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 A LINK WITH MR& 
 F1TZHERBERT, 
 
 LAUY BLANCHE HAYGARTH 
 
 Lady Blanche Haygarth, who died <>n 
 Sunday al 24, Wilton-cresCent, aged 94, was 
 an interesting link with Mrs. Fitzherbert. ll<r 
 father was Colonel the Bight Hon. G. L. 
 Dawson Damer, son of the first Earl of 
 Portarlington, and his wife was a grand- 
 daughter r > f the famous traveller and letter- 
 writer, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Lady 
 Blanche's mother, Mrs. Dawson Darner, was 
 the beautiful Minnie Seymour, the adopted 
 child of Mrs. Fitzherbert, whose letters and 
 jewels were divided between Lady Blanche 
 and her sisters. Romney's portrait of Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert went .to the late Countess 
 Forteseue; a miniature of George IV. to Lady 
 Blanche : and a locket and bracelet, gifts of 
 George IV., to Lady Constance Leslie, now 
 the only survivor of the family. Lady Blanche 
 riot long ago offered the miniature of 
 George IV. to his present Majesty, by whom 
 it was accepted. In 1889 Lady Blanche and 
 Lady Constance were raised to the rank of 
 earl's daughters when their brother succeeded 
 to the earldom of Portarlington. Lady 
 Blanche had married in 1859 Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Francis Haygarth, late Scots Fusilier 
 Guards ; he died without issue in 1911. 
 
 I
 
 
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT.

 
 
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 C. K. OGDEN 
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT; 
 
 WITH AN 
 
 ACCOUNT OF HER MARRIAGE 
 WITH H.R.H. THE PRINCE OE WALES, 
 
 AFTERWARDS KINO GEORGE THE FOURTH. 
 
 BY THE HON. CHARLES LANGDALE. 
 
 
 L ONDON: 
 RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, 
 
 'jpublislur in (Orbinarn to 'ikr Hhjfstn. 
 
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 LIBRARY 3 & 
 
 UNTVEF^— ■ - • t TFORNIA' r r \ ^ 
 
 SANi. iBAJRA V O 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 WOODFALL A> T D KINDER, PRINTEPS, 
 
 ANGIil. COURT, SKINNER STREET.
 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 MY DEAR LORD STOURTON, 
 
 You will recollect forwarding to me, on the death 
 of your lamented Father, a sealed parcel of papers 
 addressed to me, and to be delivered unopened. 
 
 I believe, also, that you were aware that these 
 papers referred to the principal events connected with 
 the Marriage of the late Mrs. Fitzherbert with the 
 then Prince of Wales, afterwards George the Fourth. 
 The superscription of this packet marked its confi- 
 dential character, and I had fondly hoped, that, as I 
 had received this deposit from the hands of your 
 respected Parent to be used only in defence of the 
 unblemished reputation of a dear friend and near 
 relative, and of the religion which they in common 
 professed, I might have transmitted it, under the same 
 obligations, and under the same reservations, to one who 
 might be willing to accept the trust, when I could no 
 longer fulfil its conditions. Unhappily I am no longer
 
 6 DEDICATION. 
 
 in a position to delegate to another a charge which I 
 had voluntarily taken upon m) r self. It is now more 
 than a twelvemonth since my attention was called 
 to a gross attack upon the honour and virtue of Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert. As this charge, if substantiated, would 
 equally damage the religion which sanctioned her union 
 with the Prince of Wales, and her own conduct under 
 such sanction, I feel myself bound to fulfil the pledge 
 given to my Brother, your revered Father ; and to em- 
 ploy all the means placed at my disposal to rescue 
 both a Catholic lady and the Catholic Church from the 
 opprobrium which would attach to them, if the asper- 
 sions contained in the " Memoirs of the Whig Party," 
 by the late Lord Holland, and edited by his Son, were 
 founded on facts. 
 
 You will find in these pages the copy of a note 
 written by your Father, which appeared at the end of 
 the Edinburgh Review, No. 13G, soon after the death 
 of Mrs. Fitzherbert, in 1837, in consequence of some 
 observations made in a former number of that Review. 
 Notwithstanding this, Lord Holland assumes the truth 
 of his anecdote, upon the very ground upon which your 
 Father's authorised statement of the doctrine of the 
 Catholic Church would prove its falsity. Any attempt, 
 therefore, by such limited means of contradiction would
 
 DEDICATION. 7 
 
 appear to have been wholly ineffectual for placing in 
 its true light that portion of the history of the Life 
 of George the Fourth which may be connected with 
 his Marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert. As the character 
 of the latter must depend upon this Marriage being 
 seen in its true light, as far as she was morally 
 and conscientiously a party to it, I have therefore 
 determined to lay every circumstance connected with 
 it fully and fairly before the public. 
 
 As this course is the one which I believe will most 
 
 effectually carry out the primary object of my late 
 
 Brother, your excellent Father, and is founded in a 
 
 great degree on his honourable testimony, I think I 
 
 cannot adopt a better course to redeem a pledge given 
 
 to the Father, than to dedicate these pages to his 
 
 worthy Son. 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 Your affectionate Uncle, 
 
 CHAELES LANG DALE. 
 
 Houghton, Dec. 22, 1855. 
 The Right Hon. Loud (Stourtok.
 
 
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 MEMOIRS 
 
 or 
 
 MRS. FITZ HERBERT. 
 
 The subject of the present Memoir, Mary Anne 
 Smythe, was daughter of Walter Smythe, Esq., of 
 Brambridge, in the county of Hants, second son of 
 Sir John Smythe, Baronet, of Eske, in the county 
 of Durham, and Acton Burnell, in Shropshire. She 
 was born in July, 175G, and married, in July, 1775, 
 Edward Weld, Esq., of Lul worth Castle, in the county 
 of Dorset, who died in the course of the same year. 
 She married, secondly, Thomas Fitzherbert, Esq., of* 
 Swinnerton, in the county of Stafford, in the year 
 1 778. He only survived their union three years, 
 leaving her a second time a widow, before she had 
 attained the age of twenty-five. 
 
 It was about four years after the death of Mr. 
 Fitzherbert that she first became acquainted with the
 
 10 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 youthful heir to the Throne of Great Britain, who was 
 then about twenty-three years of age, and the most 
 accomplished Prince of Europe. The events to which 
 this acquaintance gave rise will form the matter of 
 the following pages. It will be my endeavour to 
 limit my observations to these circumstances, and care- 
 fully to avoid those political questions, interesting as 
 they might have been to the historian, but foreign to 
 the object as to the motives which have induced me 
 to undertake the more limited view of the part which 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert had in the history of that day. 
 
 At the close of the last year* my attention was first 
 drawn, by an article in the Dublin Jicvieiv, " On the 
 Memoirs of the Whig Party, by the late Lord Hol- 
 land, edited by his son, Henry Edward Lord Holland," 
 to certain calumnious charges, advanced by Lord Hol- 
 land, on the authority of some unnamed individual, 
 but asserted by his Lordship to be " a man of strict 
 veracity," against the fair character and honest prin- 
 
 * It was hoped that these pages, which were considerably 
 advanced, might have appeared before the close of the- year 1855. 
 It lias not been thought accessary l<> alter the reference to the 
 supposed period of publication, as the dates of the correspondence 
 will sufficiently poinl <>ui to the reader the limes and circum- 
 stances 1" which ilif\ allude
 
 MRS. FITZIIERBERT. 1 1 
 
 ciples of Mrs. Fitzlierbert, in relation to her connec- 
 tion with George the Fourth, then Prince of Wales. 
 
 The more important circumstances attendant upon 
 the relationship established between this Lady and 
 the then Prince of Wales have now become matter 
 of history. Willingly would I have left the more 
 private details of the formation of this connection 
 in the obscurity best befitting the delicacy of a lady's 
 life, had not the reproach of a dishonest connection 
 and abandoned principle arisen out of the account 
 which the late Lord Holland has stated on the au- 
 thority of an unnamed informant, and which his son 
 has thought himself justified in publishing to the 
 world. 
 
 The charge, and the grounds of it, are thus brought 
 forward by Lord Holland, in his " Memoirs of the 
 Whig Party:"*— 
 
 " The exact date and circumstances of that cere- 
 mony" (alluding to the Marriage, which his Lord- 
 ship admits to have taken place,) " have not come 
 to my knowledge ; but the account given of some 
 part of the transaction by Mrs. Fitzlierbert her- 
 self to a friend of mine, a man of strict veracity, 
 is curious, and, I believe, correct. ' It was at the 
 
 * Vol. II. p. 1 tO.
 
 12 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Prince's own earnest and repeated solicitations — not 
 at Mrs. Fitzherbert's request, that any ceremony was 
 resorted to.' 
 
 " She knew it to be invalid in law : she thought 
 it nonsense, and told the Prince so. In proof that 
 such had been her uniform opinion, she adduced a 
 very striking circumstance — namely, that no cere- 
 mony by a Roman Catholic priest took place at all ; 
 the most obvious method of allaying her scruples, had 
 she had any. I believe, therefore, that she spoke with 
 truth when she frankly owned ' that she had given her- 
 self up to him, exacted no conditions, trusted to his 
 honour, and set no value on the ceremony which he 
 insisted on having solemnised.' It was performed by 
 an English clergyman. A certificate was signed by 
 him, and attested by two witnesses, both, I believe, 
 Catholic gentlemen, and one a near relation of Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert — Mr. Errington. Mrs. Fitzherbert, from 
 mixed feelings of fear and generosity, tore oft' the 
 names of the witnesses at some subsequent period, 
 lest they should by possibility be involved in any legal 
 penalties for being present at an illegal transaction. 
 Before George the Fourth's accession to the throne, 
 or, as I believe, his appointment to the Regency, the 
 clergyman was dead (for it was not, as often surmised,
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 1 3 
 
 Parson Johnes who married them) ; and his name, I 
 understand, remains annexed to the instrument pur- 
 porting to be a register or certificate of the ceremony. 
 
 " If any corroboration were necessary to substantiate 
 facts, of which such proofs are extant, and to which 
 there are so many unexceptionable testimonies, it 
 would be found in the behaviour of Mrs. Fitzherbert 
 on many subsequent occasions, and in the uniform 
 respect and attention which she has received from 
 nearly all the branches of the Royal Family." 
 
 Lord Holland, elsewhere in his Memoirs, had already 
 referred to the proofs that the Marriage ceremony had 
 taken place between the Prince and Mrs. Fitzher- 
 bert, and even that the former had, at his subsequent 
 Marriage with the Princess of Brunswick, quailed 
 under its recollection. The Memoirs* say : — " This 
 manifest repugnance to the Marriage was attributed by 
 many, at the time, to remorse at the recollection of a 
 similar ceremony which had passed between him and 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert. The subsequent conduct of all the 
 parties, and the treatment of Mrs. Fitzherbert by all 
 branches of the Royal Family, even when separated 
 from the Prince, have long since confirmed the sus- 
 picion. In truth, that there was such a ceremony, is 
 
 * Vol. II. p. 153.
 
 14 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 now (I transcribe my narrative in 1836) not matter of 
 conjecture or inference, but of history. Documents 
 proving it, long in the possession of Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
 family, have been since June, 1833, actually deposited 
 by agreement between the executors of George the 
 Fourth (the Duke of Wellington and Sir William 
 Knighton), and the nominees of Mrs. Fitzherbert 
 (Lord Albemarle and Lord Stourton), at Coutts's Bank, 
 in a sealed box, bearing a superscription of, ' The pro- 
 perty of the Earl of Albemarle ; but not to be opened 
 by him without apprising the Duke of Wellington,' 
 or words to that purport." 
 
 Still, in the face of these facts, Lord Holland gives 
 credence, and his son circulation, to the insulting im- 
 putation conveyed by his friend, " a man of strict vera- 
 city," that Mrs. Fitzherbert had no scruples — that she 
 had given herself up to him — exacted no conditions, 
 and set no value on the ceremony, which " he (the 
 Prince, forsooth !) insisted upon being solemnised," and 
 not Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
 
 In reciting such sentiments, and in adopting them, 
 Lord Holland does but too apparently sanction the 
 easy morality of his relative, Mr. Fox, quoted by him 
 in relation to this subject and to this lady. Mr. 
 Fox's letter to the Prince of Wales, on the subject of
 
 MRS. FITZIIERBERT. 1 5 
 
 the Marriage between him and Mrs. Fitzherbert I 
 here subjoin, as well as the Prince's reply: — 
 
 "December 10, 1785. 
 " SIR, 
 
 " I hope your Royal Highness does me the justice 
 to believe, that it is with the utmost reluctance I 
 trouble you with my opinion unasked at any time, much 
 more so upon a subject where it may not be agreeable 
 to your wishes. I am sure that nothing could ever 
 make me take this liberty, but the condescension which 
 you have honoured me with upon so many occasions, 
 and the zealous and grateful attachment that I feel for 
 your Royal Highness, and which makes me run the 
 risk even of displeasing you, for the purpose of doing 
 you a real service. 
 
 " I was told just before I left town yesterday, that 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert was arrived ; and if I had heard only 
 this, I should have felt the most unfeigned joy at an 
 event which I knew would contribute so much to your 
 Royal Ilighness's satisfaction ; but I was told at the 
 same time, that, from a variety of circumstances which 
 had been observed and put together, there was reason 
 to suppose that you were going to take the very despe- 
 rate step (pardon the expression) of marrying her at this
 
 16 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 moment. If such an idea be really in your mind, and 
 it be not now too late, for God's sake let me call your 
 attention to some considerations which my attachment 
 to your Royal Highness, and the real concern which I 
 take in whatever relates to your interest, have suggested 
 to me, and which may possibly have the more weight 
 with you, when you perceive that Mrs. Fitzherbert is 
 equally interested in most of them with yourself. In 
 the first place, you are aware that a Marriage with a 
 Catholic throws the Prince contracting such Marriage 
 out of the succession of the Crown. Now, what change 
 may have happened in Mrs. Fitzherbert's sentiments 
 upon religious matters I know not ; but I do not un- 
 derstand that any public profession of change has been 
 made. Surely, Sir, this is not a matter to be trifled 
 with ; and your Royal Highness must excuse the ex- 
 treme freedom with which I write. If there should be 
 a doubt about her previous conversion, consider the cir- 
 cumstances in which you stand. The King not feeling 
 for you as a father ought ; the Duke of York professedly 
 his favourite, and likely to be married agreeably to the 
 King's wishes; the nation full of its old prejudices 
 against Catholics, and justly dreading all disputes about 
 succession; — in all these circumstances your enemies 
 might take such advantage as I shudder to think of;
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 17 
 
 and though your generosity might think no sacrifice 
 too great to be made to a person whom you love so 
 entirely, consider what her reflections must be in such 
 an event, and how impossible it would be for her ever 
 to forgive herself. 
 
 "I have stated this danger upon the supposi- 
 tion that the Marriage would be a real one : but your 
 Royal Highness knows as well as I, that according to 
 the present laws of the country it cannot ; and I need 
 not point out to your good sense, what a source of un- 
 easiness it must be to you, to her, and above all to the 
 nation, to have it a matter of dispute and discussion, 
 whether the Prince of Wales is or is not married. All 
 speculations on the feelings of the public are uncertain ; 
 but I doubt much whether an uncertainty of this kind, 
 by keeping men's minds in perpetual agitation upon a 
 matter of this moment, might not cause a greater fer- 
 ment than any other possible situation. 
 
 " If there should be children from the Marriage, 
 I need not say how much the uneasiness as well 
 of yourselves as of the nation must be aggra- 
 vated. If anything could add to the weight of 
 these considerations, it is the impossibility of reme- 
 dying the mischiefs I have alluded to; for if your 
 Royal Highness should think proper, when you are 
 
 c
 
 18 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 twenty-five years old, to notify to Parliament your in- 
 tention to marry (by which means alone a legal Mar- 
 riage can be contracted), in what manner can it be 
 notified ? If the previous Marriage is mentioned or 
 owned, will it not be said that you Lave set at defiance 
 the laws of your country ; and that you now come to 
 Parliament for a sanction for what you have already 
 done in contempt of it? If there are children, will it 
 not be said that we must look for future applications 
 to legitimate them, and consequently be liable to dis- 
 putes for the succession between the eldest son, and 
 the eldest son after the legal Marriage ? And will not 
 the entire annulling the whole Marriage be suggested 
 as the most secure way of preventing all such disputes ? 
 " If the Marriage is not mentioned to Parliament, 
 but yet is known to have been solemnized, as it certainly 
 will be known if it takes place, these are the conse- 
 quences : — First, that at all events any child born in 
 the interim is immediately illegitimated ; and next, 
 that arguments will be drawn from the circumstances 
 of the concealed Marriage against the public one. It 
 will be said, that a woman who has lived with you as 
 your wife without being so, is not fit to be Queen of 
 England ; and thus the very thing that is done for the 
 sake of her reputation will be used against it : and
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 19 
 
 what would make this worse would be, the Marriage 
 being known (though not officially communicated to 
 Parliament), it would be impossible to deny the asser- 
 tion ; whereas, if there was no Marriage, I conclude 
 your intercourse would be carried on, as it ought, in so 
 private a way as to make it wholly inconsistent with 
 decency or propriety for any one in public to hazard 
 such a suggestion. 
 
 " If, in consequence of your notification, steps 
 should be taken in Parliament, and an Act be 
 passed (which, considering the present state of the 
 power of the King and Ministry, is more than probable) 
 to prevent your Marriage, you will be reduced to the 
 most difficult of all dilemmas with respect to the foot- 
 ing upon which your Marriage is to stand for the future ; 
 and your children will be born to pretensions which 
 must make their situation unhappy, if not dangerous. 
 These situations appear to me of all others the most to 
 be pitied ; and the more so, because the more indica- 
 tions persons born in such circumstances give of spirit, 
 talents, or anything that is good, the more will they be 
 suspected and oppressed, and the more will they regret 
 the being deprived of what they must naturally think 
 themselves entitled to. 
 
 "I could mention many other considerations upon 
 this businesSj if T did not think those I have stated 
 
 c 2
 
 20 MKMOIRS OF 
 
 of so much importance, that smaller ones would 
 divert your attention from them rather than add 
 to their weight. That I have written with a free- 
 dom which on any other occasion would be unbecom- 
 ing, I readily confess; and nothing would have induced 
 me to do it, but a deep sense of my duty to a Prince 
 who has honoured me with so much of his confidence, 
 and who would have but an ill return for all his favours 
 and goodness to me; if I were to avoid speaking truth 
 to him, however disagreeable, at so critical a juncture. 
 The sum of my humble advice, nay, of my most earnest 
 entreaty, is this — that your Royal Highness would not 
 think of marrying till you can marry legally. When 
 that time comes, you must judge for yourself; and no 
 doubt you will take into consideration, both what is 
 due to private honour and your public station. In the 
 meanwhile, a mock Marriage (for it can be no other) is 
 neither honourable for any of the parties, nor, with re- 
 spect to your Royal Highness, even safe. This appears 
 so clear to me, that, if I were Mrs. Fitzherbert's father 
 or brother, 1 Avould advise her not by any means to 
 agree to it, and to prefer any other species of connec- 
 tion with you to one leading to so much misery and 
 mischief. 
 
 " It is high time I should finish tin's very long and, 
 perhaps your Royal Highness will think, ill-timed letter;
 
 MRS. FITZ1IERBERT. 21 
 
 but such as it is, it is dictated by pure zeal and attach- 
 ment to your Royal Highness. With respect to Mrs. 
 Fitzkerbert, she is a person with whom I have scarcely 
 the honour of being acquainted, but I hear from every- 
 body that her character is irreproachable and her man- 
 ners most amiable. Your Royal Highness knows, too, 
 that I have not in my mind the same objection to inter- 
 marriages with Princes and subjects which many have. 
 But under the present circumstances a Marriage at pre- 
 sent appears to me to be the most desperate measure 
 for all parties concerned, that their worst enemies could 
 have suggested." 
 
 The following was the reply of the Prince of Wales 
 to Mr. Fox : — 
 
 "MY DEAR CHARLES, 
 
 " Your letter of last night afforded me more true 
 satisfaction than I can find words to express ; as it 
 is an additional proof to me (which I assure you I did 
 not want) of your having that true regard and affection 
 for me, which it is not only the wish but the ambition 
 of my life to merit. Make yourself easy, my dear 
 friend. Believe me, the world will now soon be con- 
 vinced, that there not only is, but never was, any grounds 
 for these reports, which of late have been so malevo- 
 lently circulated. I have not seen you since the apos-
 
 22 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tacy of Eden. I think it ought to have the same effect 
 upon all our friends that it has upon me — 1 mean the 
 linking us closer to each other; and I believe you will 
 easily believe these to be my sentiments ; for you are 
 perfectly well acquainted with my ways of thinking 
 upon these sort of subjects. When I say my ways of 
 thinking, I think I had better say my old maxim, which 
 I ever intend to adhere to — I mean that of swimming 
 or sinking with my friends. I have not time to add 
 much more, except just to say, that I believe I shall 
 meet you at dinner at Bushey on Tuesday ; and to de- 
 sire you to believe me at all times, my dear Charles, 
 most affectionately yours, 
 
 (Signed) " GEOKGE P." 
 
 " Carlton House, 
 " Sunday morning, 2 o'clock, 
 
 " December lltli, 1785." 
 
 Who and what is the woman whom this teacher 
 of morality would sacrifice at the shrine of princely 
 satisfaction and political expedience ? Mr. Fox says, 
 " With respect to Mrs. Fitzherbert, she is a person 
 with whom I have scarcely the honour of being ac- 
 quainted, but I hear from everybody that her character 
 is irreproachable, and her manners most amiable." 
 
 Such is the letter, and such the mode of deal in o-
 
 .MRS. F1TZ HERBERT. 23 
 
 with a lady of irreproachable character, recommended 
 therein to the then youthful Prince of Wales ! Well, 
 indeed, may princes be pitied, when the counsels of 
 age, aided by the highest political position, only point 
 out to the passions of youth, not how they are to be 
 curbed, but how they may be gratified! 
 
 With such principles, the " veracity of a friend " 
 may be easily understood, as disposing of all the dic- 
 tates of religion, of all the most estimable virtues of 
 a woman who was described to have " no scruples," 
 provided appearances were preserved ; to be regardless 
 of the distinction between the concubine and the 
 wife of a Prince ; and to be as ready to submit to 
 the moral depravity of the one portion, as to insist 
 on the honoured rights of the other. 
 
 However, that Mrs. Fitzherbert would not, did not, 
 thus degrade herself, and violate all the principles of 
 her religion, by yielding to the solicitations of the 
 Prince, or to the counsels of his profligate advisers, 
 and that, in spite of the " veracity" of Lord Holland's 
 friend, this virtuous and high-principled lady did only 
 consent to receive the Prince of Wales in the charac- 
 ter of her husband, every public and private testimony, 
 nay, even the details in the Memoirs themselves, to 
 every well-constituted mind sufficiently attest.
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 These Memoirs state, that Mrs. Fitzherbert had left 
 England and retired to the Continent, to escape from 
 the importunity of the Prince. They detail the de- 
 spair, almost amounting to madness, on the part of the 
 Prince, at this step taken by a virtuous woman to avoid 
 the attempts made upon her honour by a Prince, who 
 had indeed but little experience of the power ex- 
 ercised by religion over the conduct of a Catholic lady. 
 They prove, moreover, that her principles had taught 
 her to resist all the fascinations of the most accom- 
 plished gentleman, united, in her devoted admirer, to 
 the highest princely rank. 
 
 Lord Holland says, that " Mrs. Fox, then Mrs. 
 Armistead, had repeatedly assured him, that the Prince 
 came down more than once to converse with her and 
 Mr. Fox on the subject ; that he cried by the hour ; 
 that he testified the sincerity and violence of his pas- 
 sion and despair by extravagant expressions and actions 
 — rolling on the floor, striking his forehead, tearing 
 his hair, falling into hysterics, and swearing that he 
 would abandon the country, forego the Crown, 
 &c." 
 
 What, then, were the inducements held out to Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, which brought her back to England? 
 What, but an offer of Marriage made by the Prince,
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 25 
 
 in spite of the earnest remonstrances of his friend and 
 adviser, Mr. Fox, already alluded to ? 
 
 Yet, in spite of all these remonstrances, Lord 
 Holland would have us believe, that this heir to the 
 Throne was himself the originator, the promoter, nay, 
 the repeated and earnest solicitor for the performance 
 of a ceremony, the consequence of which might be so 
 fatal to his future rights. Yes ; for " a veracious friend" 
 has assured Lord Holland that Mrs. Fitzherbert, for 
 fear any person should suspect her of being a virtuous, 
 honest woman, was herself at the pains to convince this 
 truthful gentleman that she really thought such a Mar- 
 riage ceremony "nonsense," and frankly owned herself 
 — <what? anything but his wife? — a violator of the 
 laws of God, lost to the principles of her religion, 
 the degraded mistress, degraded to the rank of but 
 too many who have — as she is said to report of 
 herself — trusted to this honour, where their own 
 honour could only be contaminated by the contact ! 
 
