and pursuits, character and scenery. Nothing could be more delightful, or more rational, than our midnight perambulations. I always wore darkcoloured habit; the rest of our party generally wrapped themselves in great-coats to disguise them, excepting the Duke of York, who almost universally alarmed us by the display of a buff coat, the most conspicuous colour he could have selected for an adventure of this nature. The polished and fascinating ingeniousness of his royal highness's manners contributed not a little to enliven our promenades. He sung with exquisite taste, and the tones of his voice breaking the silence of the night have often appeared to my entranced senses like more than mortal melody. Often have I lamented the distance which destiny had placed between us; how my soul would have idolized such a husband! Alas! how often, in the ardent enthusiasm of my soul, have I formed the wish that being were mine alone to whom partial millions were to look up for protection.

"The Duke of York was now on the eve of quitting the country for Hanover; the prince was also on the point of receiving his first establishment; and the apprehension that his attachment to a married woman might injure his royal highness in the opinion of the world rendered the caution' which we invariably observed of the utmost importance. A considerable time elapsed in these delightful scenes of visionary happiness. The prince's attachment seemed to increase daily, and I considered myself as the most blest of human beings. During some time we had enjoyed our meetings in the neighbourhood of Kew, and I now only looked forward to the adjusting of his royal highness's establishment for the public avowal of our mutual attachment.

"Previous to my first interview with his royal highness, in one of his letters I was astonished to find a bond of the most solemn

and binding nature, containing a promise of the sum of 20,000.. to be paid at the period of his royal highness coming of age. This paper was signed by the prince, and sealed with the royal arms; it was expressed in terms so liberal, so voluntary, so marked by true affection, that I had scarcely power to read it; my tears, excited by the most agonizing conflicts, obscured the letters, and nearly blotted out those sentiments which will be impressed on my mind till the latest period of my existence. Still I felt shocked and mortified at the indelicate idea of entering into any pecuniary engagements with a prince on whose establishment I relied for the engagement of all that would render life desirable. I was surprised at receiving it; the idea of interest had never entered into my mind; secure of the possession of his heart, I had in that delightful certainty counted all my future treasure. refused many splendid gifts which his royal highness had proposed ordering for me at Gray's and other jewellers. The prince presented to me a few trifling ornaments, in the whole their value not exceeding one hundred guineas; even these, on our separation, I returned to his royal highness through the hands of General Lake.

1 had

"The period now approached that was to destroy all the fairy visions which had filled my mind with dreams of happiness. At the moment when every thing was preparing for his royal highness's establishment-when I looked impatiently for the arrival of that day in which I might behold my adored friend gracefully receiving the acclamation of his future subjects-when I might enjoy the public protection of that being for whom I gave up all-I received a letter from his royal highness, a cold and unkind letter, briefly informing me that we must meet no more.'

"And now, my friend," continued Mrs. Robinson in her letter," suffer me to call God to witness that I was unconscious why this decision had taken place in his royal highness's mind. Only two days previous to this letter being written I had seen the prince at Kew, and his affection appeared to be boundless, as it was undiminished.

"Amazed, afflicted beyond the power of utterance, I wrote immediately to his royal highness, requiring an explanation. He remained silent. Again I wrote, but received no elucidation of this most cruel and extraordinary mystery. The prince was then at Windsor. I set out in a small pony-phaeton, wretched and unaccompanied by any one except my postillion (a child of nine years of age). It was dark when we quitted Hyde Park Corner-on my arrival at Hounslow, the innkeeper informed me, that every carriage which had passed the heath for the last ten nights, had been attacked and rifled.

I confess that the idea of personal danger had no terrors for my mind in the state it then was, and the probability of annihi lation, divested of the crime of suicide, encouraged rather than diminished my determination of proceeding. We had scarcely reached the middle of the heath, when my horses were startled by the sudden appearance of a man rushing from the side of the road; the boy on perceiving him instantly spurred his pony, and by a sudden bound of our light vehicle the ruffian missed his grasp at the front rein; we now proceeded at full speed, while the footpad ran, endeavouring to overtake us. At length my horses fortunately outrunning the perseverance of the assailant, we reached the first Magpie, a small inn on the heath, in safety. The alarm which, in spite of my resolution, this adventure had created was augmented on my recollecting, for the first time, that I had then in my black stock a brilliant stud, of very considerable value, which could only have been possessed by the robber, by strangling the wearer.