 In the face of all this, Lord Holland believes the 
 statement of the man of " strict veracity " to be cor- 
 rect; nay, though even he himself bears testimony to 
 the " uniform respect and attention which Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert has received from nearly all branches of the 
 Royal Family 1 ' — yes, whilst she was at pains to prove
 
 26 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 herself, in her own opinion at least, a worthless cha- 
 racter, unfit for social intercourse with the chaste and 
 virtuous of her sex ! 
 
 What more Lord Holland means by saying, that 
 "if any corroboration were necessary to substantiate 
 facts, of which such proofs are extant " (the Marriage), 
 " and to which there are so many unexceptionable 
 testimonies, it would be found in the behaviour of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert on many subsequent occasions," I am 
 at a loss to imagine ; unless, to the charge of incon- 
 tinence, as advanced on the authority of his friend, his 
 Lordship himself wishes to add that of hypocrisy. 
 
 It is, however, known that Mr. Fox denied in 
 his place in Parliament that any ceremony of Mar- 
 riage had taken place between the Prince of Wales 
 and Mrs. Fitzherbert.* Whether Mr. Fox had, or had 
 
 * The following is given in " Croly's Life and Times of 
 George the Fourth," as Mr. Fox's reply to observations made by 
 Mr. llolle. Such a denial can admit but of one construction, but 
 on whom rests its fabrication 1 am not disposed to observe. 
 
 "As to the allusions of the honourable member for Devon 
 (Eollc), of danger and so forth to the Church and State, I am not 
 bound to understand them, until he shall make them intelligible; 
 but I suppose they are meant in reference to thai falsehood which 
 has been so scandalously propagated out of doors, for the wanton 
 sport of the vulgar, and which I now pronounce, by whomsoever
 
 MRS. F1TZUERBERT. 27 
 
 not, the authority of the Prince for this denial, it is not 
 now my business to inquire. Suffice it to say, that 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, in the Memoirs, is justly asserted not 
 
 invented, to be a miserable calumny, a low, malicious falsehood! " 
 He had hoped, that in that House a tale, only fit to impose upon 
 the lowest persons in the streets, would not have gained credit ; 
 but, when it appeared that an invention so monstrous, a report of 
 what had not the smallest degree of foundation, had been circu- 
 lated with so much industry as to make an impression on the 
 mind of members of that House, it proved the extraordinary 
 efforts made by the enemies of His Royal Highness to propagate 
 the grossest and most malignant falsehoods, with a view to depre- 
 ciate his character, and injure him in the opinion of the country. 
 He was at a loss to imagine what species of party could have 
 fabricated so base a calumny. Had there existed in the king- 
 dom such a faction as an anti-Brunswick faction, to it he certainly 
 should have imputed the invention of so malicious a falsehood ; for 
 he knew not what other description of men could have felt an 
 interest in first forming, and then circulating, with more than 
 ordinary assiduity, a tale in every particular so unfounded. His 
 Royal Highness had authorised him to declare, that, as a Peer of 
 Parliament, he was ready, in the other House, to submit to any 
 the most pointed questions ; or to afford His Majesty, or His 
 Majesty's Ministers, the fullest assurances of the utter falsehood 
 of the statement in question, which never had, and which common 
 sense must see never could have, happened. 
 
 " In reply to Mr. Rolle, whether what Mr. Fox had said was to 
 be understood as spoken from direct authority, Mr. I\>\ replied, 
 ' that he had direct authority.' " — Annual Register, 17^7
 
 28 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to have disguised her resentment. "She would not 
 speak to Mr. Fox. There can be little doubt that she 
 urged the Prince to take some step to procure a public 
 disavowal of a declaration which he knew to be false." 
 Indeed, the Memoirs go on to state, that, the morning 
 after Mr. Fox's statement, "the Prince sent for Mr. 
 Grey (Lord Howick and Earl Grey), who Mas then in 
 high favour with him, and after much preamble, and 
 pacing in a hurried manner about the room, exclaimed, 
 ' Charles ' (he always so called Mr. Fox) ' certainly went 
 too far last night. You, my dear Grey, shall explain 
 it ;' and then in distinct terms (as Grey has since the 
 Prince's death assured me), though with prodigious 
 agitation, owned that a ceremony had taken place. 
 Mr. Grey observed, 'that Mr. Fox must unquestionably 
 suppose, that he had authority for all he said, and that, 
 if there had been any mistake, it could only be rectified 
 by His Royal Highness speaking to Mr. Fox himself, 
 and setting him right on such matters as had been 
 misunderstood between them : no other person can,' 
 he added, 'be employed, without questioning Mr. Fox's 
 veracity, which nobody, I presume, is prepared to do.' 
 
 "This answer chagrined, disappointed, and agitated 
 the Prince exceeding! a ; and after some exclamations of
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 29 
 
 annoyance, he threw himself on a sofa, muttering, 
 'Well, then, Sheridan must say something.'"* 
 
 The effort made by the Prince to persuade Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert that he Mas not a party to Mr. Fox's denial 
 of the Marriage between them, is curiously illustrated 
 by the following anecdote, which I have on the au- 
 thority of Mr. Bodenham, the brother-in-law of Lord 
 Stourton, who received this account from Lord Stour- 
 ton : — Mrs. Fitzherbert was on a visit with the Honour- 
 able Mrs. Butler, her friend and relative, and at whose 
 house the Prince frequently met Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
 The Prince called the morning after the denial of the 
 Marriage in the House of Commons by Mr. Fox. He 
 went up to Mrs. Fitzherbert, and taking hold of both 
 
 * Croly again reports as the reply of Mr. Sheridan, in allusion to 
 .Mr. Fox's offer on the part of the Prince of Wales to undergo an 
 examination in the J louse of Lords, "that the House deserved 
 credit for decorum, in not taking advantage of the offer, and 
 demanding such an inquiry. But while His Royal llighness's 
 feelings had been, doubtless, considered on the occasion, he must 
 take the liberty of saying, however some might think it a sub- 
 ordinate co i isi deration, that there was another person, entitled, in 
 every honourable and delicate mind, to the same attention; one 
 whom he would not otherwise venture to describe, or allude to, 
 but by saying it was a name which malice or ignorance alone 
 could attempt to injure, and whose character and conduct claimed 
 and were entitled to the truest respect."
 
 30 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 her hands and caressing her, said, " Only conceive, 
 Maria, what Fox did yesterday. He went down to the 
 House and denied that you and I were man and wife ! 
 Did you ever hear of such a thing?" Mrs. Fitzher- 
 bert made no reply, but changed countenance and 
 turned pale. 
 
 Now, how again is all this consistent with Lord 
 Holland's story and charge against Mrs. Fitzherbert ? 
 How could she be indignant at the denial of a cere- 
 mony having taken place, which she herself had " told 
 the Prince ivas all nonsense f' Who then, and what, 
 forced the Prince to send for Mr. Grey? What oc- 
 casioned his agitated conduct, the struggle with which 
 he at last owned to him that a ceremony had taken 
 place, and his resolve to call upon Mr. Sheridan to 
 make an explanation or disavowal, which he Mould 
 not, according to Mr. Grey's suggestion, claim from 
 Mr. Fox himself? Was all this awkward dilemma, 
 in the opinion of Lord Holland, owing to a virtuous 
 scruple on the part of the Prince to correct a misap- 
 prehension of his friend Charles (as he called him), or 
 was it to the outraged honour of an " irreproachable 
 woman," unwilling to consent to be classed amongst 
 those of her sex who are ready to disregard the sacred 
 rites of the Marriage contract ; a woman who insisted
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 31 
 
 upon the reparation due to her wounded reputation, by 
 a disavowal as publicly made, and in the same House 
 of Parliament which had heard the stigma cast upon 
 her? 
 
 But, according to Lord Holland, a simple state- 
 ment that she was not in her own opinion a wife, 
 was not enough to satisfy Mrs. . Fitzherbert ; she 
 would also proceed to prove it. " She adduced a very 
 striking circumstance, namely, that no ceremony by a 
 Catholic priest took place at all ; the most obvious 
 method of allaying her scruples, had she had any." 
 No scruple about what? About living with a man 
 who was not her husband ? 
 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert was a Catholic, and educated in the 
 principles of the Catholic religion, whose doctrine could 
 admit no distinction between a prince and a peasant, 
 condemning alike the criminal indulgences of either, and 
 maintaining in both the indissoluble sacredness of the 
 Marriage contract. But what does this additional 
 proof of no Catholic priest, and therefore no Marriage, 
 amount to? Why, to just as much as the whole story 
 of the asseverations of Lord Holland's " man of strict 
 veracity." In this case, as in every other, every cir- 
 cumstance proves the exact reverse of his statements, 
 and of Lord Holland's deductions therefrom. The pre-
 
 32 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sence of a Catholic priest would not, in any way, have 
 added to the validity of the marriage in the eyes of 
 the Catholic Church ; and, therefore, it is fair to con- 
 clude, would not have added to them in those of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, a well-educated Catholic, especially 
 likely to be well informed on the mode of conducting 
 the Marriage ceremony so as to fulfil the forms and 
 conditions required by her own Church, returning as 
 she was from the Catholic Continent with the special 
 intention of fulfilling those conditions, the absence of 
 which had driven her abroad. 
 
 What these conditions are required to be, are stated 
 in an article in the Dublin Review, commenting on the 
 very matter which forms the subject of these pages. 
 This article is understood to have been written by an 
 eminent theologian of the Irish Catholic Church.* 
 
 " The doctrine of the Catholic Church regarding 
 Marriage is plain and simple. She teaches that the 
 Marriage contract itself, which is perfected by the 
 words, ' I take thee for my wife,' on the part of the 
 man, and ' I take thee for my husband,' on the part of 
 the woman, or by any other words or signs by which 
 the contracting parties manifest their intention of 
 taking each other for man and wife, is a sacrament. 
 
 * Oct. IS.', I.
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 33 
 
 " Protestants are apt to fall into the mistake, that 
 it is the priest who administers the sacrament to the 
 wedded pair. He does no such thing. As far as the 
 validity of the contract and of the sacrament is con- 
 cerned, even when the contracting parties are both 
 Catholics, the priest need not utter a word. His pre- 
 sence is only necessary as a witness to the contract 
 between the parties. 
 
 " Up to the time of the Council of Trent, the 
 presence of a priest was not necessary for the 
 validity of either the contract or the sacrament ; nor 
 was it by any means to confer the sacrament that 
 the Council enacted a law requiring his presence. The 
 law was made in consequence of the abuses which 
 arose from clandestine marriages ; because an immoral 
 person, who had married without witnesses, could 
 afterwards deny the existence of the contract, and wed 
 another publicly, and in the face of the Church. To 
 prevent this abuse, the Council of Trent enacted that 
 the parish priest of one of the contracting parties, or 
 some other priest deputed by him, and two other wit- 
 nesses, should, for the future (in posterum) be present 
 (prcesente parocho) at the Marriage contract. The 
 presence of the two other witnesses is required exactly 
 in the same way as that of the parish priest. The 
 
 D
 
 34 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 law is simply that Marriage should be contracted in 
 the presence of three witnesses, one of whom should 
 necessarily be the parish priest. Nor was this law 
 made at once obligatory even on Catholics. By an 
 ordinance of the Council, it was not to have effect in 
 any parish until thirty clays after it had been published 
 there. This allowed a large discretion to each bishop, 
 with regard to the time of its publication in his diocese, 
 and, in fact, it is not long since it has been introduced 
 into England. But it does not, and never did, apply 
 to any Marriage in those countries where one of the 
 parties is not a Catholic. Neither in such marriages 
 which are called mixed, nor in those contracted be- 
 tween parties neither of which belong to the Catholic 
 Church, is the presence of any priest required for the 
 validity of either the contract or the sacrament. It is 
 not even necessary that the contracting parties should 
 know that Marriage is a sacrament. The sacrament 
 exists wherever Christians marry as Christ intended : 
 and if they be properly disposed, they will receive 
 grace to live happily together, and to bring up their 
 children in the fear and love of God. 
 
 " Mrs. Fitzherbert's Marriage was, therefore, per- 
 fectly valid, both as a contract and as a sacrament, 
 in the eyes of the whole Catholic Church ; and to
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 35 
 
 imagine that she alone, of all those who professed 
 the same faith, should look upon it as invalid, is mon- 
 strously absurd. Neither the Pope nor the whole 
 Church could have annulled it, nor allowed her to 
 marry another. 
 
 " But it was illegal ! Why, so was the whole 
 Catholic religion at the same period. It was, not 
 very long ago, unlawful to celebrate Mass — but the 
 sacrifice was not therefore invalidly offered. To say 
 that Mrs. Fitzherbert considered the Marriage cere- 
 mony to be 'nonsense' because it was illegal, at a time 
 when the penal code against Catholics — and especially 
 that part of it which regarded Matrimony — was in full 
 operation, is about as reasonable as to prove, that she 
 did not believe in Transubstantiation, because the law 
 declared it to be damnable and idolatrous." 
 
 I am not, therefore, discussing the legality of the 
 Marriage in the eye of English law. It is only within 
 a few years, that a Marriage in England would be legal 
 even between two Catholics, unless they consented to 
 the insulting condition of appearing in a Protestant 
 Church, and submitting to the ceremony to be there 
 performed by a Protestant clergyman. What the 
 Prince of Wales might have thought of this Marriage 
 I am not called upon to say or prove; but without 
 
 d 2
 
 36 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 adopting either the supposition of Lord Holland or 
 his friend, that it was "at his repeated and earnest 
 solicitation the ceremony was resorted to," I can 
 imagine no interpretation but one, by an upright and 
 honourable mind, of a solemn pledge, whether, accord- 
 ing to the form of law or not, to take a woman 
 for his wife. Certainly this ceremony having been gone 
 through before a clergyman of the Established Church 
 might naturally have been supposed by Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert to add to its authenticity, if not its legality, 
 in the eyes of those, whether the Prince himself, 
 his family, or the country, who professed the same re- 
 ligion. To herself, as a witness to the Marriage, and 
 as such signing the certificate, it was equally obligatory, 
 as if performed in the presence of a Catholic priest. 
 
 Such is the line of reasoning which I think must 
 occur to every candid mind, on weighing, with fair 
 consideration, a direct charge of criminal conduct 
 against a Lady whose public character was admitted 
 to be irreproachable, and towards whom the Royal 
 Family of England testified uniform respect. It re- 
 mains, that I should now proceed to show what special 
 cause there is for publishing these pages, and why I now 
 feel myself especially called upon, not only to direct 
 the attention of the public to what I consider to be
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 37 
 
 the natural deduction to be drawn from the charge 
 itself as narrated by the author of the Memoirs, but 
 to bring forward private details, which 1 would infi- 
 nitely rather have left to the secret keeping wherein 
 they were deposited by this virtuous lady. But I 
 cannot forget that they were so left by her in trust for 
 the sole defence of that character, which, instead of 
 being herself the first to vilify (as asserted by Lord 
 Holland,) all who knew her were well aware she 
 was anxiously sensitive to defend from reproach. 
 
 It will have appeared, by an extract already 
 given, from the Memoirs of Lord Holland, that my 
 Brother, Lord Stourton, was one of the nominees with 
 the Earl of Albemarle, to whose charge were com- 
 mitted certain documents, deposited by agreement 
 with the executors of George the Fourth (the Duke 
 of Wellington and Sir William Knighton), at Coutts's 
 Bank, in a sealed box. It will hence not unnaturally 
 be credited, that the late Lord Stourton was an inti- 
 mate friend of Mrs. Fitzherbert. If I add to this, that 
 there existed near relationship in blood, and the pro- 
 fession of the same religion, it may also account for 
 those confidential communications which will form the 
 substance of the following pages, and for that pledge 
 which Mrs. Fitzherbert required, and received, from 
 Lord Stourton, to defend her character from an\
 
 38 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 calumnious charges which might, in after time, be 
 brought against it. 
 
 A letter to Lord Stourton from Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
 dated Paris, Dec. 7, 1833, sufficiently expresses the 
 wishes and confidence of the writer : — " I trust, when- 
 ever it pleases God to remove me from this world, 
 that my conduct and character in your hands will not 
 disgrace my family and my friends." 
 
 It was not loin? before Lord Stourton felt himself 
 called upon to act upon the trust which had thus been 
 reposed in him. 
 
 In the very year following Mrs. Fitzherbert's death 
 the following observations appeared in the Edinburgh 
 Review : — 
 
 " The most excusable by far, indeed the most respect- 
 able, of all the Prince's attachments, had been that 
 which he had early formed for Mrs. Fitzherbert, a wo- 
 man of the most amiable qualities, and the most exem- 
 plary virtue. Her abilities were not shining, nor w T ere 
 her personal charms dazzling, nor was she even in the 
 first stage of youth ; but her talents were of the most 
 engaging kind ; she had a peculiarly sweet disposition, 
 united to sterling good sense, and was possessed of 
 manners singularly fascinating. His passion for this 
 excellent person was a redeeming virtue of the Prince ; 
 it could only proceed from a fund of natural sense and
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 39 
 
 good taste, which, had it but been managed with ordi- 
 nary prudence and care, would have endowed a most 
 distinguished character in private life ; and could it by 
 any miracle have been well managed in a palace, must 
 have furnished out a ruler before whose lustre the fame 
 of Titus and the Antoniues would grow pale. This 
 passion was heightened by the difficulties which its vir- 
 tuous object interposed to its gratification ; and upon 
 no other terms than Marriage could that be obtained. 
 "But Marriage with this admirable lady was forbidden 
 by law ! She was a Roman Catholic. Sincerely attached 
 to the religion of her forefathers, she refused to pur- 
 chase a crown by conforming to any other ; and the law 
 declared, that whoever married a Catholic should forfeit 
 all right to the crown of these realms, as if he were na- 
 turally dead. This law, however, was unknown to her, 
 and, blinded by various pretences, she was induced 
 to consent to a clandestine Marriage, which is supposed 
 to have been solemnized between her and the Prince 
 beyond the limits of the English dominions ; in the 
 silly belief, perhaps, entertained by him, that he escaped 
 the penalty to which his reckless conduct exposed him, 
 and that the forfeiture of his succession to the crown 
 was only denounced against such a Marriage if con- 
 tracted within the realm.
 
 40 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " The consent of the Sovereign was another requisite 
 of the law to render the Marriage valid : that consent 
 had not been obtained ; and the invalidity of the con- 
 tract was supposed to save the forfeiture. But they 
 who so construed the plain provision in the Bill of 
 Rights, assumed, first, that no forfeiture could be in- 
 curred by doing an act which was void in itself, whereas 
 the law of England, as well as of Scotland, and every 
 other country, abounds in cases of acts prohibited and 
 made void, yet punished by a forfeiture of the rights 
 of him who contravenes the prohibition, as much as if 
 they were valid and effectual. 
 
 " The same courtly reasoners and fraudulent match- 
 makers of Carlton House next assumed, that statutes 
 so solemn as the Bill of Rights and Act of Settlement 
 could be varied, and, indeed, repealed in an essential 
 particular, most clearly within their mischief, by a sub- 
 sequent law which makes not the least reference what- 
 ever to their provisions; while no man could doubt, 
 that to prevent even the attempt at contravening those 
 prohibitions was the object of the acts, in order to pre- 
 vent all risks ; it being equally manifest, that if merely 
 preventing a Catholic from being the Sovereign's con- 
 sort had been the only purpose of the euactment, this 
 could have been most effectually accomplished by simply
 
 MRS. FITZI1ERBERT. 4 1 
 
 declaring the Marriage void, and the forfeiture of the 
 crown became wholly superfluous. 
 
 " It is, therefore, very far from being clear, that this 
 Marriage was no forfeiture of the crown. But, it may 
 be said, the Prince ran this risk only for himself, and 
 no one has a right to complain. Not so. The for- 
 feiture of the crown was his own risk assuredly ; but 
 he trepanned Mrs. Fitzherbert into a sacrifice of her 
 honour to gratify his passion, when he well knew, that 
 the ceremony which she was made to believe a Marriage, 
 could only be regarded as a mere empty form, of no 
 legal validity or effect whatever ; unless, indeed, that 
 of exposing her and all who assisted, to the high pains 
 and penalties of a premunire. While he pretended 
 that he was making her his wife, and made her believe 
 she was such, he was only making her the victim of his 
 passions, and the accomplice of his crimes. 
 
 " A few years after, when those passions had cooled, 
 or were directed into some new channel, the rumour 
 having got abroad, a question was asked in Parlia- 
 ment respecting the alleged Marriage. His chosen 
 political associates were appealed to, and, being in- 
 structed by him, denied the charge in the most unquali- 
 fied terms. Before such men as Mr. Fox and Mr. 
 Grey could thus far commit their honour, they took care
 
 42 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to be well assured of the fact, by direct personal com- 
 munication with the Prince himself. He most solemnly 
 denied the whole upon his sacred honour ; and his de- 
 nial was, through these most respectable channels, con- 
 veyed to the House of Commons. We are giving- here 
 a matter of history well known at the time ; — a thou- 
 sand times repeated since, and never qualified by the 
 parties, or contradicted on their behalf." * 
 
 This charge against the conduct and character of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert brought out from Lord Stourton the 
 following note, which appeared at the end of the suc- 
 ceeding number of this Review :t — 
 
 " Note to the article on George the Fourth and 
 Queen Caroline in Number 135. 
 
 " We have received from Lord Stourton a letter 
 respecting our notice in the above article of Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert's Marriage; and we have much pleasure 
 in laying before our readers a communication so 
 creditable to the feelings of the noble writer. 
 
 "To tiie Editoe of the Edinburgh Heview. 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 "A misstatement, no doubt unintentional, of the 
 circumstances attending the Marriage of Mrs. Fitzher- 
 
 * Edinburgh Kevicw, No. cxxxv. f No. cxxxvi.
 
 MRS. FITZIIERBERT. 43 
 
 bert, in one of your late articles, being liable to a con- 
 struction, in the views of members of her religious 
 communion, injurious to her reputation, you will, I am 
 sure, readily oblige me by inserting in your next Num- 
 ber the following more accurate statement, for the 
 fidelity of which I pledge my honour. 
 
 " The Marriage ceremony was performed, not out of 
 this kingdom, as you have stated, but in her own 
 drawing-room, in her house in town, in the presence of 
 an officiating Protestant clergyman, and of two of her 
 own nearest relatives. All the parties being now 
 deceased, to ordinary readers this discrepancy will ap- 
 pear of little moment; as the ceremony, wherever it 
 was performed, could confer no legal rights; and no 
 issue followed this union. But when I inform you, 
 that, in the one case — that stated in your article — it 
 would have been an invalid Marriage as affecting the 
 conscience of Mrs. Fitzherbert in the sight of her own 
 Church ; and that, in the other case, it formed a con- 
 scientious connection in the opinion of such portions 
 of Christendom as hold communion with the See of 
 Rome, I am confident you will permit this statement, 
 under my name and responsibility, to appear in your 
 Journal. I shall, moreover, add, that the conscien- 
 tious validity of the contract depended upon the fad.
 
 44 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 that the discipline of the Council of Trent as to 
 Marriage has never been received in this country. 
 
 " I owe this plain counter-statement to the memory 
 of Mrs. Fitzherbert, in order that aspersions, which, from 
 peculiar circumstances, she was herself unable to rebut 
 when living, should not be inscribed without contra- 
 diction on her tomb. That I have not officiously im- 
 posed on myself an unnecessary duty, in endeavouring 
 to protect the fame of this virtuous and distinguished 
 Lady, or am about to mislead by erroneous facts, I 
 must appeal to the following extract from one of Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert's letters to myself, which closely followed 
 certain confidential communications, on which I rely 
 for the perfect accuracy of my information on this 
 delicate subject. 
 
 " ' MY DEAR LORD STOURTON, 
 
 " ' I trust whenever it pleases God to remove me 
 from this world, that my conduct and character, in 
 your hands, will not disgrace my family or my friends. 
 Paris, Dec. 7, 1833.' 
 
 " I remain, Sir, 
 
 " Your obedient humble servant, 
 
 "STOUKTON." 
 
 " Mansfield Street, 30th June, 1838."
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 45 
 
 I need hardly say how ineffective this note and ex- 
 planation have proved, to screen the character of Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert from obloquy, when Lord Holland's son 
 allows his father's Memoirs to charge the very circum- 
 stance here brought forward by Lord Stourton in de- 
 fence of the conscientious connection of Mrs. Fitzher- 
 bert with the Prince of Wales in the opinion of Catholic 
 Christendom, as a proof that she had no scruple of 
 " giving herself up and exacting no conditions," &c. 
 
 If proof were wanting of how little avail notices of 
 this description are usually found to be, in arresting the 
 course of calumnious censure on the memories of the 
 dead, the explanation of Lord Stourton on this Mar- 
 riage ceremony in a public Review in 1838, might, 
 indeed, be placed in juxtaposition with these Memoirs, 
 edited in 1854. 
 