"If my heart palpitated with joy at my escape from assassination, a circumstance soon after occurred that did not tend to quiet my emotions. This was the appear ance of Mr. H. Meynel and Mrs. Armsted. My foreboding soul instantly beheld a rival, and with jealous eagerness interpreted the hitherto inexplicable conduct of the prince, from his having frequently expressed his wish to know that lady.

"On my arrival, the prince would not see me. My agonies were now indescribable. I consulted with Lord Malden and the Duke of Dorset, whose honourable mind and truly disinterested friendship for me, had on many occasions been exemplified towards me. They were both at a loss to divine any cause of this sudden change in the prince's feelings. The Prince of Wales had hitherto assiduously sought opportunities to distinguish me, more publicly than was prudent in his royal highness's situation. This was in the month of August: on the 4th of the preceding June, I went by his desire into the chamberlain's box, at the birth-night ball. The distressing observation of the circle was drawn towards the part of the box in which I sat by the marked and injudicious attentions of his royal highness. 1 had not been arrived many minutes before I witnessed a singular species of fashionable coquetry. Previous to his royal highness beginning his minuet, I perceived a woman of high rank select from the bouquet which she wore two rosebuds, which she gave to the prince, as he afterwards informed me, emblematical of herself and him. I observed his royal highness immediately beckon to a nobleman, who has since formed a part of his establishment, and looking most earnestly at me, whispered a few words, at the same time presenting to him his newly-acquired

trophy. In a few moments Lord C. entered the chamberlain's box, and giving the rosebuds into my hands, informed me that he was commissioned by the prince to do so. I placed them in my bosom, and I confess felt proud of the power by which I thus publicly mortified an exalted rival. His royal highness now avowedly distinguished me at all public places of entertainment, at the king's hunt near Windsor, at the reviews, and at the theatres. The prince only seemed happy in evincing his affection towards me.

"My good-natured friends now, however, carefully informed me of the multitude of secret enemies who were employed in estranging the prince's mind from me. So fascinating, so illustrious a lover could not fail to excite the envy of my own sex. Women of all descriptions were emulous of attracting his royal highness's attention. Alas! I had neither rank nor power to oppose such adversaries. Every engine of female malice was set in motion to destroy my repose, and every petty calumny was repeated with tenfold embellishments. Tales of the most infamous and glaring falsehood were invented, and I was assailed by pamphlets, by paragraphs and caricatures, and all the artillery of slander, while the only being to whom I then looked up for protection was so situated as to be unable to afford it.

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"Thus perplexed," continued Mrs. Robinson, I wrote to you, my friend, and implored your advice. But you were far away (in America); your delighted soul was absorbed in cherishing the plant of human liberty which has since blossomed with independent splendour over your happy provinces. Eagerly did I wait for the arrival of the packet, but no answer was returned. In the anguish of my soul I once more addressed the Prince of Wales. I complained, perhaps too vehemently, of his injustice-of the calumnies which had been by my enemies fabricated against me, of the falsehood of which he was but too sensible. I conjured him to render me justice. He did so; he wrote me a most eloquent letter, disclaiming the causes alleged by a calumniating world, and fully acquitted me of the charges which had been propagated to destroy me.

"After much hesitation," continued Mrs. Robinson," by the advice of Lord Malden, I consented to meet his royal highness. He accosted me with every appearance of tender attachment, declaring that he had never, for one moment, ceased to love me; but that I had many concealed enemies, who were exerting every effort to undermine me. We passed some hours in the most friendly and delightful conversation, and I began to flatter myself that all our differences were adjusted. But what words can express my surprise and chagrin when, on meeting his royal highness the very next day in Hyde Park, he turned his head to avoid

seeing me, and even affected not to know me!"

On the return of the celebrated trooper, Colonel Tarleton, from his guerilla warfare in the backwoods of America, Mrs. Robinson fell desperately in love with him, and they lived together for many years.

During this much-talked-of amour, the Duke of York, with his buff coat, was sent off upon his military education to the King of Prussia, Frederick the Great, and as the Prince of Wales had been his almost exclusive companion, their parting was very painful. The queen wept profusely, and his majesty was very much overcome.

Soon after the termination of his connection with Mrs. Robinson, the prince became acquainted with Mrs. Fitzherbert, a widow lady of great accomplishments and beauty, who was niece to Sir Edward Smythe, and sister in law to Sir Carnaby Haggerstone. Mrs. Fitzherbert was a Catholic. To her the youthful prince was much attached, and his connection with her was so intimate, and his residence with her so perpetual, that it was confidently asserted that to her he had been married. To the people of Great Britain this connection gave great offence. On the Prince of Wales their hopes had been centered, and now they beheld him engaged in amours or in society which, in their estimation, reflected little credit on his understanding or his heart, The celebrated Lord George Gordon, and John Horne Tooke, peculiarly attracted the attention of the country to this affair, the one on his trial, and the other in a pamphlet, and, whether true or false, the report met with wide-spread and general credence.

On the 12th of August, 1783, his royal highness terminated his non-age, and at tained his majority, and the same day he obtained his colonelcy of the 10th Light Dragoons, which he retained to the last. This was the only military rank the king would ever allow him to hold.

Having thus attained his majority, a separate establishment was voted for him. It was a maxim of the king and queen to keep their sons out of vice by keeping them poor, and to retain them in obedience by making them dependent. Accordingly we find that the prince's establishment was fixed by the king at 50,000l. per annum, being exactly one-half of what had been allowed to his grandfather, when money was of much greater value. Moreover, his majesty took to himself the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, amounting to 13,000l. a year, although no precedent existed for such a private appropriation of a fund constitutionally belonging to the heir apparent. It will be soon seen that this income of 50,000 formed but a small portion of his royal highness's actual expenditure.

At the opening of parliament, 11th of

November, 1783, his royal highness was in troduced into the House of Peers, supported by his uncle the Duke of Cumberland, and the Dukes of Richmond and Portland, and Lord Lewisham; and took the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and made and subscribed the declaration; and also took and subscribed the oath of abjuration. Many efforts were made by the king to induce the prince to countenance the high Tory politics which were so dear to his majesty, and which, as we have seen, his majesty had made efforts to instil into the mind of the prince in his early youth. But the American war was raging in all its disgrace and disasters, and the prince had attached himself to the splendid men that then led the Whig party-Mr. Fox, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Burke, the Duke of Bedford, the Earl of Moira, &c. However, a general profession of loyalty in the House of Peers, by the son of the king, was very distinct from a pledge of party politics, and even this profession of loyalty might be made subservient to an avowal of the free constitutional principles in which the Whigs delighted. His royal highness was therefore induced to address the peers from the ministerial benches, or rather from between them and the woolsack. The following report of a speech made by the prince, we copy from “The Senator," a collection of parliamentary debates, published at the time. It was delivered on the 31st of May, 1792. The subject before the house was an address in reply to his majesty's message to both houses for the suppression of wicked and seditious libels.

"His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales came forward on this occasion, and, in a manly, eloquent, and, we may truly add, persuasive manner, delivered his sentiments. He said that, on a question of such magnitude, he should be deficient in his duty as a member of parliament, unmindful of that respect he owed to the constitution, and inattentive to the welfare, the peace, and the happiness of the people, if he did not state to the world what was his opinion on the present question. His royal highness said he should detain their lordships but for a short time. The topic opened to their view they had already heard, and would again hear, much more ably discussed, than it could be by any efforts from him. He should not enter into a minute detail of the motion for the address; he should endeavour to confine himself to a mere expression of his sentiments on the principles of the constitution of this country; a subject which, at a very early period of his life, he had contemplated with pleasure, and which, to the end of it, he hoped would continue unimpaired. It was a constitution which had afforded protection to all ranks and classes, and he trusted it would continue