 I am bound, however, to admit, that contradictions 
 of this description are seldom read, and if read are 
 seldom remembered ; and that in this case the noble 
 editor of his Father's Memoirs had probably never 
 either seen or heard of the note by Lord Stourton in 
 the Edinburgh Review. Indeed, much further than this, 
 a very able commentary in the Dublin Review, on the 
 very charges brought by Lord Holland against Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert (to which allusion has already been made,
 
 46 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and an extract from it introduced), has proved wholly 
 ineffectual in preventing the propagation of the very 
 same charges ; for the story in " the Memoirs " has 
 evidently been copied in a publication issued from the 
 press during the course of the present year. 
 
 I have stated the confidential trust reposed in my 
 brother, Lord Stourton, by Mrs. Fitzherbert, and have 
 quoted the very words in which she confides " her 
 conduct and character to his hands." In the year 
 1842, my brother made me acquainted with the 
 position in which he felt himself placed with regard 
 to the memory of this distinguished Lady and very 
 amiable relative, who was then dead. In the declining 
 state of his health at that time he expressed a not un- 
 natural anxiety, to deposit in other hands those con- 
 fidential communications which he had received from 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, together with the trust which he 
 had accepted, to avail himself of them for the defence 
 of her honour and reputation, should they be from 
 any quarter assailed. On placing certain manuscripts 
 in my hands which contained such particulars as he 
 had thought it desirable to commit to paper, he ex- 
 pressed his wish, that I should peruse them, and with 
 them receive that trust which had been reposed in 
 him by Mrs. Fitzherbert. The fulfilment of the con-
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 47 
 
 ditions of this trust, after his death, he wished to 
 delegate to me ; and in accordance with these views 
 I received from my brother the following letter: — 
 
 "DEAR LANGDALE, 
 
 " With your kind permission I have confided all the 
 papers relating to Mrs. Fitzherbert to your discretion 
 and entire control, as I am competent to do so. The 
 narrative you will find amongst them, however, pre- 
 pared for publication, is merely to place before you, 
 or any others whom you are or may be desirous of 
 perusing it, a short biographical account of the lead- 
 ing incidents in the life of this distinguished and 
 amiable personage, without more publicity than you 
 may deem essential to the protection of her innocence, 
 or for the maintenance of the character of her Church, 
 which, upon being directly applied to, had at Rome 
 sanctioned her connection with the Prince, and is, 
 therefore, amenable to the same tribunal of public 
 opinion as herself. 
 
 " This twofold interest of justice towards an 
 irreproachable individual, and justice to her reli- 
 gion, which is bound up with this guardianship of 
 the documents committed to my care, renders me 
 anxious, when I can no more protect them myself,
 
 48 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to confide them to hands where, as in your own, I 
 feel a full confidence that they will be preserved and 
 disposed of with all discretion towards the public, and 
 regard for the interests of religion and of the character 
 of Mrs. Fitzherbert, should it be assailed by future 
 writers, supported as their testimonies may be by 
 false or spurious records, impeaching the virtue of 
 the deceased Lady, or of the authorities which up- 
 held and approved her conduct. 
 
 " Believe me, 
 
 " My dear Charles, 
 
 " Your affectionate Brother, 
 " STOUKTON." 
 "Dec. 22, 1842. 
 " Hok. Charles Langdale." 
 
 This letter will sufficiently show the importance 
 attached by my brother to the trust reposed in him by 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, and especially to the connection 
 between the recognition of the conscientious character 
 of her Marriage with the Prince of Wales and the 
 Church to which Mrs. Fitzherbert and he equally be- 
 longed. As this latter ground is advanced by Lord 
 Stourton in a communication with Lord Albemarle as 
 forming a peculiar responsibility on his own part, as a
 
 MRS. FITZnERBERT. 49 
 
 member of the Catholic Church, and in this respect 
 imposing an additional obligation on him, to which Lord 
 Albemarle was not subject, I think it will be desirable 
 to give the substance of a letter addressed by the former 
 to his co-trustee ; especially as therein are shown the 
 reasons which influenced him in addressing the Edin- 
 burgh Review. 
 
 " 10, Mansfield Street. 
 " MY DEAR LORD, 
 
 " Your Lordship will, perhaps, see in the public papers 
 a paragraph with my name attached to it, and written 
 by myself, of which your Lordship may possibly disap- 
 prove. I have thought much upon the delicacy of the 
 trust out of which this paragraph has arisen, and the 
 peculiar responsibility of my own situation (in part only 
 shared by your Lordship), being the guardian alike 
 of the unsullied reputation of Mrs. Fitzherbert, con- 
 scientiously connected with George the Fourth in Mar- 
 riage, and of the character of my own Church, which 
 has sanctioned the contract. Had there existed an 
 entire community between us of duties in this to me 
 arduous and delicate trust, I should have felt strongly, 
 I am sure, disposed to be guided by your Lordship's 
 counsels. But knowing that this cannot be the case, I 
 
 E
 
 50 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 determined, after some months' deliberation, dating from 
 the perusal of the article in the Edinburgh Review, 
 imputing* to Mrs. Fitzherbert, being ' an accomplice in 
 crimes,' to make myself individually and singly re- 
 sponsible for an explanation, without taking counsel of 
 any person whatever to share my responsibilities, and 
 the hazards that may follow such a course as I have 
 adopted. But 'with Parliamentary history, and now 
 our most influential periodical history, against her, I 
 determined to give a true statement to the public, and 
 without allusion to any documents, to pledge at least 
 my own personal character to an attestation of the 
 truth, and of the purity of her fame. And I will not 
 deny to your Lordship that I selected the time, as the 
 best fitted to give a public denial, in the face of 
 Christendom, to the many imputations she had to bear 
 when living, but which ought not to be engraven on 
 her tomb. 
 
 " In your Lordship, I am sure, I shall have a favour- 
 able interpreter of my motives, even were you con- 
 strained to condemn the prudence of the act. I have 
 written this note simultaneously with the insertion of 
 the paragraph in the newspaper, that your Lordship 
 should not see that paragraph without hearing from 
 myself the cause assigned for its publication, and my
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 51 
 
 reasons for my not previously applying- to your Lord- 
 ship for advice on the occasion. 
 
 " I beg- your Lordship to make any use of this 
 letter that your Lordship may deem expedient or satis- 
 factory to yourself. 
 
 " I beg to remain, 
 
 " With my sincere respects, 
 " Your Lordship's faithful 
 " and obliged servant, 
 
 " STOUETON." 
 " To the Earl of Albemarle, 
 &c, &c." 
 
 The double responsibility, alluded to by Lord Stour- 
 ton in the above letter, is of course shared by myself in 
 accepting the trust which my brother delegated to me. 
 The union of these two duties, the defence of the cha- 
 racter of Mrs. Fitzherbert, and the connection of her 
 Marriage with the principles of our common Church, 
 cannot be better exemplified than by the very terms of 
 the charge brought against her, in that it makes the 
 supposed rules of the Church the ground of an accusa- 
 tion of unscrupulous profligacy, at the very time that 
 she was adhering to its injunctions, and, as will appear, 
 
 receiving a solemn sanction for her Marriage. 
 
 e 2
 
 52 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The death of my brother, Lord Stourton, on the 
 4th of December, 1846, called upon me to come to 
 some resolution as to the course I ought to pursue 
 in consequence of having accepted these delegated 
 trusts. From his executor, the present Lord Stourton, I 
 received a parcel of papers sealed, with the superscrip- 
 tion in the handwriting of the late Lord, " To be de- 
 livered, unopened, to the Hon. Charles Langdale." One 
 of the first of these papers referred to the documents 
 now publicly known to be deposited in the bank of 
 Messrs. Coutts. It was as follows : — 
 
 " These papers are placed by Mrs. Fitzherbert at 
 Messrs. Coutts and Co., at the disposal of the Earl of 
 Albemarle and Lord Stourton, according to a memo- 
 randum dated the 24th August, 1833. 
 
 (Signed) " WELLINGTON. 
 
 " ALBEMAELE. 
 " STOUETON." 
 
 " The above is a true Copy of the endorsement 
 on a sealed packet left in the care of Messrs. 
 Coutts and Co. by the Earl of Albemarle, 24th 
 August, 1833. 
 
 " COUTTS & Co."
 
 MRS. FITZ HERBERT. 53 
 
 Within this paper was enclosed the following, in the 
 handwriting of my brother, with his seal : — 
 
 " Oct. 20, 1842. 
 " In the event of my death or incapacity of acting 
 by illness, I jDlace all papers relating to Mrs. Fitzher- 
 bert at Coutts's, the bankers, or in any other place, 
 entirely under the control and disposition of my 
 Brother, the Hon. Charles Langdale. 
 
 " Witness my hand and seal, 
 
 "STOTTKTON." 
 
 However this paper might show the wishes of Lord 
 Stourton, there could be no question as to its inva- 
 lidity as a legal instrument. I, however, sent a copy 
 of it to Messrs. Coutts, and received from them the 
 following reply : — 
 
 " Strand, 18th Dec, 1846. 
 " SIR, 
 " We are honoured with your letter of yesterday's 
 date, enclosing a copy of a document signed by Lord 
 Stourton, purporting to give you the control and dis- 
 position of some papers left with us. 
 
 " The packet to which it refers was left with us by
 
 54 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the late Mrs. Fitzherbert, to be held at the disposal of 
 the Earl of Albemarle and Lord Stourton, and we 
 apprehend that the decease of the latter nobleman 
 places it at the absolute control of Lord Albemarle. 
 " We have the honour to be, 
 * Sir, 
 " Your most obedient, 
 
 " Humble servants, 
 
 " COUTTS & Co." 
 "The Hon. Cuaeles Lax gd ale." 
 
 I also wrote the following letter to the Duke of 
 Wellington, and addressed a copy of it, with a few 
 verbal alterations, to the Earl of Albemarle : — 
 
 " Dec. 1846. 
 "I take the liberty of informing your Grace, that on 
 the death of my Brother, Lord Stourton, on the 4th 
 instant, a parcel of papers was found addressed to me. 
 These papers refer, at great length, to the connection 
 of the late Mrs. Fitzherbert with his late Majesty 
 King George the Fourth. They also comprise several 
 letters from the Earl of Albemarle and two from your 
 Grace on the subject of certain documents left in the
 
 MRS. FITZ1IERBERT. 55 
 
 hands of Messrs. Coutts and Co., in a sealed packet, 
 and endorsed with the names of your Grace, the Earl 
 of Albemarle, and Lord Stourton. 
 
 " In reference to this packet my brother has left a 
 paper, of which I have the honour to enclose a copy. 
 Your Grace will, perhaps, excuse me for adding, that 
 my Brother's papers include a letter addressed to me, 
 expressing a confidence that I will preserve and dispose 
 of these details and correspondence with all discretion 
 towards the public, and regard for the interests of 
 religion and of the character of Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
 
 o 
 &C. 
 
 " I beg to assure your Grace, that, having accepted 
 from my lamented Relative during his life this con- 
 fidential and delicate trust, I have now no other 
 object than that mentioned in his letter. As the safe 
 custody of the documents left with Messrs. Coutts will 
 be the best security for those purposes, an acquiescence 
 on the part of your Grace and the Earl of Albemarle 
 in the wishes expressed by my Brother in the enclosed 
 paper, as far as admitting me to the trust occupied by 
 him, will fully satisfy all my sense of duty to the deli- 
 cate position in which this delegated confidence has 
 placed me. 
 
 (Signed, &c.) " CHARLES LANGDALK'
 
 56 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 To this letter I received the following replies from 
 the Duke of Wellington and the Earl of Albemarle : — 
 
 " Strathfieldsaye, Dec. 20, 1846. 
 " SIR, 
 
 " I have had the honour of receiving- your letter of 
 the 17th instant. I had before heard of the loss 
 sustained in the person of the late Lord Stourton. 
 
 " I have a perfect recollection of the circumstances 
 which you mention, including the sealed packet of 
 papers at Messrs. Coutts, under the seals of Lord 
 Stourton, the Earl of Albemarle, and myself. 
 
 " The control over the papers vested in Lord Albe- 
 marle is greater than that vested in myself. But I will 
 consent to any arrangement which Lord Albemarle 
 may advisedly suggest. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient humble Servant, 
 
 " WELLINGTON." 
 "The Hon. Ciiakles Lamjdale, 
 
 No. 10, Mansfield Street, 
 Cavendish Square, Loudon."
 
 MRS. FITZIIERBERT. 57 
 
 The Earl of Albemarle wrote as follows : — 
 
 " Berkeley Square, 18th Dec, 1846. 
 " DEAR S1K, 
 
 "I am suffering from an infirmity of sight, which 
 disables me at present from attending to any busi- 
 ness in which reading or writing is concerned. As 
 the letter with which you have honoured me relates 
 to a subject of a nature peculiarly delicate, and private, 
 I should be obliged to you to let me have a personal 
 interview with you, and I will wait upon you in 
 Mansfield Street, on Monday, at any hour that you 
 may appoint after two o'clock. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Your faithful Servant, 
 
 " ALBEMARLE." 
 " Hon. Charles Langdale." 
 
 In reply to my note, accepting his proposal, I 
 
 received the following 
 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 " I shall be happy to meet you either in this 
 house, or in Mansfield Street, between two and three
 
 58 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 on Monday, whichever may be most convenient to 
 
 you. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, 
 
 " Your faithful Servant, 
 
 "ALBEMAELE." 
 " Hon. Charles Langdale. 
 Saturday." 
 
 My interview with Lord Albemarle took place, on 
 the day appointed, at his Lordship's house in Berkeley 
 Square. According to a short note recording the result 
 of this interview, committed by me to paper the same 
 day, I received a promise that the documents at 
 Coutts's should not be removed from their custody 
 without informing me. Lord Albemarle further ex- 
 pressed himself painfully sensible of the trust now 
 vested solely in himself, but had received no reply from 
 the Duke of Wellington, who was out of town, on 
 the subject of my communication. He would try to 
 see him when he came to town. 
 
 Such, then, was the position in which I found 
 myself at the close of last year, after the pages of 
 Lord Holland's Memoirs had been pointed out to me, 
 impeaching the reputation of a virtuous Lady, not
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 59 
 
 only connected with me by relationship, and endeared 
 to all who knew her by her personal character, but 
 one -whose honour and virtue I had pledged myself 
 to my Brother to defend, in conformity with that same 
 anxious confidence which she had reposed in him. 
 
 Had I required other and further motives, I felt 
 myself called upon to justify the conscientious fulfil- 
 ment of a contract, not only, as will appear, sanc- 
 tioned by the Church, but to which, under peculiar 
 circumstances, the Church almost enjoined her to 
 adhere. 
 
 The question then arose how this defence was to 
 be undertaken. 
 
 It appeared, clearly, that the defence which had 
 boon made by Lord Stourton had altogether failed in 
 producing, at least, any permanent effects, for the very 
 grounds of his defence were made the argument for 
 founding a fresh charge against her whom he had 
 thus vainly attempted to protect. 
 
 What, then, could I hope from any course of a 
 similar description, or from any letter, whenever or 
 however addressed, to the noble editor of his Father's 
 Memoirs? It appeared to me, that if the character of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert was to be effectually rescued from the 
 attacks aimed at it through those pages, and if there
 
 60 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was any hope of securing it from misrepresentation for 
 the time to come, it would only be, by laying before the 
 public such a full and detailed account of the whole 
 course of this Lady's connection with King George 
 the Fourth, as would bear on the face of it the proof 
 of authenticity, and thus not only place before the 
 world at large her own conduct and motives, but also 
 show the part which the Church took in the recog- 
 nition of her Marriage. 
 
 Under these impressions, the first step I took was, 
 to inquire into whose possession the documents de- 
 posited at Coutts's had fallen on the death of Lord 
 Albemarle, which had taken place some time pre- 
 viously. I felt, not very unnaturally I think, that these 
 papers, which had been especially preserved by Mrs* 
 Fitzherbert, and placed at the disposal of trustees for 
 the defence of her character, ought now to be made 
 available for this purpose. And it must be admitted, 
 that I, nearly related as I was by blood, professing 
 also the same religious principles as the distinguished 
 Lady who had constituted the trusts, — pledged, more- 
 over, to one of these trustees, named by herself, I 
 may say to that one most identified with all the re- 
 sponsibilities of the trust, — to defend the character, 
 both of this Lady and the religion which she pro-
 
 MRS. FITZIIERBERT. 6 1 
 
 fessed, made no unreasonable demand, if not actually a 
 leo-al one, to the executor of the surviving trustee, into 
 whose hands a law had consigned the custody of the 
 papers, to have these preserved papers, or at least a 
 copy of them, placed at my disposal. 
 
 The correspondence below will show the character 
 of the application made by me to the Hon. and Rev. 
 Edward S. Keppel, the executor under the will of 
 the late Earl of Albemarle, and the result of such 
 application : — 
 
 " Houghton, Nov. 16, 1854. 
 " REV. SIR, 
 
 " Understanding that you were, by the will of the late 
 Lord Albemarle, appointed his executor and trustee, 
 I take the liberty of addressing you on a subject lately 
 brought under my notice, in ' The Memoirs of the 
 Whig Party, by the late Lord Holland, edited by his 
 Son.' I allude to the connection formed between 
 George the Fourth, when Prince of Wales, and Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert. 
 
 " Lord Holland thus refers to Mrs. Fitzherbert (p. 141, 
 vol. ii.), and, as he says, on the authority of a friend, 
 'a man of strict veracity:' — 'I believe, therefore, she 
 spoke with truth, when she frankly owned that she 
 had given herself up to him, trusted to his honour,
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and set no value on the ceremony which he (the Prince 
 of Wales) insisted on having solemnised.' 
 
 " You will observe, that this involves a direct charge 
 against the honour and religious principles of Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert. You may probably be aware, that the 
 late Lord Albemarle, and the late Lord Stourton (my 
 Brother), were entrusted by Mrs. Fitzherbert with 
 certain documents referring to her connection with 
 George the Fourth. These were deposited in a box 
 under their seals ; and, with the cognisance and seals 
 of the Duke of Wellington and Sir William Knighton, 
 as executors of George the Fourth, were committed to 
 the charge of Messrs. Coutts and Co., Bankers. 
 
 " On the death of my Brother, Lord Stourton, in 
 1846, I waited on the late Lord Albemarle, and in- 
 formed his Lordship, that I had, at the request of my 
 Brother, accepted the responsibility of defending the 
 reputation and religion of Mrs. Fitzherbert, by all 
 means in my power, should they be assailed from any 
 quarter whatsoever; that to enable me to do this 
 effectually, Lord Stourton had placed in my hands a 
 detailed account of Mrs. Fitzherbert's connection witli 
 George the Fourth, as detailed by Mrs. Fitzherbert 
 herself; and finally, that, as far as he could, by his 
 wishes, expressed under his hand and seal, he had con-
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 63 
 
 stituted me as his successor in the trust deposited with 
 Messrs. Coutts. 
 
 " I was aware, as I informed the late Lord Albemarle, 
 that those wishes of my Brother, however clearly ex- 
 pressed, could not legally confer on me the power of a 
 co-trustee ; but that from the other documents and 
 correspondence in my possession, I considered myself 
 not only empowered, but bound to my Brother and 
 our estimable friend and relative Mrs. Fitzherbert, to 
 rebut any charge that might be brought against her 
 fair name and character. 
 
 " The late Lord Albemarle expressed himself deeply 
 sensible of the importance of the documents of which 
 he was now the sole legal surviving trustee, and finally 
 promised that the box and papers should not be re- 
 moved from Messrs. Coutts's Bank without previously 
 acquainting me. 
 
 " This was all that I could at that time desire, as 
 no aspersions had then rendered it requisite that any 
 other course should be adopted. Unhappily this is no 
 longer the case : Mrs. Fitzherbert is charged, under 
 the high authority of the late Lord Holland, with 
 sacrificing her honour and her virtue to the impor- 
 tunity of the then Prince of Wales, regarding the
 
 64 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ceremony which took place between them as ' non- 
 sense,' &c* 
 
 " Had the late Lord Albemarle been still living, I 
 cannot admit a doubt, that his Lordship would at once 
 have made available the documents committed to the 
 joint charge of his Lordship and the late Lord Stour- 
 ton, for the special purpose of giving the most authentic 
 and solemn proofs of the importance which Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert had always attached to her conscientious union 
 with the Prince of Wales. As having morally, if not 
 legally, succeeded to the charge which my brother 
 had accepted, conjointly with the late Lord Albemarle, 
 I feel myself now bound in honour, as well as in 
 justice, to rebut the direct charge contained in these 
 Memoirs, and to denounce the 'veracity' of the in- 
 formant, be he who he may, who has thus calumniated 
 to Lord Holland the virtue and religious principles 
 of an estimable and strictly conscientious Lady. 
 
 " It is under these circumstances that I have now 
 the honour of addressing you as the representative of 
 the late Lord Albemarle ; and as the existence of 
 documents under the seals of Lords Albemarle and 
 Stourton as trustees, and of the Duke of Wellington 
 
 # Page 111, vol. ii.
 
 MRS. FITZIIERBERT. 65 
 
 and Sir William Knighton as witnesses, are now 
 matters of notoriety, I would beg leave to suggest 
 that the time is now arrived, when they should be 
 made available for the purposes for which they have 
 been preserved. 
 
 "As it is my intention to lay before the public a more 
 detailed account of Mrs. Fitzherbert's connection with 
 George the Fourth, when Prince of Wales, than has yet 
 appeared, I would beg to propose that a copy of the 
 preserved documents should be placed at my disposal, 
 the more effectually to establish the grounds upon 
 which the friends and relations of this Lady have ever 
 maintained her full and fair claim to their respect 
 and esteem, and to the character of an honourable 
 and religious woman. 
 
 " I have the honour to remain, 
 « Rev. Sir, 
 " Your obedient Servant, 
 
 "CHARLES LANGDALE." 
 "The Hon. and Rev. Edward S. Keppel." 
 
 To which I received the following reply : — 
 
 "Quidenham, Attleborough, Nov. 20, 1864. 
 "SIR, 
 
 " I must beg you to accept my apology for not ac- 
 
 F
 
 66 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 knowledging your letter bearing date the 16th instant 
 sooner, but I have felt the importance of your appli- 
 cation, and hesitated to comply with it, until I had 
 consulted some one whose position and station in life 
 and judgment might guide me to a right decision. 
 I have not at present had the opportunity of talking 
 over the circumstances with any one, and therefore 
 hope you will not press me for a few weeks to come 
 to a decision. The packet you refer to is safe at 
 Coutts's ; the seals at present unbroken. My own 
 opinion, I may add, is, that an unfair aspersion has 
 been made on Mrs. Fitzherbert's character by the late 
 Lord Holland, and now published by his son. I have 
 by me copies of my father's correspondence with the 
 late Duke of Wellington, your Brother, and yourself, 
 and I hardly see how the claim now made can be 
 rejected ; but I must beg for time. 
 
 " I am, Sir, 
 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 "ED WD. S. KEPPEL." 
 " Hon. Charles Langdale."
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 67 
 
 To this letter I replied : — 
 
 " Houghton, Brough, Yorkshire, Dec. 4, 1854. 
 " REV. SIR, 
 
 " I can have no objection to a few weeks' delay in 
 repelling- the attack directed against the character of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert. I must, however, observe that it 
 is important the defence should not be too long 
 delayed. Perhaps you will excuse me, if I repeat that 
 the object of the preservation of certain documents? 
 under the sanction of the parties whose seals are affixed 
 to the box at Messrs. Coutts's, was the protection of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert's character now assailed. 
 
 " I am, 
 
 " Rev. Sir, 
 " Your obedient Servant, 
 
 " CHAELES LANGDALE." 
 "Rev. Edward S. Keppel." 
 
 To this letter, not having received any further reply, 
 on the 16th February I wrote as follows : — 
 
 " Houghton, Feb. 10, 1855. 
 " REV. SIR, 
 
 " I hope that you will not consider me very impor- 
 tunate in now requesting to know the course you pro- 
 
 f 2
 
 68 MEMOIRS OK 
 
 pose to pursue regarding the papers reserved for the 
 defence of the late Mrs. Fitzherbert's reputation. I 
 feel that I ought not longer to defer fulfilling the 
 pledge which I gave to my Brother, and I trust that, 
 as now the sole legal trustee, you will aid me as far as 
 the reserved papers may do so. I go to-morrow, for a 
 week or ten days, to London, where I hope to hear 
 from you. My address will be Crawley's Hotel, Albe- 
 marle Street. 
 
 " I am, Sir, 
 
 " Your obedient Servant, 
 
 " CHAELES LAN GE ALE." 
 
 " Hon. and Eev. Edward S. Keppel." 
 
 To this letter I received the following reply :- 
 
 "Quidenham, Feb. 23, 1855. 
 "SIR, 
 
 " I thank you for having given me so much time to 
 
 consult with others respecting the advisable course for 
 
 me to take in the proper disposal of the papers depo-
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 69 
 
 sited at Messrs. Coutts's by the late Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
 The friend with whom I have been in conference by 
 letter is the Duke of Bedford, and through him I have 
 the opinion of the executors of the late Mrs. Fitzher- 
 bert, Sir G. Seymour and Mr. Forster. They are 
 strongly against the production of those papers. They 
 would only prove the Marriage of the Prince with Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, which is not questioned, as Lord Holland's 
 remarks go to the motives and feelings of herself and 
 the Prince, which the evidence in the papers would not 
 touch. The public might, or might not, be interested 
 in the production of the papers, but the revival of the 
 subject would, if it attracted interest, only pander to the 
 bad feelings or the curiosity of the great world, without 
 doing good, where it is sincerely intended. The public 
 mind is at rest on the subject, and might it not be ad- 
 visable to let it rest so ? I think the opinion of the 
 above parties should have weight. 
 
 " I am, Sir, 
 
 " Truly yours, 
 
 "EDWD. S. KEPPEL." 
 " The Hon. Cjiaeles Langdale."
 
 70 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 My reply to the above communication I here sub- 
 join :— 
 
 " March 13th, 1855. 
 "REV. SIR, 
 
 " I beg to acknowledge the receipt of yours, with the 
 opinions of the Duke of Bedford and of the executors 
 of the late Mrs. Fitzherbert on the subject of the 
 papers reserved by that Lady, and entrusted to the late 
 Earl of Albemarle and the late Lord Stourton, for the 
 vindication of her honour, should it be impugned after 
 her death. 
 
 " That the honour of this Lady, and her religious 
 principles, have been grossly impugned by a statement 
 of the late Lord Holland, in the papers published by 
 his son, is sufficiently notorious, and, indeed, is admitted 
 in a previous letter from yourself. 
 
 " The nobleman and gentlemen whom you have con- 
 sulted would appear to consider this of minor import- 
 ance, than the revival of a subject, which might " pander 
 to the bad feelings or curiosity of the great world ; that 
 the public mind is at rest on the subject, and that it 
 might be advisable to let it rest so." That the parties 
 consulted should have come to this conclusion, though 
 at the sacrifice of the fair reputation of this injured 
 Lady, does not, indeed, quite surprise me ; but I have
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 71 
 
 taken upon myself obligations which will not allow me 
 so easily to dispose of the fair fame of a Lady whose 
 honourable principles I have pledged myself to defend, 
 and which I am not prepared so readily to abandon to 
 an insulting charge, even though at the cost of what a 
 great world may say or think, or even at the risk of 
 damage to Royal reputation. 
 
 " That the reserved papers were intended for such a 
 purpose, and that the trustees to whose charge they 
 were committed received them with such an under- 
 standing from her whose property they were, you must 
 excuse me if I confidently repeat. The refusal to 
 place them at my disposal, only renders it the more 
 imperative upon me to lay before the public the 
 whole detail of the connection between Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert and George the Fourth, then Prince of Wales, 
 as narrated by herself to the late Lord Stourton ; 
 and which, without the reserved documents, will, I 
 trust, show to the world, that whatever the conduct 
 of George the Fourth may have been, that of Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, under trials of no ordinary description, Mas 
 such as to have done honour to the purity of her cha- 
 racter as a woman, and to her principles as a Catholic 
 "As in any course which I may deem it expedient to 
 take, reference will necessarily be made to the docu-
 
 72 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 merits which have formed the subject of our corre- 
 spondence, you cannot, of course, object that its pur- 
 port should be made public. 
 
 " I am, 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Your obedient Servant, 
 
 "CHAELES LANGDALE." 
 
 " The Hon. and Eey. Edwabd S. Keppel." 
 
 To this letter I received the following reply : — 
 
 " Quidenham, Attleborough, March 28, 1855. 
 " SIR, 
 " In reply to your letter of the 13th instant, allow me 
 to say, that I cannot object to your making public, as 
 you propose, the purport of our correspondence ; and can 
 only regret that I have, with the advice of others, not 
 felt myself at liberty to comply with your wishes in all 
 respects. I repeat, that the papers should have been 
 at your disposal, had they afforded any contradiction to 
 Lord Holland's imputations. He does not dispute the 
 fact of the Prince's Marriage with Mrs. Fitzhcrbert, so 
 the documents (as far as I can judge from the memo-
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 73 
 
 randum of their contents, which I have in my posses- 
 sion) cannot answer Lord Holland and his ungracious 
 imputation. These can only be rebutted by their own 
 inherent unreasonableness. 
 
 " I am, 
 " Sir, 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 "ED WD. S. KEPPEL." 
 "Hon. Charles Langdale." 
 
 Having thus failed in obtaining possession of the 
 papers reserved by Mrs. Fitzherbert, and placed under 
 the control of trustees, as it appeared to me specially 
 for the purpose for which I applied for them, it only 
 remained for me to consider what steps I should take, 
 not only to supply any deficiency of information arising 
 from the absence of these documents, but so completely 
 to establish every fact connected with the transactions 
 to which they relate, that no further reference could 
 be made to them, without the public at large being 
 in full possession of all the circumstances from which 
 they might be enabled fairly to form a judgment, as to 
 the course which Mrs. Fitzherbert had pursued, and as 
 to the grounds on which she acted. 
 
 I am free to acknowledge, that, during the lifetime
 
 74 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 of this Lady, delicacy would have prevented, even at 
 any cost of malignant calumnies, her personal approval 
 of being thus brought before the eyes of the public 
 in many of the more private relations in which she 
 was connected, both before and after her Marriage, 
 with the Prince of Wales. But that to which a sa- 
 crifice during life may be made, can no longer be to- 
 lerated, when it is attempted to affix a stigma on the 
 memory cf the dead. All minor considerations of 
 delicacy must then yield before the paramount duty to 
 the memory of a woman, to establish her full and fair 
 title to the virtue of chastity. That such was Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert's just prerogative, grounded upon the 
 strictest dictates of her conscience, and supported by 
 the principles of her religion, and sanctioned by the 
 decision of her Church, T am bound at all hazards to 
 establish. To this I consider myself pledged : this 
 I owe to the memory of the dead — this I owe to the 
 cause of \irtue, truth, and religion; and, at any per- 
 sonal risk of imputations, of what nature soever, or 
 from what quarter soever, this I am prepared, without 
 reserve, to undertake. 
 
 The period to which the publication of these 
 pages has been deferred, but too truly proves that 
 which I am free to acknowledge — not a doubt as
 
 MRS. FITZIIE11BERT. 75 
 
 to the duty, not a hesitation as to the course — but a 
 repugnance to appear thus in print before the public. 
 
 Circumstances have, indeed, contributed to this de- 
 lay longer than might otherwise have been the case. 
 I had proceeded some way in the task which I have 
 imposed upon myself, when my writing-case, contain- 
 ing my manuscript, of which I had no copy, was 
 stolen from me, and I had to recommence that in 
 which I had, with some trouble and much cost of in- 
 clination, considerably advanced. 
 
 But had I even doubted, had a hope, however fal- 
 lacious, encouraged me to adopt the suggestion of the 
 concluding lines of Mr. Keppel's letter, that " the 
 ungracious imputations of Lord Holland can only be 
 rebutted by their own inherent unreasonableness," and 
 that, therefore, I might at least depend upon the ma- 
 licious calumny of the unnamed informant being limited 
 to the lately-published Memoirs, the last few months 
 have but too truly proved the trite observation as to 
 the sure and rapid propagation of every scandalous 
 story; inasmuch as, on the authority of Lord Holland, 
 the infamous charges of his veracious friend have been 
 reproduced, with the usual advantage of accompany- 
 ing epithets, which too well show the efficacy of the 
 poison circulated in the original libels.
 
 76 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The author of the Lives of the Queens of the 
 House of Hauover says, in the Introduction to his 
 wor k : * — « Whenever I could find an eyewitness, I 
 have allowed him to speak, and occasionally at some 
 length, for I question if one could narrate what Ulysses 
 saw better — that is, more truly — than Ulysses himself." 
 
 On this principle the author transcribes Lord Hol- 
 land's story, that it was the Prince of Wales, and not 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, who insisted upon the Marriage cere- 
 mony being performed. " Mrs. Fitzherbert, however, 
 frankly enough said, that the ceremony would be all 
 nonsense, and that she was ready to trust to his 
 honour." The addition, that this was on the faith of 
 an unnamed friend of Lord Holland, " a man of strict 
 veracity," is, however, left out, and the naked fact is 
 stated as one of unquestioned notoriety. Accord- 
 ingly, this writer does not hesitate elsewhere to place 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert in the same category as a debauched 
 actress. " Mrs. Crouch, the actress, and Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert, were the Lucy and Polly to whom this light- 
 of-heart Prince gaily sang his ' How happy could I be 
 with either !" : 
 
 Now, supposing this author to adopt as true the 
 
 * " Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover," 
 2 vols. Second Edition, 1855.
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 77 
 
 alleged quotations from Lord Holland, I am far from 
 wishing to condemn the parallel drawn between a 
 Lady, however differing in rank and worldly esteem, 
 and the poor despised actress. I am at a loss, indeed, 
 to know what these impugners of the character of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert can mean, or what they may suppose 
 that she herself meant, by what they quote as her 
 words, " trusting to his honour," in the same breath 
 that she avows having dishonoured herself. On these 
 suppositions I can make no distinction between the 
 victims of lawless passion ; but were I inclined to do 
 so, it should be in favour of the poor seduced actress 
 over the lady of rank and fashion, where either the 
 Marriage ceremony was indeed considered nonsense, or 
 where, as unfortunately for the character of George 
 the Fourth, there was not even the semblance of such 
 sanction. But in this publication, insulting as it is in 
 its inferences against the character of Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
 there is what Mr. Keppel styles the same " inherent 
 unreasonableness" from the quotations which he selects 
 from other works, as well as Lord Holland's; all show- 
 ing not only the respect paid by the Royal Family 
 generally, but a noble assertion of the rights of a wile, 
 and a self-respect in public demeanour, equally opposed 
 to, and incompatible with, the character of guilt.
 
 78 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Indeed, Dr. Doran appears to feel the force of this, 
 when he observes, upon certain extracts from the 
 " Diary " illustrative of the Court of George the 
 Fourth, that they evince " a judgment which abounds 
 in a confusion of terms, and exhibit a mental perversion 
 in him who pronounced it." This " Diary " is quoted 
 as stating of Mrs. Fitzherbert, that she "had a stronger 
 hold over the Regent than any of the other objects of 
 his admiration, and that he always paid her the respect 
 which her conduct commanded." Certainly, here is 
 confusion of terms and mental perversion enough, if 
 all the respect which she could command was that 
 which was due to an abandoned wanton. 
 
 Again, the " Diary " pronounces Mrs. Fitzherbert to 
 « have been " the most faultless and honourable mistress 
 that ever a prince had the good fortune to be attached 
 to." 
 
 If by the term "mistress" crime is implied, well 
 may Dr. Doran complain of confusion in the epithet 
 of honour attached thereto ; and if the good fortune 
 of a prince consists in successful debauchery, he can 
 hardly too strongly comment on such mental and 
 moral perversion. 
 
 But the following extracts from the "Diary" are too 
 creditable to the then Prince of Wales not to be gladly
 
 MRS. FITZIIERBERT' 79 
 
 added to these pages. " It should be added," says Dr. 
 Doran,* " that the intelligence no sooner reached the 
 ears of the Queen than she commanded the attend- 
 ance of her son, and insisted on knowing the whole 
 truth. The Prince is declared not only to have acknow- 
 ledged the fact of the Marriage, but to have asserted that 
 no power on earth should separate him from his wife. 
 He is reported to have added, in reference to the 
 King's alleged marriage with Hannah Lightfoot, that 
 his father would have been a happier man had he 
 remained firm in standing by the legality of his own 
 marriage. It would be difficult to say who was at 
 hand to take down the Prince's speech on this occa- 
 sion ; but, according to the author last named, it Mas 
 substantially as follows : — ' But I beg farther that my 
 wife be received at Court, and proportionately as your 
 Majesty receives her, and pays her attention from this 
 time, so shall I render my attentions to your Majesty. 
 The lady I have married is worthy of all homage, and 
 my very confidential friends, with some of my wife's 
 relations only, witnessed our Marriage. Have you not 
 always taught me to consider myself heir to the first 
 sovereignty in the world? Where, then, will exist any 
 
 * " Lives of the Queens of England of the House of 
 Hanover."
 
 80 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 risk of obtaining a ready concurrence from the House in 
 my Marriage ? I hope, madam, a few hours' reflection 
 will satisfy you, that I have done my duty in following 
 the impulse of my inclinations, and therefore I await 
 your Majesty's commands, feeling assured that you 
 would not blast the happiness of your favourite 
 Prince.' The Queen is said to have been softened by 
 his rather illogical reasoning. It is certain, that Her 
 Majesty received Mrs. Fitzherbert, at a drawing-room 
 in the following year, with very marked courtesy. 
 
 " Sixteen years later, and, of course, long after the 
 Marriage of the Prince of Wales with Caroline of 
 Brunswick, Mrs. Fitzherbert was still so high in the 
 Prince's favour that we find the following record in 
 Lord Malmesbury's Diary, under the date of May 25, 
 1803: — 'Duke of York came to me at five. Uneasy 
 lest the Duchess should be forced to sup at the same 
 table with Mrs. Fitzherbert, at the ball to be given by 
 the Knights of the Bath, on the 1st of June. Talks it 
 over with me ; says the King and Queen will not hear 
 of it. On the other side, he wishes to keep on terms 
 with the Prince. I say, I will see Lord Henley, who 
 manages the fete, and try to manage it so that there 
 shall be two distinct tables; one for the Prince, to 
 which he is to invite, another for the Duke and
 
 MRS. FITZ HERBERT. 81 
 
 Duchess, to which she is to invite her company.' 
 The dislike of Mrs. Fitzherbert for the Duchess of 
 York was as determined as that entertained by the 
 same lady against Fox, whom she never forgave for 
 denving the fact of her Marriage with the Prince." 
 
 Now, once more, how does all this accord with 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert's alleged repudiation of the Marriage 
 ceremony between herself and the Prince, and that 
 " she had given herself up to him — trusting to his 
 honour?" 
 
 Here, then, is the course which charges, however 
 deeply affecting character, but too usually run. One 
 noble Lord writes Memoirs, and therein tells an in- 
 credible story on the authority of some friend, of whose 
 " veracity " he says he entertains a high opinion. The 
 noble son publishes these Memoirs to the world, tales 
 and all, however damaging to the fair name of a Lady 
 avowedly esteemed and respected by the highest and 
 brightest of the country. Then comes the writer who 
 collects, from every available source, the best informa- 
 tion, and relates it in the language, and rests its 
 authenticity on the faith, of others. 
 
 In answer to all this, I now proceed to present Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert's own account of her connection with George 
 the Fourth, when Prince of Wales ; and as 1 purpose to 
 
 a
 
 82 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 give it full and entire, as delivered by the Lady her- 
 self to a near relative and attached friend, whose name 
 shall vouch for the truthfulness of the narration as 
 delivered to him, I cannot but hope, that on the face 
 of these hitherto private circumstances of the relation- 
 ship between Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince, there 
 will be stamped such a character of authenticity, as to 
 place on lasting record the events themselves, as well 
 as the circumstances and motives which preceded, ac- 
 companied, closed, and, I may venture to say, justified 
 them. 
 
 It is indispensable, however, for me previously to 
 lay before the reader the correspondence between the 
 parties concerned in depositing the sealed documents 
 with Messrs. Coutts. The character of these docu- 
 ments will, in a great degree, compensate for the refusal 
 on the part of the executors of the late Earl of Albe- 
 marle to place the papers themselves at my disposal. 
 
 It has already appeared, in my communication with 
 the Hon. and Rev. Edward Keppel (to whom, upon the 
 death of Lord Albemarle as surviving trustee of Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, the trust of those papers devolved as exe- 
 cutor to the late Earl), that I claimed the right of 
 making any use I might think expedient of these pre- 
 served papers, — preserved for the very purpose for
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 83 
 
 which I put in my claim ; not, indeed, a legal claim, 
 as I have before admitted, but a moral right, to judge 
 how far they might aid in establishing, once for all, 
 the fair fame of the Lady who, in her anxiety to 
 maintain it untainted by the breath of reproach, had 
 consigned these treasured documents to the keeping 
 of her dearest friends and near relatives. 
 
 In support of this view, I think I can safely 
 appeal, not only to portions of this correspondence, on 
 the part of Mrs. Fitzherbert's trustees, but also, as 
 reported by Lord Albemarle to Lord Stourton, to a 
 letter, dated February 1, 1841, by the Duke of Wel- 
 lington, strongly as he protested against opening the 
 sealed paper, in another communication from him- 
 self to Lord Stourton. Lord Albemarle thus reports 
 the sentiments expressed by the Duke of Welling- 
 ton : — " There was not now, nor had there been, any 
 attack upon Mrs. Fitzherbert's reputation. Did any 
 appear in any quarter, he would be eager in joining us to 
 repel it." 
 
 Lord Albemarle's letter to Lord Stourton, dated 
 April G, 1837, on the death of Mrs. Fitzherbert, which 
 had then recently occurred, sufficiently shows how 
 sensitive this noble Lord was to the trust reposed in 
 him, and how anxious lie was promptly to take any 
 
 g 2
 
 84 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 steps which might be serviceable in regard to the 
 documents confided to his care. The advisers, indeed, 
 of the Hon. and Rev. Gentleman take a different view 
 of the expediency of moving in the matter ; and, rather 
 than arouse public attention to these bygone events, 
 are willing to consign the character of an innocent and 
 injured woman to the obloquy which her contempo- 
 raries would have thought it only a bare act of justice 
 to repel. Sympathising with these kinder feelings, I 
 will enable the public to judge between us, by laying 
 before them the sentiments entertained on the subject 
 (as far as the same may be collected from the corre- 
 spondence which took place) by the principal actors 
 concerned in these transactions. 
 
 " The Stud House, August 10, 1833. 
 "DEAR LORD STOURTON, 
 
 " I have much pleasure in informing you, that our 
 business is drawing towards a satisfactory termination. 
 After two interviews with the Duke of Wellington, we 
 have agreed, subject to your approbation, to the proposed 
 terms, which I direct to you under another cover. Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert is, I believe, perfectly satisfied. I have had 
 the honour of submitting to the King* a full statement 
 
 * King William the Fourth.
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 85 
 
 of the whole case, and his Majesty gives his cordial 
 sanction to the proposed arrangement. It, however, 
 waits for your approval ; and should anything occur to 
 you as neglected, or incautiously guarded, have the 
 goodness to let me know. The Duke of Wellington 
 takes it upon his own responsibility that Sir William 
 Knighton shall retain no papers whatever, and the word 
 knowledge in the proposal does not mean any restraint 
 over our disposition of the papers retained, but merely 
 that the other party shall not be taken by surprise by 
 our publication of them without notice. I think it a 
 word useless to be inserted, but of no consequence. 
 
 " I have been commanded by the King to invite Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert to dine with him on Saturday, the 24th, 
 and also your Lordship, to meet her on that day, should 
 it happen that you are in London. 
 " Believe me, 
 
 " Dear Lord Stourton, 
 " Sincerely yours, 
 
 " ALBEMAKLE." 
 
 " Correct Copy, 
 
 Stoueton." 
 
 It is agreed by Mrs. Fitzherbert on the one part, and
 
 86 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the executors of the late King on the other, that each 
 will destroy all papers and documents (with the excep- 
 tion of those hereafter mentioned) in the possession of 
 either, signed or written by Mrs. Fitzherbert, or by her 
 directions, or signed or written by the late King, when 
 Prince of Wales, or King of Great Britain, &c, or by 
 his command. The two parties agree, that in case any 
 papers signed or written by either of the parties above 
 mentioned, or by the authority of either, shall ever 
 hereafter be found among the papers of the other, they 
 shall be given up as the property of the writer or 
 signer thereof, or of the person who authorised the 
 writing or signature thereof. Such papers and docu- 
 ments as Mrs. Fitzherbert shall wish to keep, shall be 
 sealed up in a cover under the seals of the Duke of 
 Wellington and Sir William Knighton, and of the Earl 
 of Albemarle and Lord Stourton, and be lodged in the 
 bank of Messrs. Coutts, at the disposition of the Earl 
 of Albemarle and of Lord Stourton. The seals not to 
 be broken without the knowledge of the Duke of Wel- 
 lington and Sir William Knighton. It is understood 
 that no copy of any paper or document is to be taken 
 or kept on either side."
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 87 
 
 Here follows a list of the papers and documents 
 retained by Mrs. Fitzherbert : — 
 
 " 1. The Mortgage on the Palace at Brighton. 
 
 " 2. The Certificate of the Marriage, dated Dec. 21st, 
 
 1785. 
 
 " 3. Letter from the late King, relating to the Mar- 
 riage, signed [George the Fourth]. 
 
 " 4. Will written by the late King [George the 
 Fourth]. 
 
 "5. Memorandum written by Mrs. Fitzherbert, at- 
 tached to a letter written by the clergyman who per- 
 formed the Marriage Ceremony. 
 " Correct Copy, 
 
 "Stottetox." 
 
 " An exact copy. Witness my hand, 
 
 "STOURTON." 
 
 * 
 
 " Berkeley Square, June 5, 1837. 
 "DEAR LORD STOURTON, 
 
 " I hope the words of the endorsement, of which T 
 
 forward a copy, will fully answer the object desired. 
 
 k ' Very faithfully yours, 
 
 "ALBEMARLE." 
 
 p*.ja«AS> /ccv« t^o-u/ Auu, .Jft,. /i~y OV . H. ■ 
 
 l
 
 88 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In the handwriting of Lord Stonrton, but added 
 " not exact Copy :" — 
 
 " I entirely concur in the proposal transmitted to 
 me by the Earl of Albemarle, and give my sanction 
 to any mode that Mrs. Fitzherbert and Lord Albe- 
 marle may deem expedient for carrying it into effect. 
 I will affix my seal to the parcel containing the re- 
 served documents on my return to town, and I now 
 authorise the Earl of Albemarle, with the concurrence 
 of Mrs. Fitzherbert, to destroy the rest. 
 
 " I would only observe, that ' the ktiotvledge' of the 
 Duke of Wellington and Sir William Knighton, Bart., 
 is not understood to make them of necessity consent- 
 ing parties to the inspection of the reserved papers to 
 be deposited at Coutts's Banking-house, — and I will 
 take the liberty of suggesting, whether it might not be 
 advisable, for the clear understanding of the parties, 
 and to avoid any future misapprehension, that Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert should be consulted as to the future ap- 
 pointment of Trustees under this trust, but liable to 
 the same limitations to the appointment of herself, 
 whether by herself during life, or by the Earl of 
 Albemarle and Lord Stourton, should they survive her; 
 or the death of any other parties whose sanction or
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 89 
 
 privity is required by the proposal, might perhaps be 
 construed against the friends of Mrs. Fitzherbert into 
 a surrender of the papers. 
 
 " I tender these suggestions, leaving' it to Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert and the Earl of Albemarle to give them only 
 such weight as they may think they possess, and fully 
 concurring in their decision. 
 
 " Witness my signature, 
 
 " STO TJETOX." 
 
 " The Stud House, August 25. 
 " DEAR LORD STOURTON, 
 
 " The difficulty of finding the Duke of Wellington 
 unengaged, and that alone, has caused the delay. 
 
 " I am happy in being able to inform you, that the 
 business is now completely arranged, and, I believe I 
 may add, to the satisfaction of all parties. Yesterday, 
 the Duke of Wellington, Mrs. Fitzherbert, and myself, 
 were busily engaged in burning all the letters on either 
 side, with the exception of those which Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert chose to keep. It would be unjust to the 
 Duke of Wellington, if I did not say that his conduct 
 was gentlemanly and friendly to Mrs. Fitzherbert in 
 every respect, and I know that she is perfectly satis- 
 fied.
 
 90 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " After our great work of burning was over, I went 
 to Messrs. Coutts's, and delivered into Mr. Dickie's 
 hands (by Mrs. Fitzherbert's desire) the parcel con- 
 taining the documents and letters reserved, signed 
 and sealed by the Duke of Wellington and myself. 
 Whenever your Lordship returns to London you will 
 have the goodness to add your name and seal. 
 
 " It is satisfactory to me to add, that amongst the 
 papers brought and destroyed by the Duke of Welling- 
 ton, were the letters which Mrs. Fitzherbert had missed, 
 and which she supposed to have been obtained by Sir 
 William Knighton, and kept by him. I believe the 
 letters were of no consequence, but I clearly saw that 
 this circumstance was an additional relief to Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert's mind. I am sure we both cordially agree in 
 the hope, and I trust I may add in the confidence, that 
 her anxiety on this most delicate subject may now be 
 entirely set at rest. She expresses most feelingly her 
 gratitude to your Lordship for your useful and zealous 
 assistance. 
 
 " Believe me, dear Lord Stourton, 
 
 " Sincerely yours, 
 
 " ALBEMAKLE." 
 
 " Correct Copy, 
 
 " Stoueton."
 
 (( 
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 91 
 
 In the handwriting of Lord Stonrton, but added, 
 not exact Copy :" — 
 
 " DEAR LORD ALBEMARLE, 
 
 " Under the propitious auspices of your Lordship, I 
 confidently anticipated the favourable issue to which 
 you have brought Mrs. Fitzherbert's concerns, and I 
 am happy to hear that she is satisfied with the result. 
 I think Mrs. Fitzherbert retains everything essential to 
 the protection of her character and property; and it 
 must be a solid consolation that His Majesty has 
 been graciously pleased to interest himself in, and 
 to sanction, an arrangement which, while it protects 
 the parties, shelters them at the same time from un- 
 necessary publicity. 
 