that advantage. His royal highness considered the present proclamation as an interference of government highly necessary to the preservation of order, and the security of our most admirable constitution. "Educated,' said his royal highness, as I have been, in its principles, conceiving it, as I do, to be the most sacred bequest from our ancestors, I hold it a duty incumbent upon myself, and every noble lord, to come for ward, and support the proper measures for its defence.' The matter in issue was, in fact, whether the constitution was, or was not, to be maintained; whether the wild ideas of theory were to conquer the wholesome maxims of established practice; and whether those laws under which we had flourished for such a series of years were to be subverted by a reform unsanctioned by the people. As a person nearly and dearly interested in the welfare, and, he should emphatically add, the happiness and comfort of the people, it would be treason to the principles of his mind, if he did not come forward and declare his disapprobation of those seditious publications which had occasioned the motion now before their lordships; and his interest was connected with the interest of the people; they were so inseparable, that unless both parties concurred, happiness could not exist. On this great, on this solid basis, he grounded the vote which he meant to give; and that vote should unequivocally be for a concurrence with the Commons in the address they had resolved upon. His royal highness spoke in a manner that called not only for the attention, but the admiration of the house; and these words were patriotically energetic, I exist by the love, the friendship, and the benevolence of the people, and their cause I will never forsake so long as I live.' His royal highness then concluded with distinctly saying, I give my most hearty assent to the motion for concurring in this wise and salutary address.'

This speech was said to have been composed by the Duke of Portland.

With this effort his royal highness relinquished his political interference, although he continued the constant associate of the Whig leaders in their social hours.

In February, 1782, a body of delegates from the parliament of Ireland waited on his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, to present him with an address, beseeching him to take on himself the government of that kingdom, as regent, during his majesty's incapacity. A few days afterwards they had the honour of dining with his royal highness at Carlton House. There were also present the Dukes of York and Cumberland, the Dukes of Portland and Devonshire, Earl Fitzwilliam, Burke, Fox, Sheridan, &c., to the number of thirty-six. The party was most happily convivial, to which the en

gaging manners of the prince not a little contributed. On the company's rising, his royal highness insisted on the landlord's bottle; this meeting with some little objection, was afterwards assented to, from an observation of Mr. Burke, who said, "that though he was an enemy in general to indefeasible right, yet he thought the prince in his own house had a right to rule jure de vino."

Carlton House had been assigned for his residence, but he also purchased a retreat at Brighton, which received the name of the Pavilion, and became his favourite place of abode a circumstance from which that town has to date its present prosperity. At both these places he soon began to show that fondness for building and sumptuous decoration which has ever since distinguished him, and which, though tending to the encouragement of the arts, led the prince into painful embarrassments.

His royal highness's style of living was splendid beyond precedent. His stud was the finest in Europe; but it was the very reverse of a source of profit to him. His losses at cards were said to be immense.

The prince possessed a narrower income than former Princes of Wales, and his royal highness was found at this period to have contracted a debt to the amount of between 200,000 and 300,000. In this situation he felt like a man of honour, and with a promptitude that did honour to his spirit as a man, resolved, in justice to his creditors, to immediately suppress the establishment of his household, to abridge himself of every superfluous expense, and to set apart a large annual sum, which was rumoured to be to the amount of 40,000. Indeed, he sold off his favourite stud of horses at Newmarket, his hunters, and even his coach-horses, to satisfy the claims of his creditors. The interior decorations in Carlton House were also stopped.

it had been said, at the time the income of the prince was settled, that it was so small he must run into debt, and run into debt he accordingly did, to such an extent, that his embarrassments became degrading to the station he occupied.

On April 20, 1787, the subject of the Prince of Wales's debts was first alluded to in the House of Commons by Alderman Newnham. On the 27th of April he reverted to the subject, and explained the nature of a motion he intended to submit on the 4th of May. Mr. Rolle, now Lord Rolle, endeavoured to intimidate him by dark allusions to the consequences of a supposed act of the prince. Mr. Pitt said, " by the perseverance of the honourable member, he should be driven, though with infinite reluctance, to the disclosure of circumstances which he should otherwise think it his duty