 " May I request your Lordship to make known to 
 His Majesty my due sense of the honour he was so con- 
 descending as to confer upon me by his commands to 
 meet Mrs. Fitzherbert at dinner on the 24th, and to 
 make the proper apologies on account of absence from 
 town. 
 
 " With respect to the agreement which your Lord- 
 ship has enclosed, I would only suggest one circum- 
 stance, that, as the Marriage, however illegal, is 
 considered by our Church as valid, whether Mrs. Fitz-
 
 92 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 herbert might not be advised to write at the back of 
 the certificate, ' No issue from this Marriage. 
 
 " ' Witness my hand, 
 
 « < M. F— H— ItT.' 
 
 " I offer this suggestion on two grounds : the 1st, 
 on historical grounds, that in all after-times it may 
 be known there was no such issue; the 2nd, that it 
 will render the document more valuable, and, conse- 
 quently, more likely to be preserved. I merely make 
 the suggestion, but place no consequence upon it, if 
 either Mrs. Fitzherbert or yourself see any objection. 
 I beg my kind regards to her ; and will you be kind 
 enough to acquaint her, that I could come to town if 
 she desired it, but I feel I could be of no use, as your 
 Lordship has my entire sanction, and any friend of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert might be authorised by me to sign 
 and seal the preserved papers, as well as to satisfy the 
 Duke of Wellington and Sir William Knighton of the 
 destruction of the others. But, at the same time, I 
 beg my fair Cousin will command any services she may 
 require. 
 
 " Your Lordship possessing at once the friendship of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert and the confidence of His Majesty, is 
 all that can be requisite to carry your own successful
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 93 
 
 negotiation to a close in its details ; and if you and 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert "will allow me to be, which I could 
 only be from the first, a sleeping partner in the firm, I 
 shall not, I beg your Lordship to believe, be less grate- 
 ful on my own part, for having enabled us to bring 
 this delicate business to a termination alike beneficial 
 to all." 
 
 " Berkeley Square, April 6, 1837. 
 "DEAR LORD STOURTON, 
 
 "A duty connected with much delicacy, and perhaps 
 also with much difficulty, has fallen upon us by the death 
 of our much-valued friend Mrs. Fitzherbert. There 
 have been already some articles in the newspapers, 
 particularly in the " Times " yesterday, and notices of 
 publication of Memoirs, &c, which may call for our 
 interference. I earnestly hope your Lordship will soon 
 be in London, that the benefit of your advice and the 
 sanction of your judgment may be made serviceable to 
 the charge confided to us. It appears to me, that the 
 first step taken is of fearful importance, and it may 
 also be necessary that it may be taken promptly. It 
 would not be right for me to act alone, nor dare I do 
 it. I cannot help repeating my earnest hope that you
 
 + 
 
 9-4 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 may be able to be in London ; and in the meantime 
 have the goodness to communicate to me anything 
 which your judgment may suggest to you as right to 
 be done. 
 
 '• I have the honour to be, 
 
 " My dear Lord, 
 
 " Very faithfully yours, 
 
 " ALBEMAELE " 
 
 " Correct Copy, 
 
 " Stourton." 
 
 "MY DEAR LORD, 
 
 " I had penned a note to your Lordship when I was 
 last in town, but the alarming illness of my mother 
 called me into the country at an hour's notice, and the 
 same cause continuing prevented my return; or I should 
 ere this, have again troubled your Lordship about Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert's papers. I do not feel satisfied that we 
 have done everything required, till I am cognisant of 
 the nature of the document signed 5 in our Memoran- 
 dum, said to contain a Memorandum written by 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, attached to a letter written by the 
 clergyman who performed the Marriage ceremony. 
 
 "Of all the Documentary Papers, I consider this
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 95 
 
 probably the most important ; particularly, if I am cor- 
 rect in the notion that this Memorandum contains Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert's testimony that no issue arose from this 
 Marriage. At all events, the clergyman's letter is, in 
 itself (particularly as the Certificate is a mutilated in- 
 strument), a valuable record in favour of our friend's 
 reputation. I had myself, previously to this arrange- 
 ment, taken the liberty to counsel Mrs. Fitzherbert to 
 leave some evidence in her own handwriting as to the 
 circumstances of no issue arising from this connection, 
 and had advised it being noted with her own signature 
 at the back of the Certificate. To this she smilingly 
 objected, on the score of delicacy, and I only state it 
 at present in justification of my expectation that the 
 Memorandum I have alluded to is to this effect. Be 
 it as it may, I cannot rest satisfied that I have en- 
 tirely fulfilled my duty towards my relative and friend, 
 while I remain in entire ignorance of the exact purport 
 of this clergyman's letter and the attached Memoran- 
 dum. 
 
 " I may take an erroneous view of this matter, but 
 
 having taken it, I am confident that your Lordship Mill 
 
 be the first to excuse my pressing it upon you. I am 
 
 aware that these papers at Coutts's cannot be opened 
 
 without the ' knowledge ' of his Grace the Duke of
 
 96 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Wellington, though ' placed by Mrs. Fitzherbert at 
 Messrs. Coutts's, also at the disposal of the Earl of 
 Albemarle and Lord Stourton, according to a Memo- 
 randum dated the 24th August, 1833.' 
 
 " I am also aware that bis Grace expressed much re- 
 luctance to the breaking of the seals, when I applied, 
 since Mrs. Fitzherbert's death, for the opening of the 
 parcel, and that I was myself induced, however reluc- 
 tantly, to yield to his Grace's suggestions, and to leave 
 the documents for the time undisturbed. The Duke 
 of Wellington assumed, that Mrs. Fitzherbert herself 
 had shown an indisposition to disturb and re-open this 
 parcel, and therefore that her friends could not, and 
 ought perhaps not, to be more watchful over her cha- 
 racter than she had been herself. I ventured I think, 
 at the moment, in the interview I had the honour of 
 receiving at Apsley House with his Grace, to state, that 
 my acquaintance with Mrs. Fitzherbert's sentiments as 
 to these papers was wholly at variance with the views 
 so entertained by his Grace. 
 
 " But the Duke of Wellington may now evince less 
 objection to our seeing, or to your Lordship alone in- 
 specting, and giving me an account of the letter and 
 adjoined Memorandum, for this would'satisfy me. And 
 in pursuance of this object, I authorise your Lordship
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 97 
 
 to break the seal affixed by myself, either in the 'pre- 
 sence of his Grace the Duke of Wellington, or not. 
 
 " Since my interview with his Grace on this business, 
 I have felt obliged, by a sense of duty, to contradict, in 
 my own name, the statements in the Edinburgh Review 
 (with the knowledge of their author), and I have been 
 appealed to by a court of law, by a Judge of the land, 
 in testimony of no child being born from this illegal 
 Contract. I have, moreover, in common with his 
 Grace, been appealed to by an impostor,* assuming 
 to have been the issue of this connection. I have, 
 therefore, various grounds to desire to know all essen- 
 tial particulars respecting papers confided to our joint 
 care and disposition. 
 
 " The Duke stands upon other grounds, and represents 
 other interests. Should his Grace say, that he cannot 
 allow those seals to be broken without informinjr the 
 Highest Personage in the country, as he informed us on 
 our last application during the lifetime of William the 
 Fourth, be it so. These Documents were placed at 
 our disposition, with the express sanction of William 
 the Fourth ; and I cannot assume that her present 
 Majesty will decline sanctioning any claims springing 
 
 * To this person I have never replied, nor ever intended to 
 do so. 
 
 II
 
 98 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 from a sense of duty in the fulfilment of a delicate 
 and important trust. 
 
 " I subjoin an extract from one of the letters 
 I have preserved ; and, I may add, that my very 
 last communication with Mrs. Fitzherbert related to 
 these papers ; but it was destroyed when read, as it 
 merely referred to our deliberations at our next meet- 
 ing in town, which her death soon after prevented. 
 My knowledge, as I have before informed your Lord- 
 ship, that her end was wholly unexpected by herself 
 for some days which preceded it, until she was wholly 
 unequal to take cognisance of any business whatsoever, 
 will account for no further notice. This information I 
 received from the Roman Catholic clergyman, Don 
 Lopez, her private chaplain. The following is the 
 extract alluded to : — ' I have seen Lord Albemarle 
 frequently, and told him the contents of your letter 
 respecting your seal, in case the papers should be re- 
 moved from Coutts's ; but as you had left town, and as 
 you were the chief person I wished to consult about 
 them, I have, for the present,* desired Lord Albemarle 
 not to make any application to the Duke of Welling- 
 ton till some future occasion.' 
 
 * Underlined by myself, and not by Mrs. Fitzberbert.
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 99 
 
 " I have not the exact date of this quotation, but 
 the black edge, and the mention of Mr. Craven, the 
 Dowager Marchioness of Downshire's death, and her 
 return from abroad, sufficiently mark the time, and 
 her intention of not leaving these papers finally at 
 Coutts's. 
 
 "A further question still must obtrude upon us, and 
 I shall at any time be glad to receive your Lordship's 
 sentiments upon it. What is to become eventually of 
 these papers ? Mrs. Fitzherbert assigned her reasons 
 to me for not placing them either under the custody 
 of the Darners or the Jerninghams ; and did me the 
 honour, as probably she also consulted your Lordship, 
 of advising with me respecting them ; but this is a 
 more remote question, and even the Memorandum I 
 want to see may offer some suggestion. 
 
 " The first question is, and to that I cannot reply 
 in any maimer quite satisfactory to myself, what 
 these papers are? Your Lordship will, therefore, par- 
 don me for again troubling you and, through your 
 Lordship, his Grace the Duke of Wellington, to 
 satisfy me on this point. Believe me, my dear Lord, 
 nothing but the sense of a sacred obligation to the 
 memory of a confiding friend Mould render me thus 
 
 h 2
 
 100 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 importunate. This long letter (I wish, for your Lord- 
 ship's sake, I could have abridged it satisfactorily 
 to myself) is entirely at your disposal, to send or 
 not to the Duke — at your entire command ; and I 
 shall hope his Grace will see the necessity for my ob- 
 servations, and his own ability to comply with them, as 
 far at least as your Lordship's inspection, without any 
 difficulty on his part. 
 
 " I have the honour to remain, 
 " My Lord, 
 " Your Lordship's obliged 
 
 " and obedient Servant, 
 
 "STOTTRTON." 
 
 " Berkeley Square, February 1, 1841. 
 "DEAR LORD STOURTON, 
 
 "The Duke of Wellington's engagements, as well as 
 my own official duties at the beginning of the Session, 
 have prevented me from putting forward the wish con- 
 tained in the letter with which you honoured me about 
 a week ago, till Saturday, when I called upon his Grace, 
 and submitted your letter to his attention. He was
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 101 
 
 particularly kind and courteous in his manner, and read 
 your letter with great attention, He then requested 
 me to state to you, that he felt he had a public duty as 
 well as a private one to perform, in keeping the papers 
 alluded to, if possible, undisturbed, on account of their 
 importance ; that there was not now, nor had there 
 been, any attack upon Mrs. Fitzherbert's reputation. 
 Did any appear in any quarter, he would be eager in 
 joining us to repel it ; that all was well now. How- 
 ever, he was very unwilling to raise any difficulty in 
 your way to satisfy yourself upon every particular that 
 you wished, and when you arrived in London he hoped 
 to have the opportunity of talking over the subject 
 with you in the most friendly dispositions. 
 
 " The Duke added, that he thought the other point 
 in your letter, respecting the future disposal of the 
 papers, deserved very serious consideration, and he 
 was very anxious to discuss this matter when your 
 Lordship came to London, and we could all be 
 present together. 
 
 " I have no political news to report. There seems 
 to be at present a calm, probably however to be soon 
 broken by a storm, but from what quarter no one seems 
 to know. Perhaps Lord Stanley's Irish Legislation Bill 
 
 IT 
 
 ORNIA
 
 102 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 may make a beginning to-morrow. However, the in- 
 tentions of the Opposition are kept secret. 
 " I have the honour to be, 
 
 " My dear Lord, 
 
 " Very faithfully yours, 
 
 " ALBEMAELE." 
 " Lord Stourton, 
 " &c, &c." 
 
 " Walmer Castle, August 10, 1841. 
 " MY LORD, 
 
 " When the late Mrs. Fitzherbert desired to receive 
 from those who had possession of the papers of the late 
 King George the Fourth, under authority of His Ma- 
 jesty's last Will, all papers written by herself, or relating 
 to herself, I considered that I performed a duty towards 
 His then late Majesty George the Fourth, towards the 
 Sovereign on the throne, and the Royal Family, as 
 well as to Mrs. Fitzherbert, and the public at large, by 
 submitting to that Lady the proposition that all papers 
 in the possession of those who had charge of the King's 
 papers under authority of his last Will, which related to 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, or were written or signed by herself,
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 103 
 
 on the one hand, and all those in possession of Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert which related to the late King George the 
 Fourth, or were written or signed by himself, on the. 
 other, should be delivered up and destroyed in presence 
 of the parties having possession of the same ; which 
 was carried into execution accordingly at Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert's house in Tilney Street, in presence of Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, myself and others, with the exception as 
 follows : — 
 
 "Mrs. Fitzherbert expressed a strong desire to retain 
 undestroyed particular papers in which she felt a strong 
 interest. I considered it my duty to consent to these 
 papers remaining undestroyed, if means could be de- 
 vised of keeping them as secret and confidential papers 
 as they had been up to that moment. 
 
 " Mrs. Fitzherbert expressed an anxiety at least equal 
 to that which I felt, that those papers, although pre- 
 served, should not be made public. 
 
 " It was agreed, therefore, that they should be depo- 
 sited in a packet, and be sealed up under the seals 
 of the Earl of Albemarle, your Lordship, and myself, 
 and lodged at Messrs. Coutts's, the bankers. 
 
 " Circumstances have, in some degree, changed since 
 the death of Mrs. Fitzherbert ; but it is still very de- 
 sirable to avoid drawing public attention to, and re-
 
 104 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 awakening the subject by, public discussion of the nar- 
 rations to which the papers relate, which are deposited 
 in the packet sealed up, to which I have above referred. 
 And I am convinced that neither I nor any of the sur- 
 vivors of the Royal Family, of those who lived in the 
 days in which these transactions occurred, could view 
 with more pain any publication or discussion of them 
 than would the late Mrs. Fitzherbert when alive. 
 
 " Under these circumstances, and having acted con- 
 scientiously and upon, honour throughout the affairs 
 detailed in this letter, I cannot but consider it my duty 
 to protest, and I do protest most solemnly, against the 
 measure proposed by your Lordship, that of breaking the 
 seals affixed to the packet of papers belonging to the 
 late Mrs. Fitzherbert, deposited at Messrs. Coutts, the 
 bankers, under the several seals of the Earl of Albe- 
 marle, your Lordship, and myself. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " Your Lordship's most faithful 
 
 " and obedient humble Servant, 
 "WELLINGTON." 
 
 " The Loed Stourton, 
 Allerton Park."
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 105 
 
 I subjoin two other letters from the Duke of Wel- 
 lington on the subject : 
 
 " To the Eael of Albemarle. 
 " My coming to town will probably not be early in 
 the season unless urgent business should compel me ; 
 but I could not delay longer writing to your Lordship." 
 
 " Dec. 10, 1841." 
 
 " London, April 22, 1842. 
 
 " F. M. the Duke of Wellington presents his com- 
 pliments to Lord Stourton. His Lordship is mistaken. 
 The Duke does not fill any office in Her Majesty's 
 political service, or at Her Majesty's Court. As a 
 member of the Privy Council, he has for some months 
 been summoned to attend Her Majesty's councils ; but 
 not filling any office, he has no power or authority. 
 He cannot obtrude his advice upon Her Majesty, unless 
 in the Privy Council, or unless his advice should be 
 required by Her Majesty. 
 
 "Lord Stourton will probably be of opinion that 
 there has been no alteration in the situation of the 
 Duke of Wellington since the late correspondence 
 between his Lordship and the Duke upon the subject
 
 106 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 of Mrs. Fitzherbert's papers. The Duke requests that 
 Lord Stourton will excuse him for declining at this 
 moment to appoint a time at which he could receive 
 Lord Stourton. 
 
 " The business in Parliament, and other public busi- 
 ness to which it is the Duke's duty to attend, occupy 
 his whole time. He is anxious, therefore, to postpone 
 the honour of receiving his Lordship, till a more 
 advanced period of the Session ; at which time, it 
 appears by his Lordship's note, that he wishes to see 
 the Duke in the presence of the Earl of Albemarle 
 and others. 
 
 " The Lord Stourton, 
 No. 10, Mansfield Street, 
 Cavendish Square." 
 
 To the above letters I think it may be interesting 
 to the reader, and therefore desirable, to add the fol- 
 lowing four from Mrs. Fitzherbert herself. They are 
 addressed to Lord Stourton ; and, from the confidential 
 and affectionate tone in which they are written, will 
 corroborate the interesting communications which that 
 noble Lord elsewhere details as having received from 
 this distinguished Lady.
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 1 07 
 
 MY DEAR LORD STOURTON, 
 
 Don't think me ungrateful. You would do me 
 much injustice, if you could for a moment suspect me 
 of not feeling all I owe to you for your kindness, and 
 the trouble I have given you ; but I have been suffer- 
 ing so much from a very severe attack of illness, which 
 has confined me nearly five weeks to my room, that I 
 have been perfectly incapable of attending to anything. 
 I told Lord Albemarle how uncomfortable I was at 
 not having been able to write to you, and he promised 
 me you should be informed of everything from him. I 
 long to talk it over with you whenever it pleases God 
 that I may again have the happiness of seeing you. 
 
 My medical advisers tell me the best chance I have 
 is to go into another climate, and I propose setting out 
 in a day or two for Aix-la-Chapelle. My mind being- 
 more at ease, I trust I may enjoy a little better health 
 than I have done. I cannot expect at my time of life 
 to be free of all ailments, and I must submit and be 
 thankful for the many kind friends I have met with 
 to support me in all my difficulties ; to none do I 
 feel more indebted than yourself. Excuse this horrid 
 scrawl ; but the moment T was able to use my pen I
 
 108 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was determined to express to you, my clear Lord 
 
 Stourton, not only the gratitude, but the very sincere 
 
 regard and affection of 
 
 " Yours most truly, 
 
 "M. EITZHERBERT." 
 
 II. 
 
 " Paris, Dec. 7, 1833. 
 "MY DEAR LORD STOURTON, 
 
 " I have taken up my pen twenty times with the 
 intention of writing to you to enquire after you, but 
 the fear of appearing troublesome has always prevented 
 my pestering you with a letter ; though I feel much 
 rather that you should think me troublesome, than for 
 a moment suspect me of ingratitude, or of not bearing 
 constantly in my mind the kind interest you have 
 taken in my affairs. I know I must have been a great 
 torment to you, but I am sure the kind feelings of 
 your heart will derive some gratification, in having 
 relieved me from a state of misery and anxiety which 
 has been the bane of my life ; and I trust, whenever it 
 shall please God to remove me from this world, my con- 
 duct and character (in your hands) will not disgrace 
 my family and my friends.
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 109 
 
 " I wrote a few lines to you before I left London, 
 where I remained very unwell, and worried to death 
 with business of all sorts. I went to Aix-la-Clmpelle ; 
 the waters did wonders ; and I found my health so 
 improved by change of scene, that I determined to 
 pass my winter on the Continent somewhere in the 
 south of France. But everything being in a state of 
 confusion and uncertainty, I resolved to come here, 
 where everything is perfectly quiet : should it be 
 otherwise, it is so near England that I might easily 
 return, which I could not do if I were at a great 
 distance. 
 
 " I have taken a very quiet apartment and live very 
 retired, seeing occasionally some friends. The Duke 
 of Orleans came to see me the moment I arrived, with 
 a thousand kind messages from the King and Queen, 
 desiring me to go to them, which I accordingly have 
 done. Nothing could exceed the kindness of their re- 
 ception of me : they are both old acquaintances of mine. 
 I have declined all their fetes, and they have given me 
 a general invitation to go there every evening whenever 
 I like it, in a quiet family way, which suits me very 
 much. I really think I never saw a more amiable 
 family : so happy and so united. The King seems 
 worn to death with business all day and all night ; but
 
 110 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he assured me that things were going on much better, 
 though there were a great many wicked people trying 
 to make mischief. I told him that I was afraid he had 
 sent many of them to make disturbance in our country. 
 He is very much attached to England, and hopes we 
 shall always be friends. 
 
 " Your affectionate, 
 
 " M. FITZHEEBEET." 
 
 III. 
 
 " Brighton, Oct. 9, 1834. 
 "MY DEAR LORD STOURTON, 
 
 " I have had my pen in my hand several times to 
 write to you, but since my arrival the change of 
 climate, and the overpowering weather we have had 
 lately, has made me unfit for anything. Thank God ! 
 I am now getting quite well again. 
 
 " I cannot tell you how much I regretted on my 
 return not to find you in London. I arrived much 
 later than I intended, and was fearful you had left for 
 the country, and that I should not be able to have the 
 pleasure of seeing you. I trust, however, it will not be 
 very long before we meet. I have a thousand things to
 
 MRS. FITZIIERBERT. 1 1 1 
 
 talk to you about, and should anything bring you to 
 town pray let me know. 
 
 " I am going to make a visit to my two nieces, Lady 
 Bathurst and Mrs. Craven, and I shall return here for 
 the winter. But I fear I could not tempt you to visit 
 Brighton, which would give me very sincere pleasure 
 could I hope there was a chance of seeing you here. 
 
 " The King sent for me a day or two after I got to 
 London. Nothing could be more kind than his recep- 
 tion, and he made me a very handsome present, which 
 he said he had had made purposely for me, but would 
 not send it during my stay on the Continent. 
 
 " I inclose you a letter I received about a week ago 
 from your son William. 
 
 " May I beg you to say everything most kind 
 from me to Lady Stourton ; and allow me, dear 
 Lord Stourton, to assure you of my best wishes, and 
 of the sincere regard and affection of, 
 
 " Your very grateful and much obliged, 
 
 " M. FITZHEEBEET." 
 
 IV. 
 
 " MY DEAR LORD STOURTON, 
 
 " I have taken up my pen very often to write to 
 you, but for the last fortnight so many very melancholy
 
 112 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 occurrences have assailed me, and my spirits have 
 been so oppressed, that I have been fit for nothing. 
 " The tragical and sudden death of poor Mr. Craven 
 has left my poor niece in a state of wretchedness not 
 to be described. Two such young and happy people 
 scarcely existed. He only twenty-five, and she just 
 completed her twenty-second year — left with two little 
 children. 
 
 " Four days after this sad event I had the mis- 
 fortune to lose one of the oldest friends I had, in 
 the death of poor Lady Downshire. I write you these 
 details, well knowing the kindness of your nature, 
 that you will make allowances for my having been 
 so long in acknowledging the kind letter you were 
 so good as to send me some weeks ago. 
 
 " I have seen Lord Albemarle frequently, and told 
 him the contents of your letter respecting your seal, in 
 case the papers should be removed from Messrs. Coutts ; 
 but as you had left town, and as you were the chief 
 person I wished to consult about them, I have for the 
 present desired Lord Albemarle not to make any ap- 
 plication to the Duke of Wellington till some future 
 occasion. Lord Albemarle says you have written a 
 most excellent letter, accompanied with your sub- 
 scription to O'Connell, and that your party are highly
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. I 1 3 
 
 delighted with it. I shall make no comments upon 
 it, except that I think the 0. and the Ea\ both very 
 mischievous people. 
 
 " I hope you have good accounts of your son Wil- 
 liam, and that you will have the pleasure of seeing 
 him soon. 
 
 " I beg my best regards to Lady Stourton, and 
 everything kind from me to the rest of the family, 
 and that you Avill believe me, 
 
 " My dear Lord, 
 
 " Your grateful and affectionate, 
 
 " M. FITZHERBERT." 
 
 Lord Stourton prefaces the Narrative, which I now 
 proceed to lay before the public, with a curious anec- 
 dote of the infant years of Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
 
 " Attentions from Royalty, as I have heard Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert say, as if to prognosticate her future desti- 
 nies, commenced with her at a very early age. Having 
 accompanied her parents, while yet a child, to see the 
 King of France at his solitary dinner at Versailles, and 
 Beeing Louis the Fifteenth pull a chicken to pieces with 
 his fingers, the novelty of the exhibition struck her 
 fancy so forcibly, that, regardless of Royal etiquette, she 
 
 i
 
 114 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 burst into a fit of laughter, which attracted the Royal 
 notice, and His Majesty sent her a dish of sugarplums 
 by one of his courtiers. The bearer of this Royal 
 present was the Duke de Soubise, as she afterwards 
 heard from himself, who well remembered the cir- 
 cumstance ; and it is rather a curious coincidence, in 
 her connection with Royalty, that the last dregs of 
 bitterness were presented to her from a Royal table 
 connected with a French Sovereign, Louis the 
 Eighteenth. 
 
 At the close of the following Narrative, Lord 
 Stourton adds : — " Publication will depend upon the 
 necessity for doing so, to vindicate the character of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert and her religion." Committed, then, 
 as this manuscript was, to me, with this condition 
 attached, the foregoing pages will have sufficiently 
 shown to the reader the grounds upon which I have 
 come to the conclusion, that, upon both the above 
 motives, the necessity for such publication has now 
 arrived. 
 
 LORD STOURTON'S NARRATIVE. 
 
 " About to give to the public some particulars 
 relating to the eventful life of this distinguished
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 1 1 5 
 
 Lady, I wish to preface these observations with one 
 or two reflections ; namely, that my object in doing so, 
 is not to gratify public curiosity, but solely to vindi- 
 cate the memory of a virtuous woman from past or 
 future aspersions detrimental to her fame. In perform- 
 ing this duty, I shall be governed by a desire to bring 
 nothing into view that I can deem superfluous, or which 
 can hurt unnecessarily the feelings of others : such 
 particulars only as are essential to the ends of justice, 
 and for exhibiting Mrs. Fitzherbert's conduct through 
 life in that pure and true light in which it has appeared 
 to myself, and to which she had every right to urge her 
 claim. To do more, would be to act in contradiction to 
 her own declared and deliberate wishes, and to my 
 own acts and suggestions in being a party to the 
 destruction of all letters and documents not intimately 
 connected with the just representation of her long, 
 irreproachable, and interesting history. To do less, 
 would be, I am convinced, not to realise the expecta- 
 tions or fulfil the trust reposed in me in communica- 
 tions the most confidential and unreserved. 
 
 " In the midst of the afflictions, both of body and 
 mind, which weighed down the latter years of the life 
 of Mrs. Fitzherbert, the thought which most soothed 
 her pains and assuaged her grief, was, the consoling 
 
 i 2
 
 116 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 testimony which would be borne to her character 
 when she should be no more ; when, all the actors in 
 this extraordinary drama being removed by the hand 
 of death, the veil might be drawn aside which had 
 prompted secrecy during her life ; and her character 
 might be shown to posterity in the light in which 
 it appeared to herself, unsullied by crime, and even 
 untarnished by interestedness or ambition. With 
 this view she almost insisted, in our confidential com- 
 munications, upon my requiring from her every infor- 
 mation respecting her conduct from her first connec- 
 tion with George the Fourth clown to his death — 
 as evidence to satisfy my mind of the strictest pro- 
 priety of every portion of her conduct that I might 
 deem doubtful or objectionable. 
 
 " After disclosures so intimate, and to my judg- 
 ment so satisfactory, I should not wish to descend 
 into the tomb myself, leaving her reputation to 
 the doubtful testimony of others less informed, even 
 if equally disposed to render her justice. Associated 
 with some, in the custody of a few important 
 papers relative to her history, I stand single in a 
 nearer relationship to this distinguished personage in 
 some important and intimate connections, and was, 
 therefore, probably selected by her on that account, to
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 1 1 7 
 
 be honoured with communications of so very delicate 
 and confidential a nature. Having- deliberately accepted 
 the proffered confidence, I should not feel happy to 
 leave to the chances of ill-advised or mercenary bio- 
 graphers the portraiture of one so difficult to pencil in 
 her true and accurate lineaments. 
 
 " Mrs. Fitzherbert was first acquainted with the 
 Prince when residing on Richmond Hill, and soon 
 became the object of his most ardent attentions. 
 During this period she was made the subject of a 
 popular ballad, which designated her under the title 
 of the 'Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill:' — 
 
 " ' I would crow ns resign to call her mine, 
 Sweet lass of Richmond Hill.' 
 
 She was then the widow of Mr. Fitzherbert, in posses- 
 sion of an independent income of nearly 2,000^. a year, 
 admired and caressed by all who were acquainted with 
 her character and singular attractions. 
 
 " Surrounded by so many personal advantages, and 
 the widow of an individual to whom she had been sin- 
 cerely attached, she was very reluctant to enter into 
 engagements fraught with so many embarrassments, and, 
 when viewed in their fairest light, exposing their object 
 to great sacrifices and difficulties. It is not, therefore, 
 surprising that she resisted, with the utmost anxiety and
 
 118 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 firmness, the flattering assiduities of the most accom- 
 plished Prince of his age. She was well aware of the 
 gulf that yawned beneath those flattering demonstra- 
 tions of royal adulation. 
 
 " For some time her resistance had been availing, 
 but she was about to meet with a species of attack 
 so unprecedented and alarming, as to shake her 
 resolution, and to force her to take that first step, 
 which afterwards led by slow (but on the part of the 
 Prince successful) advances, to that union which he 
 so ardently desired, and to obtain which he was ready 
 to risk such personal sacrifices. Keit, the surgeon, 
 Lord Onslow, Lord Southampton, and Mr. Edward 
 Bouverie, arrived at her house in the utmost con- 
 sternation, informing her, that the life of the Prince 
 was in imminent danger — that he had stabbed him- 
 self — and that only her immediate presence would 
 save him. She resisted, in the most peremptory 
 manner, all their importunities, saying that nothing 
 should induce her to enter Carlton House. She 
 was afterwards brought to share in the alarm, but 
 still, fearful of some stratagem derogatory to her 
 reputation, insisted upon some lady of high character 
 accompanying her, as an indispensable condition ; 
 the Duchess of Devonshire was selected. They 
 four drove from Park Street to Devonshire House,
 
 MRS FITZ HERBERT. 1 1 9 
 
 and took her along with them. She found the Prince 
 pale, and covered with blood. The sight so overpowered 
 her faculties, that she was deprived almost of all con- 
 sciousness. The Prince told her, that nothing would 
 induce him to live unless she promised to become his 
 wife, and permitted him to put a ring round her finger. 
 I believe a ring from the hand of the Duchess of 
 Devonshire was used upon the occasion, and not one 
 of his own. Mrs. Fitzherbert being asked by me, 
 whether she did not believe that some trick had been 
 practised, and that it was not really the blood of His 
 Royal Highness, answered in the negative ; and said, 
 she had frequently seen the scar, and that some 
 brandy-and-water was near his bedside when she was 
 called to him on the day he wounded himself. 
 
 " They returned to Devonshire House. A deposition 
 was drawn up of what had occurred, and signed and 
 sealed by each one of the party, and, for all she knew 
 to the contrary, might still be there. On the next 
 day, she left the country, sending a letter to Lord 
 Southampton, protesting against what had taken place, 
 as not being then a free agent. She retired to Aix- 
 la-Chapelle, and afterwards to Holland. The Prince 
 went down into the country to Lord Southampton's 
 for change of air.
 
 120 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " In Holland, she met with the greatest civilities 
 from the Stadtholder and his family, lived upon terms of 
 intimacy with them, and was received into the friend- 
 ship of the Princess of Orange, who, at that very time, 
 was the object of negotiation with the Royal Family 
 of England for the Heir Apparent. Frequent inquiries 
 were made about the Prince and the English Court 
 in confidential communications between her and the 
 Princess, it being wholly unknown to the Princess that 
 she was her most dangerous rival. She said she was 
 often placed in circumstances of considerable embar- 
 rassment ; but her object being to break through her 
 own engagements, she was not the hypocrite she might 
 have appeared afterwards, as she would have been very 
 happy to have furthered this alliance. She after- 
 wards saw this Princess in England, and continued 
 to enjoy her friendship, but there was always a great 
 coolness on the part of the Stadtholder towards her. 
 
 " She left Holland in the Royal Barge, and spent 
 above another year abroad, endeavouring to 'fight off' 
 (to use her own phrase) a union fraught with such 
 dangerous consequences to her peace and happiness. 
 Couriers after couriers passed through France, carry- 
 ing the letters and propositions of the Prince to her 
 in France and Switzerland. The Duke of Orleans
 
 MRS. FITZIIERBERT. 1 2 1 
 
 was the medium of this correspondence. The speed 
 of the couriers exciting the suspicion of the French 
 Government, three of them were at different times 
 put into prison. Wrought upon and fearful, from the 
 past, of the desperation of the Prince, she consented, 
 formally and deliberately, to promise she would never 
 marry any other person ; and lastly she was induced 
 to return to England, and to agree to become his wife, 
 on those conditions which satisfied her own conscience, 
 though she could have no legal claim to be the wife 
 of the Prince. 
 
 " I have seen a letter of thirty-seven pages, written, 
 as she informed me, not long before this step was 
 taken, entirely in the handwriting of the Prince ; 
 in which it is stated by him that his Father would 
 connive at the union. She was then hurried to 
 England, anticipating too clearly and justly, that she 
 was about to plunge into inextricable difficulties ; but, 
 having insisted upon conditions, such as would satisfy 
 her conscience and justify her in the eyes of her own 
 Church, she abandoned herself to her fate. Imme- 
 diately after her return she was married to the Prince, 
 according to the rites* of the Catholic Church in this 
 
 * I <l" not iiii;i-inc that by using the term "rites of the 
 Catholic Church," il is intended in imply thai the Roman
 
 122 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 country ; her uncle Harry Errington and her brother 
 Jack Smythe being witnesses to the contract, along 
 with the Protestant clergyman who officiated at the 
 ceremony. No Roman Catholic priest officiated. A 
 certificate of this Marriage is extant in the hand- 
 writing of the Prince, and with his signature, and 
 
 that of Mary Fitzherbert. The witnesses' names were 
 added ; but at the earnest request of the parties, in a 
 
 time of danger, they were afterwards cut out by Mrs. 
 
 Fitzherbert herself, with her own scissors, to save 
 
 them from the peril of the law. 
 
 " This she afterwards regretted ; but a letter of the 
 Prince on her return to him, has been preserved to 
 supply any deficiency, in which he thanks God, that 
 the witnesses to their union were still living ; and 
 moreover, the letter of the officiating Clergyman is 
 still preserved, together with another document with 
 the signature and seal, but not in the handwriting, of 
 the Prince, in which he repeatedly terms her his wife. 
 
 " The first signal interruption to this ill-fated en- 
 gagement arose from the pecuniary difficulties of His 
 
 Ritual, and the ceremonies therein prescribed, were followed 
 on tbe occasion; but that such forms and circumstances were 
 observed, as were recognised by the Catholic Church to be 
 substantially required for the Marriage Contract.
 
 MRS. FITZIIERBERT. 123 
 
 Royal Highness, when, on the question of the payment 
 of his debts, Mr. Fox thought himself justified by some 
 verbal or written permission of the Prince, to declare 
 to the House of Commons that no religious ceremony 
 had united the parties. This public degradation of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert so compromised her character and 
 her religion, and irritated her feelings, that she deter- 
 mined to break off all connection with the Prince, and 
 she was only induced to receive him again unto her 
 confidence, by repeated assurances that Mr. Fox had 
 never been authorised to make the declaration ; and 
 the friends of Mrs. Fitzherbert assured her, that, in 
 this discrepancy as to the assertion of Mr. Fox and the 
 Prince, she was bound to accept the word of her 
 husband. She informed me, that the public sup- 
 ported her by their conduct on this occasion ; for, at 
 no period of her life were their visits so numerous at 
 her house as on the day which followed Mr. Fox's 
 memorable speech ; and, to use her own expression, 
 the knocker of her door was never still during the 
 whole day 
 
 " I told her, that I understood there was a scrap of 
 paper from the Prince to Mr. Fox ; that Sir John 
 Throckmorton, a friend of his, had assured me of the 
 fact of the Prince wishing much to obtain possession
 
 124 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of it, but though written on a dirty scrap of paper, 
 it was much too valuable to be parted with. She 
 said that she rather doubted the fact. I think the 
 difference between the assertions of the Prince and Mr- 
 Fox may be accounted for under a supposition (which 
 I have also heard) either that there was some ambi- 
 guity in the expressions used, or that Mr. Fox might 
 have referred to what had passed antecedently at 
 Devonshire House, without being privy to their sub- 
 sequent more formal engagements. 
 
 " However this may be, an accommodation took 
 place between Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince, though 
 she ever afterwards resolutely refused to speak to Mr. 
 Fox. She was, however, obliged sometimes to see him, 
 and was much urged by the Prince to a reconciliation ; 
 but, though of a forgiving disposition upon other occa- 
 sions, and even benefiting some who most betrayed her 
 confidence, she was inflexible on this point, as it was 
 one of the only means left her to protect her reputation. 
 She thought she had been ill-used in a most unjusti- 
 fiable manner by this public declaration before the 
 House of Commons ; especially as she had been waited 
 upon by Mr. Sheridan, who had informed her, that 
 some explanation would probably be required by Par- 
 liament on the subject of her connection with the
 
 MRS. FITZHERBBRT. 12-", 
 
 Heir Apparent. She then told him, that they knew 
 she was like a dog- with a log round its neck, and they 
 must protect her. She went so far with respect to 
 Mr. Fox, that when afterwards, during his adminis- 
 tration, he made some overtures to her in order to 
 recover her good-will, she refused, though the attain- 
 ment of the rank of Duchess was to be the fruit of 
 their reconciliation. On naming this circumstance to 
 me, she observed that she did not wish to be another 
 Duchess of Kendal. 
 
 " Her first separation from the Prince was preceded 
 
 by no quarrel or even coolness, and came upon her 
 
 quite unexpectedly. She received when sitting down 
 
 to dinner at the table of William the Fourth, then 
 
 Duke of Clarence, the first intimation of the loss of her 
 
 ascendancy over the aifections of the Prince; having 
 
 only the preceding day received a note from His Royal 
 
 Highness, written in his usual strain of friendship, and 
 
 speaking of their appointed engagement to dine at the 
 
 house of the Duke of Clarence. The Princes letter 
 
 was written from Brighton, where he had met Lady 
 
 Jersey. From that time she never saw the Prince, and 
 
 this interruption of their intimacy was followed by his 
 
 marriage with < v >uccn Caroline; brought about, as Mrs. 
 
 Fitzherbert conceived, under the twofold influence of
 
 I '26 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the pressure of his debts on the mind of the Prince, 
 and a wish on the part of Lady Jersey to enlarge the 
 Royal Establishment, in which she was to have an 
 important situation. 
 
 " Upon her speaking to me of this union (confiding 
 in her own desire that I should disguise from her 
 nothing that I might conceive to be of doubtful 
 character as affecting her conduct to the Prince), I 
 told her I had been informed that some proposals had 
 been made to her immediately preceding the marriage 
 of the Prince, of which her uncle, Mr. Errington, had 
 been the channel, offering some terms upon which His 
 Royal Highness was disposed to give up the match. 
 She told me there was no truth whatever in the report; 
 that a day or two preceding the marriage he had been 
 seen passing rapidly on horseback before her house at 
 Marble Hill, but that his motive for doing so was 
 unknown to her; and that afterwards, when they were 
 reconciled, she cautiously abstained from alluding to 
 such topics ; as the greatest interruptions to their hap- 
 piness, at that period, were his bitter and passionate 
 regrets and self-accusations for his conduct, which she 
 always met by saying — ' We must look to the present 
 and the future, and not think of the past.' 
 
 "I ventured also to mention another report, that
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 127 
 
 George the Third, the day before the marriage, 
 had offered to take upon himself the responsibility 
 of breaking off the match with the Princess of 
 Brunswick, should the Prince desire it. Of this, too, 
 she told me she knew nothing, but added that it was 
 not improbable, for the King was a good and religious 
 man. She owned, that she was deeply distressed and 
 depressed in spirits at this formal abandonment, with 
 all its consequences, as it affected her reputation in 
 the eyes of the world. 
 
 " One of her great friends and advisers, Lady 
 Claremont, supported her on this trying occasion, and 
 counselled her to rise above her own feelings, and to 
 open her house to the town of London. She adopted 
 the advice, much as it cost her to do so ; and all the 
 fashionable world, including all the Royal Dukes, 
 attended her parties. Upon this, as upon all other 
 occasions, she was principally supported by the Duke of 
 York, with whom, through life, she was always united 
 in the most friendly and confidential relations. Indeed, 
 she frequently assured me, that there was not one of 
 the Royal Family who had not acted with kindness to 
 her. She particularly instanced the Queen ; and, as 
 for George the Third, from the time she set footing in 
 England till he ceased to reign, had he been her own
 
 128 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 father he could not have acted towards her with greater 
 tenderness and affection. She had made it her constant 
 rule to have no secrets of which the Royal Family 
 were not informed by frequent messages, of which the 
 Duke of York was generally the organ of communi- 
 cation, and to that rule she attributed at all periods 
 much of her own contentment and ease in extricat- 
 ing herself from embarrassments which would other- 
 wise have been insurmountable. 
 
 " When she had thought her connection with the 
 Prince was broken off for ever by his second union, 
 she was soon placed by him in difficulties from the 
 same earnest and almost desperate pursuit as she 
 had been exposed to during the first interval of his 
 attachment. Numbers of the Royal Family, both 
 male and female, urged a reconciliation, even upon a 
 principle of duty. 
 
 "However, as she was, by his marriage with Queen 
 Caroline, placed in a situation of much difficulty, in- 
 volving her own conscience, and making it doubtful 
 whether public scandal might not interfere with her 
 own engagements, she determined to resort to the 
 highest authorities of her own Church upon a case of 
 such extraordinary intricacy. The Rev. Mr. Nassau, 
 one of the chaplains of Warwick Street Chapel, was,
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 129 
 
 therefore, selected to go to Rome and lay the case 
 before that tribunal, upon the express understanding, 
 that, if the answer should be favourable, she would 
 again join the Prince ; if otherwise, she was determined 
 to abandon the country. In the meantime, whilst the 
 negotiation was pending, she obtained a promise from 
 His Royal Highness that he would not follow her 
 into her retreat in Wales, where she went to a small 
 bathing place. The reply from Rome, in a brief which 
 in a moment of panic she destroyed, fearful of the con- 
 sequences during Mr. Percival's administration, was 
 favourable to the wishes of the Prince ; and, faithful 
 to her own determination to act as much as possible 
 in the face of the public, she resisted all importunities 
 to meet him clandestinely. The day on which she 
 joined him again at her own house, was the same on 
 which she gave a public breakfast to the whole town 
 of London, and to which he was invited. 
 
 " She told me, she hardly knew how she could 
 summon resolution to pass that severe ordeal, but she 
 thanked God she had the courage to do so. The next 
 eight years were, she said, the happiest of her con- 
 nection with the Prince. She used to say that they 
 were extremely poor, but as merry as crickets ; and 
 as a proof of their poverty, she told me that once, on 
 
 K
 
 130 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 their returning to Brighton from London, they mus- 
 tered their common means, and could not raise 51. 
 between them. Upon this, or some such occasion, she 
 related to me, that an old and faithful servant endea- 
 voured to force them to accept 60/., which he said he 
 had accumulated in the service of the best of Masters 
 and Mistresses. She added, however, that even this 
 period, the happiest of their lives, was much embit- 
 tered by the numerous political difficulties which fre- 
 quently surrounded the Prince, and she particularly 
 alluded to what has been termed ' the delicate inves- 
 tigation,' in which Queen Caroline and His Royal 
 Highness had been concerned. 
 
 " Sometimes family jealousies, as in the case of the 
 Duke of York, in the Prince's letter to the King, 
 were subjects of great anxiety, in which she always 
 endeavoured to heal any differences which occurred. 
 Indeed, she said that the two Princes were much 
 attached to each other though the Prince of Wales 
 was frequently jealous of the superior attentions the 
 Duke of York received from their Royal Father, but 
 through life the Duke had always acted ' beautifully,' 
 to use her own expression. 
 
 " Upon one occasion, not long before his death, in 
 alluding to the delicate connection existing between
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 131 
 
 his brother and Mrs. Fitzherbert, and the political 
 consequences it might involve, he said, ' Thank God, 
 he never could wish to raise any claim in contraven- 
 tion of the rights of his brother.' It was, however, 
 only in the latter part of his life that he had seen the 
 mutilated document which I have termed the certifi- 
 cate of the Marriage. 
 
 "A circumstance now took place, which ended by 
 blasting all her happy prospects, and finally terminated 
 in a rupture with the Prince, which lasted till the end 
 of his life. One of the dearest friends of Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert, Lady Horatia Seymour, in the last stage of a 
 decline, was advised to go abroad, to seek in change 
 of climate her only chance of recovery. She had at 
 that time an infant, and not being able to take it 
 with her, she entrusted her treasure to the care of 
 her attached friend Mrs. Fitzherbert, who, having no 
 child of her own, soon became devotedly attached to 
 the precious charge, and her affection for the child 
 increased with the loss of the parent. Some time 
 afterwards one of the near relatives of the family, de- 
 sirous of having the education of the child placed in 
 other hands, and being jealous of the religion of its 
 protectress, applied to the Chancellor to obtain pos- 
 session of Miss Seymour, as guardian. Mrs. Fitzher- 
 
 k 2
 
 132 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 bert, now more than ever devoted to the child, and 
 sharing in this affection with the Prince himself, 
 exerted every means to retain the custody of it, and, 
 after all others had failed, had at last recourse to 
 Lady Hertford, with whom she was formerly inti- 
 mately acquainted. She requested her to intercede 
 with Lord Hertford, as head of his house, to come to 
 her aid, and, demanding for himself the guardianship 
 of the child, to give it up to her upon certain condi- 
 tions as to its education. 
 
 "This long negotiation, in which the Prince was 
 the principal instrument, led him at last to those 
 confidential relations, which ultimately gave to Lady 
 Hertford an ascendancy over him superior to that pos- 
 sessed by Mrs. Fitzherbert herself, and from a friend 
 converted her into a successful rival. Lady Hertford, 
 anxious for the preservation of her own reputation, 
 which she was not willing to compromise with the 
 public even when she ruled the Prince with the most 
 absolute sway, exposed Mrs. Fitzherbert at this time 
 to very severe trials, which at last almost, as she 
 said, ruined her health and destroyed her nerves. 
 Attentions were required from her towards Lady Hert- 
 ford herself, even when most aware of her superior 
 influence over the Prince, and these attentions were
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 133 
 
 extorted by the menace of taking away her child. To 
 diminish her apparent influence in public as well as 
 private was now the object. When at Brighton, the 
 Prince, who had passed part of his mornings with Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert on friendly terms at her own house, did 
 not even notice her in the slightest manner at the 
 Pavilion on the same evenings, and she afterwards 
 understood that such attentions would have been 
 reported to her rival. 
 
 " She was frequently on the point of that separation 
 which afterwards took place, but was prevented by 
 the influence of the Royal Family from carrying her 
 resolution into effect. Upon one occasion, after the 
 death of Queen Caroline, upon the Prince informing 
 her that he was determined to marry again, she only 
 replied, ' Very well, Sir ;' but upon his leaving her, 
 she ordered horses with a resolution to abandon the 
 country, and was only prevented from doing so, that 
 day, by the interposition of a common friend, the same, 
 I believe, if my memory does not fail me, who was 
 afterwards the bearer of the last tribute of her 
 affection and conjugal duty to the King, to which I 
 shall hereafter have to refer. 
 
 " A dinner, however, given to Louis XVIII. brought 
 matters at last to a conclusion ; and satisfied of a sys- 
 tematic intention to degrade her before the public, she
 
 134 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 then at last attained the reluctant assent of some of 
 the members of the Royal Family to her determination 
 of finally closing her connection with the Prince, to 
 whom, in furtherance of this decision, she never after- 
 wards opened the doors of her house. Upon all former 
 occasions, to avoid etiquette in circumstances of such 
 delicacy as regarded her own situation with reference 
 to the Prince, it had been customary to sit at table 
 without regard to rank. Upon the present occasion 
 this plan was to be altered, and Mrs. Fitzherbert was 
 informed through her friends at Court, that at the 
 Royal table the individuals invited were to sit 
 according to their rank. 
 
 " When assured of this novel arrangement, she 
 asked the Prince, who had invited her with the rest 
 of his company, where she was to sit. He said, 
 1 You know, Madam, you have no place.' ' None, Sir,' 
 she replied, ' but such as you choose to give me.' 
 Upon this she informed the Royal Family that she 
 would not go. The Duke of York and others endea- 
 voured to alter the preconcerted arrangement, but the 
 Prince was inflexible ; and aware of the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances of her case, and the distressing nature of 
 her general situation, they no longer hesitated to 
 agree with her, that no advantage was to be obtained 
 by further postponement of her own anxious desire to 
 
 ■
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 135 
 
 close her connection with the Prince, and to retire once 
 more into private life. She told me, she often looked 
 back with wonder that she had not sunk under the 
 trials of those two years. 
 
 " Having come to this resolution, she was obliged, 
 on the very evening, or on that which followed the 
 Royal dinner, to attend an assembly at Devonshire 
 House, which was the last evening she saw the Prince 
 previously to their final separation. The Duchess of 
 Devonshire, taking her by the arm, said to her, ' You 
 must come and see the Duke in his own room, as 
 he is suffering from a fit of the gout, but he will 
 be glad to see an old friend.' In passing through 
 the rooms, she saw the Prince and Lady Hertford 
 in a tete-a-tete conversation, and nearly fainted under 
 all the impressions which then rushed upon her mind, 
 but, taking a glass of water, she recovered and 
 passed on. 
 
 " Thus terminated this fatal, ill-starred connection, 
 so unfortunate, probably, for both the parties con- 
 cerned. Satisfied as I was with the very full ex- 
 planation of all the circumstances, and of the pro- 
 priety and almost necessity of the course which Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert was compelled to pursue, I yet felt, that 
 her intimate relations with the Prince might have 
 imposed upon her some duties during his last illness
 
 136 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the non-fulfilment of which would have left my mind 
 not fully satisfied. I therefore availed myself again 
 of the confidence which had been so repeatedly urged 
 upon me, to inquire of her, whether any communication 
 had taken place previously to his demise. She told 
 me ' Yes,' and that she would show me the copy of 
 a letter which she had written to the King a very 
 short time before his death, which she said had been 
 safely delivered by a friendly hand ; the person assur- 
 ing her, that the King had seized it with eagerness 
 and placed it immediately under his pillow, but that 
 she had not received any answer. She was, however, 
 informed that, on the few last clays of his life, he 
 was very anxious to be removed to Windsor Cottage. 
 "Nothing, she said, had so 'cut her up,' to use her 
 own expression, as not having received one word in 
 reply to that last letter. It is true, she observed, that 
 she had been informed by the Duke of Wellington, 
 that he more than once expressed his anxiety that a 
 particular picture should be hung round his neck and 
 deposited with him in the grave, and it seemed to be 
 the opinion of his Grace that this portrait was one 
 which had been taken of her in early life, and was set 
 round with brilliants. It appeared the more likely, as 
 this portrait was afterwards missing when the others 
 were returned to her. The copy of the letter, which,
 
 MRS. FITZHEKBERT. 137 
 
 in answer to my question, she went into her bed- 
 room to fetch, she put into my hands to read. It was 
 an expression of her fears that the King was very ill, 
 and an affecting tender of any services she could ren- 
 der him, in a strain which I could not read without 
 sympathising deeply in her distress. 
 
 "Soon after his death she left town for Brighton. 
 There, she a second time received the kindest mes- 
 sages from William the Fourth ; but upon his inquiry 
 why she did not come to see him, she stated the 
 peculiar difficulties of her situation, and a wish, if it 
 was not asking too much from his condescension, 
 that he would graciously honour her with a personal 
 communication at her own house, previously to her 
 visit to the Pavilion. 
 
 " The King kindly complied with her request with- 
 out delay, and she told him that she could not, in her 
 present circumstances, avail herself of the honour of 
 waiting upon His Majesty, without asking his permis- 
 sion to place her papers before him, and requesting 
 his advice upon them. Upon her placing in his hands 
 the Documents which have been preserved in justifi- 
 cation of her character, and especially the certificate 
 of her Marriage, and another interesting and most 
 aflfecting paper, this amiable Sovereign was moved to 
 tears by their perusal, and expressed his surprise at so
 
 138 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 much forbearance with such Documents in her pos- 
 session, and under the pressure of such long and severe 
 trials. He asked her what amends he could make 
 her, and offered to make her a Duchess. She replied, 
 that she did not wish for any rank ; that she had borne 
 through life the name of Mrs. Fitzherbert ; that she 
 had never disgraced it, and did not wish to change it ; 
 that, therefore, she hoped His Majesty would accept 
 her unfeigned gratitude for his gracious proposal, but 
 that he would permit her to retain her present name. 
 
 " ' Well, then,' said he, ' I shall insist upon your 
 wearing my livery,' and ended by authorising her to 
 put on weeds for his Royal Brother. He added, ' I 
 must, however, soon see you at the Pavilion ; ' and I 
 believe he proposed the following Sunday, a day on 
 which his family were more retired, for seeing her at 
 dinner, and spending the evening at the Pavilion. 
 1 I shall introduce you myself to my family,' gaid he, 
 ' but you must send me word of your arrival.' 
 
 " At the appointed hour, upon her reaching the 
 Pavilion, the condescending monarch came himself 
 and handed her out of her carriage, and introduced 
 her to his family, one after the other, as one of them- 
 selves. He ever after treated her in the same gra- 
 cious manner, and on one occasion, upon her return 
 from Paris, made her a present of some jewels, which
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 139 
 
 he said he had had some time, but would not send 
 them to her abroad, as he wished to give them to 
 her himself on her return to England. He after- 
 wards entered, as I shall proceed to relate, into con- 
 versation on matters relating to her dearest interests, 
 and to sanction the custody of such papers as were 
 thought most available in support of her honour and 
 fair reputation with posterity. 
 
 " Mrs. Fitzherbert told me, that the first day, when, 
 in compliance with the commands of the King, she 
 went to the Pavilion, and was presented by him to 
 the Queen and Royal Family, she was herself much 
 surprised at the great composure with which she was 
 able to sustain a trial of fortitude which appeared so 
 alarming at a distance ; but she believed the excite- 
 ment had sustained her. It was not so the next 
 dinner at which she was present in the same family 
 circle ; and the many reflections which then oppressed 
 her mind very nearly overpowered her. Afterwards 
 she frequently attended the King's small Sunday 
 parties at Brighton, and then, as upon all other occa- 
 sions, she was received with uniform kindness and 
 consideration. 
 
 " Many letters of hers, even when writing from 
 abroad to light off her marriage, had been preserved
 
 140 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 by the King. Some were also in possession of Sir 
 William Knighton, who had obtained possession of 
 the King's correspondence, either as being his execu- 
 tor, or from having Colonel MacMahon's letters in 
 his custody. She had also various letters of her own 
 from the Prince. It was therefore agreed, by the 
 friends of both parties, that, with a few exceptions, 
 the whole correspondence should be destroyed. 
 
 " In this arrangement William the Fourth kindly 
 concurred, and it was carried into effect ; only such 
 papers being preserved as Mrs. Fitzherbert thought 
 fit to select to bear witness to her character. 
 
 " It may be well here to state, that her communi- 
 cations through life were even more confidential with 
 the Duke of York than with the Duke of Clarence, 
 and these communications continued without interrup- 
 tion till the day of his death. Messages to George 
 the Third at one time, and to the Queen at another, 
 were sent through this friendly medium. Their letters 
 to each other were of the most confidential kind. The 
 Duke frequently came to her house, day after day 
 passing many hours in her company, and entering 
 with her into all the circumstances of the times. 
 Their agreement with each other was, never to give 
 up their authorities, with the exception, which she
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 141 
 
 always made, that she would observe no secrets to the 
 disadvantage of the Prince, only she promised never, 
 even to him, to divulge the source from whence she 
 derived her information. This she strictly observed, 
 though she was sometimes scolded by the Duke for 
 giving him information, without any authority. 
 
 " She owed much of the contentment of her life to 
 the open manner in which she was able, through such 
 a channel, to communicate with the King and Queen 
 on occasions of delicacy to guide her conduct. Such 
 correspondence was always maintained by verbal mes- 
 sages. She always endeavoured to avoid interfering in 
 politics ; but at one time, she furthered the earnest 
 wish of the Father to prevent the Son from attending 
 at a Newmarket meeting. At another time, when the 
 greatest coolness subsisted between the Father and the 
 Son, who was not even spoken to at Court, she ob- 
 tained from the King (knowing how much the Prince 
 suffered from this extreme coolness) a promise to 
 speak with kindness to the Prince, who returned from 
 Court in the highest spirits, unaware of the person to 
 whom he was indebted. 
 
 " To the Duke of York and the Queen, Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert was indebted for 6,000/. a year in a mortgage 
 deed, which they procured for her on the Palace at
 
 i42 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Brighton ; being aware, as she said, that till that 
 period, she had no legal title to a single shilling should 
 she survive the Prince. Indeed, at one period she 
 had debts upon her own jointures, incurred principally 
 on account of the Prince; and when the Duke of 
 Wellington, as executor to George the Fourth, asked 
 her if she had anything to show, or claim upon the 
 personalty of the deceased Sovereign, she told him 
 she had not even a scrap of ])aper, for that she had 
 never in her life been an interested person. 
 
 " It is well perhaps likewise to state, that pre- 
 viously to the death of the Duke of York, they 
 agreed on both sides that all their correspondence 
 should be destroyed ; and she assured me, that when 
 Sir Herbert Taylor gave her up her own correspond- 
 ence, she was for two years employed in the perusal 
 and burning of these most interesting letters. When 
 Sir Herbert Taylor surrendered them to her in person, 
 she told him that she had been almost afraid that 
 they would have got these papers from him. He 
 replied, ' Not all the kings upon earth should have 
 obtained them.' She added, that had she entertained 
 mercenary views, she believed she might have obtained 
 any price she had chosen to ask, for the correspondence 
 which it was in her power to have laid before the
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 143 
 
 public ; that she could have given the best private and 
 public history of all the transactions of the country, 
 from the close of the American Mar down to the death 
 of the Duke of York, either from her communica- 
 tions with the Duke, or her own connections with the 
 opposite party, through the Prince and his friends. 
 
 *' Upon one memorable exception only she was called 
 upon by the Prince, and, indeed, expressly sent for to 
 Brighton, to give her opinion on a step of great poli- 
 tical importance which he was about to take, but her 
 influence then had been some time on the wane. He 
 told her, that he had sent for her to ask her opinion, 
 and that he demanded it of her, with regard to the 
 party to which he was about, as Regent, to confide the 
 administration of the country. At his commands, she 
 urged in the most forcible manner she was able, his 
 adherence to his former political friends. Knowing 
 all his engagements to that party, she used every argu- 
 ment and every entreaty to induce him not to sever 
 himself from them. ' Only retain them, Sir, six weeks 
 in power. If you please, you may find some pretext 
 to dismiss them at the end of that time ; but do not 
 break with them without some pretext or other.' 
 Such was her request to him. He answered, ' It was 
 impossible, as he had promised ;' but at the same time
 
 144 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 she observed he seemed much overpowered by the 
 effort it cost him. Finding that resistance to a de- 
 termination so fixed was unavailing, she asked to be 
 allowed to return to Brighton, which she did ; but 
 previously to leaving him, she said, that as he had 
 done her the honour of imposing upon her his com- 
 mands of freely declaring her sentiments upon this 
 occasion, she hoped he would permit her, before she 
 left him, to offer one suggestion, which she trusted he 
 would not take amiss. 
 
 " She then urged upon him, as strongly as she was 
 able, the disadvantages which must accrue to his future 
 happiness from treating his daughter, the Princess 
 Charlotte, with so little kindness. ' You now, Sir,' 
 she said, ' may mould her at your pleasure, but soon 
 it will not be so ; and she may become, from mis- 
 management, a thorn in your side for life.' ' That 
 is your opinion, Madam,' was his only reply. 
 
 " I must here also add, that not only with the 
 Royal Family, but also with the Princess Caroline, 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert was always on the best terms. As 
 to the Princess Charlotte, Mrs. Fitzherbert said, the 
 Prince w ? as much attached to her for some vears; 
 indeed, he was generally fond of children and young 
 people, and it was only when the Princess Charlotte
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 145 
 
 became the subject of constant altercation betwixt 
 liim and those who took part with Queen Caroline, 
 that he at last began to see her with more coolness. 
 Upon one occasion, Mrs. Fitzherbert told me, she was 
 much affected by the Princess Charlotte throwing her 
 arms round her neck, and beseeching her to speak to 
 her Father, that he would receive her with greater 
 marks of his affection ; and she told me that she 
 could not help weeping with this interesting child. 
 
 " Indeed, Lady De Clifford was one of Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert's particular friends." 
 
 [" These forty-one pages were written from my dic- 
 tation, or copied and carefully revised. 
 
 " STOUETON."] 
 
 Such is the short summary of the eventful life of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert in connection with her Marriage with 
 the Prince of Wales, afterwards George the Fourth, 
 as detailed by herself to her friend and relative the 
 late Lord Stourton. 
 
 On the legal character of that Marriage which united 
 her in the sight of God and her conscience to the Heir 
 to the Throne, I have already said that it is not my 
 purpose to insist. Even Catholic who has arrived at 
 
 L
 
 146 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 an advanced period of life, and has entered on the 
 Marriage state in his earlier years, must have practi- 
 cally felt the distinction between the laws of God and 
 the enactments of the State. 
 
 To legitimate his union, to secure their inheritance 
 to his children, a Catholic was forced to the foot of 
 an altar which he repudiated — before a minister of a 
 religion which he disowned ; but the State had made 
 this a condition of its recognition of the Marriage, 
 and ignored all the sacred obligations which God 
 might have sanctioned. I am, however, not inclined 
 to argue the question of justice or injustice, as far as 
 the law, in the case of the Prince of Wales, was 
 likely to be operative; but this I cannot hesitate to 
 affirm, that where a man is a willing party to a 
 religious solemnisation of the Marriage contract, 
 knowing that contract to be binding upon the other 
 party, and pledging his word as the test of his own 
 sincerity; and yet on the plea of human legislation 
 sets at defiance engagements thus formed, such a party 
 can hardly expect an acquittal in the opinion of any 
 one to whom either honour or conscience is sacred. 
 
 That George the Fourth would have been a better 
 man, a happier husband, and a more respected Sove- 
 reign, had he adhered to those solemn engagements, of
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 147 
 
 which we are assured he was most earnest in urging 
 the formation, can hardly be doubted by any one who 
 considers the motives of his more legal union with the 
 Princess of Brunswick, or who chooses to inquire into 
 the more private and still less excusable intimacies of 
 his after life. 
 
 It is not, however, my wish, nor is it requisite for 
 the purpose for which I have published these pages, 
 to follow up the melancholy results of that subsequent 
 union according to law, which was notoriously forced 
 on the Prince of Wales as a means of discharging- his 
 pecuniary obligations. The painful scene of that Mar- 
 riage ceremony, in which Lord Holland informs us the 
 Prince was under the influence of stimulants so fre- 
 quently repeated as almost to disqualify him from going 
 through it, was, according to the same authority, 
 " attributed by many at the time to remorse at the 
 recollection of a similar ceremony which had passed 
 between him and Mrs. Fitzherbert." Indeed, I have 
 extracted from the " Memoirs of the Queens of Eng- 
 land of the House of Hanover" by Dr. Doran, a 
 passage strongly corroborative of the sentiments en- 
 tertained by the Prince of Wales himself as to the 
 binding character of the engagement which he con- 
 sidered he had contracted with Mrs. Fitzherbert, and 
 
 l 2
 
 148 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 which he urged upon the Queen as a reason for a 
 recognition of that Lady in the character of his Wife. 
 
 " I must, therefore, make one remark on the part 
 taken by the Parents of this young Prince on the 
 subject of his subsequent marriage with the Princess 
 of Brunswick. Considering the avowal made to his 
 Royal Mother of his prior marriage; considering the 
 knowledge which his Royal Father must have had of 
 the same, founded on the assurance which the Prince 
 himself had given to Mrs. Fitzherbert that the King- 
 would connive at their union ; it is, indeed, lament- 
 able that they should have been parties almost to the 
 act of forcing on their son an alliance to which the 
 innocent Princess could hardly fail to prove a victim. 
 
 A curious anecdote is told of Queen Caroline, in 
 allusion to the prior marriage of the Prince of Wales 
 with Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
 
 On the occasion of her trial before the House of 
 Lords, she had made a solemn denial of any criminal 
 conduct. She afterwards is related to have said, that 
 she ought to have made one exception to that general 
 denial, which was her Marriage with the Prince of 
 Wales. 
 
 What the sentiments of Mrs. Fitzherbert were, 
 what the principles of her religion inculcated, what
 
 MRS. FITZIIERBERT. 149 
 
 the authority of her Church sanctioned, and may even 
 have been said to have enjoined, when deciding upon 
 the delicate point of returning to a husband whose 
 act had, as far as depended upon himself, renounced 
 his plighted troth, and transferred it to another, the 
 facts contained in these pages will, I trust, set at rest 
 for ever. 
 
 True to the sacred injunction of the Founder of 
 her faith — " Whom God has joined, let no man put 
 asunder" — Mrs. Fitzherbert was instructed that, united 
 by the sacred and indissoluble tie of Marriage to the 
 Prince of Wales in the sight of God, human law 
 might indeed have illegitimated her children, had she 
 had any, might have carried out the threat denounced 
 by the Prince's friend and adviser Mr. Fox, of de- 
 priving him of his succession to the Throne; but 
 human law could not abrogate the law of God, nor 
 could any misconduct of her husband emancipate her 
 from that sacred vow, which her Church taught her 
 could not be dissolved but by death. 
 
 Could any one proof more strong than another 
 be afforded in refutation of Lord Holland's whole story 
 of unscrupulous conduct, it is the appeal made by Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert to Rome, as to her duty, in the peculiar 
 situation in which she was placed by the second Mar-
 
 150 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 riage of the Prince. This Marriage had all the legal 
 sanction of both King and Parliament, which had been 
 wanting in a public form to her own union. It had, 
 as far as the act of man could do it, dissolved the tie 
 by which she was united to the Heir to the Throne, and 
 he whom she had taken for her husband had, by this 
 public act, been himself a party to this transaction. 
 Well, then, might she hesitate as to what duty pre- 
 scribed in such a case ; when the rights of a husband 
 were again claimed by him who had so lately trans- 
 ferred his allegiance to another. Friends might, in- 
 deed, and, including members of the Royal Family, did 
 support her ; but, as she herself states, public opinion 
 — the world's judgment — would condemn her. In such 
 a position, who was to guide her in deciding on the 
 claims of him whom she owned as her husband before 
 God, but whom the State had recognised as the hus- 
 band of another ? She appealed to that authority to 
 which, as a Catholic, she looked as supreme in dic- 
 tating the law of conscience and of God. 
 
 The reader will have seen this decision, recognising, 
 at one and the same time, the validity of the contract 
 which had made her the Wife of the Prince of Wales, 
 and the inalienable right of a husband, as such, to her 
 restored affections. Accordingly, her own account
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 151 
 
 records the reunion which in consequence took place, 
 under which probably the Prince passed the happiest 
 period of his life. 
 
 Every friend of morality must, I think, have read with 
 
 pleasure that, at that period at least, George the Fourth 
 
 was susceptible of feelings of remorse for conduct which 
 
 his conscience told him no human legislation could 
 
 justify. But, once more, how idle, in the face of such 
 
 conduct on the part of Mrs. Fitzherbert, the charge of 
 
 unscrupulous indifference brought by Lord Holland's 
 
 friend against this Lady, whose hesitation, in a case 
 
 of such peculiar delicacy, nothing less than an appeal 
 
 to the highest tribunal of the Church could satisfy ! 
 
 Indeed, the world at large might, for once, have 
 
 been said to take up the cause of God and his holy 
 
 law T against the enactments of human power. Never 
 
 was woman in the ambiguous position in which Mrs. 
 
 Fitzherbert was placed by the second Marriage of her 
 
 husband, more generally justified by the support and 
 
 respect of public opinion. One instance is of so 
 
 striking a nature, as connected with the highest 
 
 Court of Judicature in the kingdom, that I cannot 
 
 forbear adverting to it here, as at once a testimony 
 
 to her high personal character, and to the honourable 
 
 nature of that connection which united her to the 
 
 Heir to the Throne.
 
 152 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 The reader will have seen, in Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
 narration to Lord Stourton, her anxiety to secure to 
 herself the education of the orphan daughter of Lady 
 Horatia Seymour, committed by that lady on her 
 death-bed to her charge. Though assented to by the 
 Marquis of Hertford, the legal guardian, it was opposed 
 by Lord Euston and Lord Henry Seymour, on the 
 plea that the religion of Mrs. Fitzherbert disqualified 
 her for havinp- the charge of a Protestant child. On 
 the hearing of the case in the Court of Chancery, 
 Mr. Romilly, for Mrs. Fitzherbert, " insisted that there 
 could be no danger to the religion of the child by the 
 influence of Mrs. Fitzherbert." He observed, " That 
 the residence with Mrs. Fitzherbert would not only be 
 the means of her fortune accumulating by the time of 
 her coming of age, but that she would derive peculiar 
 advantage from the patronage and protection of the 
 Prince of Wales." 
 
 The Attorney-General (the Hon. Spencer Percival), 
 for Lord Euston and Lord Henry Seymour, com- 
 menced his speech by observing that "Mrs. Fitzhcr- 
 bert merited everything that could be said in her 
 praise ; but whatever amiable qualities she might 
 possess, the religion she professed excluded her from 
 the right to retain the custody of a Protestant child." 
 
 Here we observe the advocate of a Lady notoriously
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 153 
 
 at the time living with the Prince of Wales as his 
 Wife, urging this very plea on the Lord Chancellor as 
 a qualification for the guardianship of a female Ward ; 
 whilst the opposing counsel, objecting, indeed, to the 
 religious opinions of Mrs. Fitzherbert, so far from 
 questioning the arguments of his opponent, founded 
 on the intimacy between that Lady and the Prince of 
 Wales, adds to its force by himself bearing testimony 
 to her meriting everything which could be said in her 
 favour. 
 
 The opinion of the Lord Chancellor was sufficiently 
 shown by his decision in favour of Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
 If further proof be wanted, it may be found in the 
 decision of the House of Lords, which, on appeal, 
 confirmed to Mrs. Fitzherbert the education of this 
 female charge. The part which the Prince himself 
 took in openly avowing his interest in securing to 
 Mrs. FitzhcrbcTt this object of her wishes, sufficiently 
 testified to the truth of Mr. Romilly's arguments, 
 that the custody of that lady necessarily implied the 
 patronage of the Prince of Wales. 
 
 As a proof of the active interest taken by the 
 Prince of Wales to secure the attendance of Peers 
 on the Committee of the House of Lords, to whom 
 the question of guardianship had been referred, .Mr.
 
 154 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Howard, of Corby, has made me the following com- 
 munication : — 
 
 " Corby Castle, Jan. 20, 1856. 
 " DEAR MR. LANGDALE, 
 
 " In accordance with your wish I send you a copy of 
 the letter of the Prince of Wales to the late Charles, 
 Duke of Norfolk, which came into my father's hands as 
 his Grace's executor. 
 
 " It evinces the active interest taken by the Prince 
 at that period in a question which Mrs. Fitzherbert had 
 much at heart — namely, the fulfilment of the dying 
 request of her friend Lady Horatia Seymour. 
 
 "Yours sincerely, 
 
 " PHILIP 11. HOWAKD." 
 
 " MY DEAR DUKE, 
 
 " I have seen Lord Hertford, who will call upon you 
 in the course of the day, or, at any rate, before the 
 business is brought before the Committee. 
 " I am ever, my dear Duke, 
 
 "Your very sincere friend, 
 
 "GEOKGE P." 
 
 " Carlton House, Monday Morning, 
 "Jan. 8, 1808." 
 
 The Committee of the Lords referred to sat to
 
 MRS. FITZUERBERT. 155 
 
 consider whether or not Mrs. Fitzherbert should be 
 entrusted with the care and education of the infant 
 and orphan daughter of Lady Horatia Seymour, who, 
 on her death-bed, had commended her child to Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert's protection. The Committee decided in 
 the affirmative, and the charge of the infant was on 
 that day made over by her guardian and uncle, Lord 
 Hertford, to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
 
 Is it possible to consider the course of these pro- 
 ceedings, and doubt the opinion held by all the parties 
 alluded to, as to the position in which the character 
 of Mrs. Fitzherbert stood with regard to the respect 
 or esteem of the public ? A lady of rank and high 
 family connections has an only child, and that child 
 a daughter ; reduced to the brink of the grave by a 
 long-continued illness, she would, before she left this 
 world, commit this precious relict to the charge and 
 affection of some one who could supply to her infant 
 daughter all that a mother, at such an hour, would 
 select for the guardian of her child. Lady Horatia 
 Seymour must have been intimately acquainted with 
 the relations subsisting between her friend Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert and the Prince of Wales. On the brink 
 of the grave she commits, with her dying breath, 
 her infant, a female, to the custody of this Mel I-
 
 156 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 known friend. Could the most perverted imagi- 
 nation conceive a conduct so devoid of every 
 parental feeling, as for a mother to surrender the 
 charge, the education of a daughter, to one whose 
 conduct could only taint the morals of her child, 
 did the reproach exist which has been so recklessly 
 brought forward against this lady of her choice ? But 
 supposing all this possible, and that friendship had 
 superseded a mother's dying anxiety for her child's 
 welfare, I appeal, from this parental oblivion, to the 
 cooler perception of legal acuteness ; and I ask, if 
 Lord Holland's finger of scorn could fairly have been 
 pointed at the relationship between Mrs. Fitzherbert 
 and the Prince, is it conceivable that the Attorney- 
 General should not have demurred to the advocacy 
 of Mr. llomilly, when making this very connection an 
 argument for the guardianship of the infant ? 
 
 That the Attorney-General was not insensible to the 
 importance of the moral influence that would be exer- 
 cised by the guardianship of Mrs. Fitzherbert, is suffi- 
 ciently evident by the very ground of his objection to 
 it, namely, that she was a Catholic, and as such unfit 
 to educate a Protestant child. Is it conceivable, then, 
 that the infinitely stronger ground of an immoral con- 
 nection should have been passed over in silence by this
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 157 
 
 learned opponent of Mrs. Fitzherbert's claim, had lie 
 imagined that any ground for such a charge existed? 
 It does appear to me conclusive as to the public 
 feeling of the day, on the nature of this openly-avowed 
 relationship between the parties, who were well known 
 to be mutually exerting themselves for the success 
 of the motion. Certainly the decision of the Lord 
 Chancellor and of the House of Lords sanctions, with 
 irresistible authority, the whole force of Mr. Romilly's 
 arguments in favour of the beneficial guardianship of 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
 
 However gratifying to the feelings of Mrs. Fitzher- 
 bert the result might have been, which gave her the 
 custody of a child towards whom she entertained all 
 the attachment of a parent, the consequences of the 
 very exertions made by the Prince to secure to her 
 this object of her wishes, led to circumstances as 
 destructive on other grounds of her future happiness, 
 as the charge of her little ward had been gratifying 
 to her almost maternal feelings. 
 
 But enough has been said on this subject by Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert herself, in pointing out to her friend Lord 
 Stourton the severe trials she had to endure from him 
 who had pledged his word, and, therefore, his honour, 
 to say the least, " her to love and to cherish."
 
 158 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 But I will not trust myself with portraying the 
 conduct of the plighted husband of this much-injured 
 Wife, beyond what is actually requisite to show forth 
 the character of her whom I have undertaken to justify 
 in all the relations she bore to the Prince of Wales, 
 later King George the Fourth. And on this ground I 
 am bound to point out, not only the justification which 
 this Lady received at the hands of others, and especially 
 from those most intimately related by blood to the 
 Prince and King, but also the peculiarity of the con- 
 duct of this Royal Person himself, who, whilst 
 violating all the duties of a husband towards a wife, 
 still seemed earnest in exacting all the claims that 
 the most faithful of husbands could hope for. 
 
 It would appear that, however renouncing the bonds 
 which might impose obligations upon himself, he still 
 felt that they were binding upon Mrs. Fitzherbert, and 
 entitled him to expect sacrifices from her which only 
 proved, that, in spite of injuries, there was a bond 
 between them upon which he thought he could still 
 depend, under trials that any less sacred tie than the 
 Marriage vow would have snapped asunder. Why 
 assure Mrs. Fitzherbert that he would marry again, but 
 that, notwithstanding his resolves, he still had a sense 
 of duty which he could not shake off ? How often, in
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 159 
 
 the ordinary walks of life, does the declaration of 
 some determination of misconduct only prove the 
 coercing tie of some torturing sense of duty, that pro- 
 fligacy would fain assure itself did not exist, but which 
 even the most callous cannot altogether cast off? 
 
 What does all this prove, but that the Prince could 
 not, even had he wished, treat Mrs. Fitzherbert as the 
 passing favourite of a day ; and that, however he 
 might wrestle with his better feelings, a voice, "small 
 and still," perhaps, but yet audibly, said, " She is 
 your wife." 
 
 Certainly, one of the most peculiar proofs of this 
 still-abiding respect is the confident demands made 
 upon the judgment of this lady, even after his affec- 
 tions had been estranged. In a question of the nicest 
 delicacy, in which he might well feel that his future 
 character as a reigning Sovereign was at issue, he 
 appears to have resumed the authority of a husband 
 in his demand upon the counsel of a wife, even when 
 his pledge had already deprived him of the power of 
 profiting by its wisdom. 
 
 It is, indeed, difficult to understand the motive of 
 the Prince, at that time become Regent, in requiring 
 the opinion of Mrs. Fitzherbert on so important a step 
 as that of the choice of the political party to which he
 
 160 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 should commit the government of the country, especially 
 when he had already bound himself by promises to the 
 course which he was to pursue. It is only another 
 proof of the struggle, by which his better feelings 
 prompted him to fall back upon that confidence, which 
 experience had taught him could not be misplaced in 
 her whom in a day of emergency he still remembered 
 as his wife. The account given of the effect produced 
 by her arguments on the Prince Regent shows the 
 habitual influence which Mrs. Fitzherbert must have 
 exercised over his mind. How impossible to suppose 
 all this compatible with the sentiments entertained 
 towards a cast-off paramour ! How true a proof of 
 the power retained by a wife over the better feelings 
 of a husband, however passion may have robbed her 
 of the kindlier sentiments which were her due ! 
 
 History has already avenged the slighted counsels of 
 this sensible woman; and the political events of the 
 day Mould but too apparently point to the successful 
 intrigues of the favourite over the more honest prin- 
 ciples of the Wife. Were J to select another instance 
 of the bold remonstrance of the Wife, listening to the 
 dictates of duty over the risk of offence, I would refer 
 to the appeal made to the Prince, and, I fear, made 
 in vain, to adopt a more parental affection towards
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 161 
 
 his child, the Princess Charlotte. How affecting the 
 claims of this almost abandoned child on Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert's interference to win for her a father's 
 love ! 
 
 The question of how far this now universally- 
 admitted ceremony of Marriage might, or might not, 
 if proved at the time, have legally affected the suc- 
 cession of the then Prince of Wales to the throne of 
 this kingdom, has not unfrequently been discussed, and 
 certainly not been decided in the negative. By the 
 Statute of William and Mary, commonly called the 
 Bill of Rights, it is enacted, among other causes of 
 exclusion from the throne, that " every person who 
 shall marry a Papist shall be excluded, and for ever 
 be incapable to inherit he crown of this realm." 
 In such cases " the people of these realms shall be 
 and are hereby absolved of their allegiance." Under 
 this Act, the Heir Apparent would, by such Marriage 
 as is now admitted by all to have taken place, have 
 forfeited his right of succession to the throne. On the 
 other hand, however, it was said, that he could have 
 been exempted from this serious penalty of his 
 Marriage by the operation of the Royal Marriage 
 Act (12 George III.), which rendered null and void 
 any marriage contracted by an descendant of George 
 
 M 

 
 ]62 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the Second, without the previous consent of the King, 
 or a twelvemonth's notice given to the Privy Council. 
 
 By this Act it would certainly appear, that, as far as 
 the Statute could effect it, the marriage of the Prince 
 of Wales would have been nullified, and the issue of 
 any such marriage would have been deemed in law 
 illegitimate. But, still, many have maintained, that it 
 would not, on that account, have exempted him from 
 the forfeitures incurred by marriage with a Catholic. 
 Indeed, it is sufficiently evident, that in many cases, 
 where a penalty is attached to a transaction, the 
 nullity thereof neither does affect nor ought to affect 
 the penal consequences. 
 
 In case of bigamy, as an instance, however null the 
 second marriage, it would be idle to argue that, on 
 such account, the felony had not been committed, nor 
 the just punishment incurred. The offence, in such 
 case, consists, according to its legal description, in 
 marrying, or contracting marriage, and the proof of 
 this constitutes the guilt of the party — of course, irre- 
 spective of any validity. That the Prince of Wales 
 was fully aware of this, can hardly be doubted, or that 
 he was not prepared, even at such risk, to satisfy all 
 the conditions on which alone he could hope to make 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert, in her own estimation, and that of
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 163 
 
 her Church, his Wife. It has appeared in her narra- 
 tive that, in a moment of alarm, she tore off the 
 names of the witnesses from the certificate of her 
 Marriage, and the cause may have been apprehension 
 that such an act would, if brought forward and 
 proved, have exposed them to the pains and penalties 
 of a premunire. 
 
 That such questions were much discussed at the 
 period when they occurred, there can be no doubt, and 
 not the least remarkable of the pamphlets of the day 
 was one by the notorious Home Tooke, who, treating 
 the Statute of 12 George III. with not unusual con- 
 tempt, spoke of Mrs. Fitzherbert as "both legally, 
 really, worthily, and happily for this country, Her 
 Royal Highness the Princess of Wales." 
 
 Whatever might have been the conduct of the 
 Prince of Wales himself towards Mrs. Fitzherbert, it 
 is not a little remarkable, that it did not interrupt 
 those kind feelings with which she was regarded by 
 almost every member of the Royal Family. Even 
 George III. and his Queen were so far from being- 
 exceptions to this rule, that they appear, throughout 
 her connection with their son, and even after that son's 
 Marriage with the Princess Caroline, to have treated 
 her with that marked respect and affection which evi- 
 
 m 2
 
 164 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 denced, more than words could have done, their con- 
 viction of some closer tie than that arising from any 
 ordinary friendship towards a mere subject, however 
 otherwise favoured. There is, indeed, convincing proof 
 that the alliance between this lady and their son, so 
 far from having anything demoralising in it, had a 
 character with which even a parent could not but 
 sympathise. I have before alluded to the knowledge 
 which the Queen probably had of the Marriage of the 
 Prince with Mrs. Fitzherbert from her own son him- 
 self. The late Mr. Weld, of Lulworth Castle, related 
 an anecdote of Queen Charlotte, in which it is asserted 
 she said to her son, before his marriage with the 
 Princess Caroline of Brunswick, " It is for you, George, 
 to say whether you can marry the Princess, or not." 
 
 The more than ordinarily friendly intercourse which 
 existed between Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Duke of 
 York for many years, partakes of all the character 
 of a brother towards a sister; and worthily was this 
 footing of confidence exerted for all that such a 
 relationship could be supposed to have of beneficial 
 influence for the two Royal Brothers. 
 
 One of the peculiarities in this long-continued inti- 
 macy of Mrs. Fitzherbert with Royalty, and one in 
 which she differs, indeed, from the proverbial conduct
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 165 
 
 of Court favourites, is the perfect disinterestedness 
 with which she acted, whether with reference to her- 
 self, or any of her relatives or friends. Acquainted as 
 she was with all the political events which so eminently 
 distinguished the period of her long- life in public, 
 powerful as must have been any appeal from her to 
 the many possessors of political power during this long- 
 course of years — indeed anxious as one great leader of 
 his party was to propitiate her offended honour — she 
 appears to have rejected all overtures to the exertion 
 of political influence. Conscious of her own rectitude, 
 demanding all the respect from others which she had a 
 right to feel for herself, she disdained any other ad- 
 vantages from the position in which she was placed. 
 These, indeed, gave her rights which she could not, 
 and would not, yield ; and for the support of these she 
 looked to him from whom she felt she had a claim to 
 exact them. When these were at length denied her, 
 in that quarter where they were justly due to her, she 
 retired into that comparative privacy in which she 
 spent the latter years of her life. 
 
 The reader will have seen in this Narrative the last 
 effort of a virtuous wife to afford to a dying husband 
 the consolation which all the pride and pomp of state 
 can so little supply at that period, when the prince and
 
 166 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the peasant are alike to pass from their grandeur or 
 their poverty to the final receptacle of both — the grave. 
 The recorded insulting conduct of the Prince Regent, 
 the apparent oblivion of the King, could not make 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert forget the obligations contracted to 
 the Prince of Wales. 
 
 Could there have been a redeeming trait in the 
 character of this Prince and King, it might have been 
 in a sense of this touching conduct of a virtuous 
 woman, ready to encounter, under a sense of duty, all 
 the attendants upon a death-bed scene, painful even 
 though it were that of a monarch. How painful that 
 of George the Fourth, with all its moral and physical 
 accompaniments ! But it was not to be ! That yet 
 there was a lingering recollection of past years, per- 
 haps the most consolatory for the reflection of this 
 King, there does appear reason to believe — perhaps 
 I may say hope — if contrasted with the long career 
 for good or evil which had elapsed since his last part- 
 ing with this estimable woman. The reader will have 
 seen Mrs. Fitzherbert's account as to the delivery of 
 her token, and that either some revived affection, or 
 some pang of remorse, attended its reception. How- 
 ever that may be, I have evident proof that the belief 
 expressed by her, that a miniature picture was sus-
 
 MRS. FITZHBRBERT. 167 
 
 penrled round the neck of the King and buried with 
 him, was correct. The King appeared to have been 
 possessed of three portraits of Mrs. Fitzherbert. At 
 his death, only two of these could be found ; and 
 though his gracious successor on the throne, King 
 William the Fourth, promised his best exertions to 
 restore the third, as well as the two others, to Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, it never was found. I have this well- 
 founded account, that the third resemblance of her 
 to whom George the Fourth had, in his early years, 
 been so devotedly attached, was, in fact, suspended 
 from his neck at his death, and with him committed 
 to the grave. 
 
 It appears that Mrs. Fitzherbert had, in her cor- 
 respondence with the late Cardinal Weld, expressed 
 her strong conviction, that George the Fourth had 
 requested he should be buried with that portrait 
 round his neck. This correspondence had been com- 
 municated by the Cardinal to his brother-in-law, then 
 at Rome, Charles Bodenham, Esq., of Rotherwas. 
 This gentleman subsequently communicated the fol- 
 lowing results of his inquiry on this subject : — " It 
 so happens, that my family were particularly intimate 
 with the late Dr. Carr, Dean of Hereford, who was 
 subsequently translated to the bishopric of Chichester,
 
 168 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 and then to Worcester. He was very kind and 
 friendly with me ; and, when at Worcester, I always 
 called at the Palace. Mrs. Fitzherbert having been 
 my wife's aunt, I had always felt much interest in 
 getting at the truth of her history ; and knowing, from 
 the public journals, that the Bishop had attended the 
 King (George IV.) in his last illness, I alluded to 
 what I had heard about the portrait. It was the 
 last interview I ever had with Dr. Can*. He had lost 
 his wife and his favourite daughter, was himself very 
 ill, and, as it struck me, in a very declining state. On 
 my mentioning the name of Mrs. Fitzherbert, he said, 
 ' Oh ! she was very amiable — my faithful friend ! 
 Yes, it is very true what you have heard : I remained 
 by the body of the King when they wrapt it round 
 in the cere-cloth, but before that was done, I saw a 
 portrait suspended round his neck — it was attached to 
 a little silver chain.' The Bishop seemed exceedingly 
 overpowered, and I took an opportunity to leave the 
 room soon after. I went into the next apartment, 
 where I immediately wrote down in my pocket-book 
 the very ivords he had used, and the above is the exact 
 copy." 
 
 This account strongly corroborates the display of 
 feeling which Mrs. Fitzherbert was assured attended
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 169 
 
 the reception of her letter, and certainly proves that 
 in these last moments of King George the Fourth, 
 sentiments were revived in the mind of the dying 
 Monarch, which we could wish to have attended him 
 during life, and to have been a guide to its course. 
 I am not, indeed, prepared to deduce much from 
 the moral perceptions of this Sovereign ; but at such 
 a time, when about to quit the scenes of his human 
 state and sink into the tomb, I can give no other 
 interpretation to these last acts of his earthly career, 
 than a confirmation of that bond which had cemented 
 him, even in his own conscience, to a virtuous wife. 
 It would, indeed, be a libel, even on the memory 
 of George the Fourth, to admit, that the feelings 
 which dictated this wish, to carry with him into the 
 next world the recollections of his union with Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, could be other than such as would be 
 accepted as righteous at that tribunal before which 
 he was about to appear. 
 
 Such, then, was the dying testimony borne by the 
 Royal Husband to the honourable character of his rela- 
 tionship in his own estimation with her whose image 
 he desired to carry with him into his grave. But if 
 this departed King had long deferred the recognition 
 of a wife's claim upon his support and distinction, the
 
 170 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 generous Monarch who succeeded him on the throne 
 was more sincere and more ready to acknowledge 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert in the relationship which she had 
 borne to his deceased brother. 
 
 The account which Mrs. Fitzherbert's narrative 
 gives of her communication with William the Fourth 
 at Brighton, on the one hand proves that sense of her 
 own rights which she had, as far as depended upon 
 herself, asserted during the life of George the Fourth ; 
 on the other hand, the readiness with which King 
 William the Fourth at once admitted them, and acted 
 upon them as soon as made acquainted with them, 
 by having the circumstances of the Marriage, and the 
 documents connected with it, laid before him, autho- 
 rising Mrs. Fitzherbert to wear weeds for the departed 
 Monarch as for her husband, desiring her to adopt 
 the Royal livery, advancing to receive her visit even to 
 the door of her carriage, practically prove what were 
 the sentiments of the then reigning Monarch, as to 
 the alliance between this lady and his late Royal 
 Brother. William the Fourth continued the same 
 kind attentions to Mrs. Fitzherbert, whenever occa- 
 sions offered, as long as he lived. 
 
 The health of this interesting and distinguished 
 lady was rapidly declining. She spent the latter part
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. Hi 
 
 of her days almost entirely at Brighton, and died there 
 in March, 1837. There she was buried in the Catholic 
 Church, and a handsome monument to her memory 
 was erected by the Honourable Mrs. Lionel Dawson 
 Darner, whom we have before alluded to as the 
 orphan daughter of Lady Horatia Seymour, confided 
 by her to the guardianship of Mrs. Fitzherbert. The 
 inscription is as follows : — " In a vault near this spot, 
 are deposited the remains of Maria Fitzherbert. She 
 was born on the 26th July, 1756, and expired at 
 Brighton on the 29th of March, 1837. One, to whom 
 she was more than a parent, has placed this monu- 
 ment to her revered and beloved memory, as a 
 humble tribute of her gratitude and affection." 
 
 The hand of the figure had the singular addition of 
 three rings on the fingers, thus bearing the evidence of 
 the affectionate lady who erected it, to the triple mar- 
 riage of her departed friend. We have, on our open- 
 ing page, recited the connection of Mrs. Fitzherbert 
 with the family of the Welds, of Lulworth Castle, 
 and we only notice this connection here, to contra- 
 dict a most absurd story told in the " Memoirs of 
 George the Fourth." * " It is worthy of notice, that 
 
 * " Memoirs of the Life and Beigo of George the Fourth," by 
 H. E. Lloyd, Esq.
 
 172 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the brother-in-law of Mrs. Fitzherbert, who inherits 
 the estate of her first husband, has recently been 
 raised to the dignity of a Cardinal, if not precisely 
 through British influence, yet not improbably in some 
 measure out of compliment to His Majesty. This is 
 a circumstance that hereafter will furnish matter for 
 history." 
 
 I hope and imagine not ; for certainly nothing could 
 be more unfounded. The Cardinal Weld was not 
 the brother-in-law of Mrs. Fitzherbert. This author 
 further says : — 
 
 " Mrs. Fitzherbert is now in her seventy-fifth year, 
 and resides at Brighton, in the enjoyment of the 
 annuity of 10,000/. settled on her by the Prince." 
 
 This is again a mistake, the annuity was only 6000/ 
 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert's second husband, who has also 
 been named, lost his life in consequence of his exer- 
 tions during Lord George Gordon's riots. Being much 
 heated, he bathed, and brought on the malady which 
 soon after occasioned his death. The present possessor 
 of Swynnerton Park, and the twenty-sixth in succes- 
 sion as Lord of the Manor of Norbury, is Thomas 
 Fitzherbert, Esq., the nephew of Mrs. Fitzherbert; 
 his father, Basil Fitzherbert, succeeding to the estates 
 after the death of his elder brother.
 
 MRS. FITZHFRBERT. 1 73 
 
 I have now concluded the details upon which I con- 
 fidently ground the right of Mrs. Fitzherbert to such 
 respect and esteem as, indeed, she has invariably re- 
 ceived from all who knew her, or who are acquainted 
 with the circumstances connected with her Marriage. 
 I have shown that, under no ordinary trial, she fled 
 from her home and country, to avoid the persevering- 
 attentions of the Prince of Wales ; that she then 
 only consented to return when a Marriage according 
 to the laws of the Church was to be the con- 
 dition under which she became the wife of the 
 Prince. 
 
 I have shown that the Prince himself claimed for 
 her, as such, reception from his mother the Queen, and 
 that the Royal relatives of the Prince, including both 
 the King and Queen, universally treated her with 
 a kindness and attention, which marked, more than 
 words could have done, the character of the con- 
 nection between her and their son. 
 
 I have shown the conscientious appeals of this 
 upright woman, in a case of peculiar delicacy, to the 
 authority of the Church, for guidance in her difficulty. 
 And the closing act of her dying husband I have 
 brought as evidence, that though a human law might 
 have declared the act of Marriage null, yet, in the
 
 174 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sight of God and his conscience, he bore his dying 
 testimony to its validity and its truth. 
 
 In fine, the succeeding Monarch avowed his con- 
 viction of the Marriage, and owned and honoured 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert as the widow and relict of his 
 Royal Brother. 
 
 And now what is to become of the packet of re- 
 served papers at Coutts's Bank ? Their existence is 
 not disputed, their object is avowed, under the united 
 testimonies of the Duke of Wellington, the Earl of 
 Albemarle, and Lord Stourton. They were reserved 
 as testimonies to the honourable relationship borne by 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert to George the Fourth, and as such I 
 have stated their nature. The details, indeed, have 
 been withheld by the legal possessor of them, and 
 however I may differ in opinion with him on the 
 propriety of so doing, I am far from wishing in the 
 slightest degree to impugn his motives. 
 
 Whether the publication of these pages may 
 induce the actual possessor of the papers to give to 
 the public, or to myself, any insight into their 
 particular terms and details, rests with himself. 
 I cannot, however, but think with a writer in the 
 Quarterly Review, alluding to the contents of the 
 sealed box, that "now that its existence is revealed,
 
 MRS. FITZHERBERT. 175 
 
 it will not, we suppose, in these inquisitive times, be 
 much longer withheld." If such was the opinion 
 of the reviewer, when he still appeared perplexed 
 between the extraordinary story of Lord Holland's 
 Memoirs, and the plain and contradictory circum- 
 stances of the Marriage, I think, after all the cir- 
 cumstances which this Memoir will supply, I may 
 safely conclude with the same reviewer, " that, after 
 what has passed, we do not foresee any serious mis- 
 chief from telling the whole truth, whatever it 
 may be."
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 DEBATES IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN EE- 
 LATION TO THE CONNECTION OE HIS EOYAL 
 HIGHNESS THE PEINCE OE WALES WITH MES. 
 FITZHEEBEET. 
 
 " Ox the 20th day of April, 1787, previous to the opening of the 
 Budget, a subject was brought forward in the House of Com- 
 mons by Mr. Alderman Newnham, which had for some time 
 before strongly engaged the attention and feelings of the pub- 
 lic — namely, the embarrassed state of the finances of the Prince 
 of Wales. Our readers will be pleased to recollect, that the 
 establishment of His Royal Highnesses household took place 
 upon his coming of age, in the year 1783, during the admi- 
 nistration of the Duke of Portland. It is well known, that a 
 great difference of opinion subsisted at that time between the 
 great personage with whom the final settlement of the affair 
 rested, and the persons whose duty it was to give him their 
 advice upon the subject, respecting the sum to be allowed for 
 that purpose. Upon a full consideration of what was thought 
 becoming the credit of the nation, and the exalted rank of the 
 
 N
 
 178 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Heir Apparent to the Throne, the great increase in the value of 
 every article of expenditure, and the economy of such a liberal 
 provision as might totally supersede the necessity of incurring 
 debt, the Ministers of that day are said to have proposed, that 
 an annual income should be settled upon him by Parliament of 
 .£100,000. This proposition is said to have been not only 
 entirely disapproved of by the King, but rejected with expres- 
 sions of such marked resentment, as to make the immediate 
 resignation of those Ministers more than probable. In this 
 emergency the Prince of Wales, who had early manifested a 
 favourable opinion of that party, interposed, and gave the 
 world, upon this his first step in public life, a striking proof 
 both of filial duty and public spirit. He signified his desire, 
 that the whole business should be left to the King; and de- 
 clared his readiness to accept of whatever provision the King 
 in his wisdom and goodness might think most fit ; and, at the 
 same time, he expressed his earnest wishes, that no misunder- 
 standing should arise between the King and his then Ministers, 
 on account of any arrangement in which his personal interest 
 only was concerned. In consequence of this interference, the 
 affair appears to have been accommodated, and an allowance of 
 ,€50,000 a year, payable out of the Civil List Revenue, was 
 settled upon His Royal Highness. 
 
 "Avery few years' experience made it but too manifest, that 
 this provision was inadequate to the purpose for which it was de- 
 signed. In the year 1 786 the Prince was found to have contracted 
 a debt to the amount of about 1100,000, exclusive of £50,000 
 and upwards expended on Carlton House. Without presum- 
 ing to make any reflections upon this debt, we cannot avoid 
 doing justice to the subsequent conduct of His Royal Highness. 
 He was no sooner acquainted with the embarrassed state of his 
 affairs, and the great distress in which it necessarily involved
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 179 
 
 a considerable number of his creditors, than he came to a reso- 
 lution of taking some effectual measures for their relief. 
 
 " His first application was to the King his father, upon whose 
 affection alone he wished to rely, and to whose judgment he 
 declared his readiness to submit his past and to conform his 
 future conduct. By His Majesty's directions, a full account of 
 the Prince's affairs was laid before him ; but (whether it was 
 from any dissatisfaction with those accounts, or with any other 
 parts of the Prince's conduct, or from some other cause, has 
 not transpired) a direct refusal to afford him any relief was 
 conveyed to His Royal Highness through one of his principal 
 officers of state. 
 
 " In consequence of this refusal, the Prince of Wales appears 
 to have conceived himself bound in honour and justice to have 
 recourse to the only expedient that was now left him. His de- 
 termination was prompt and manly. The day after he received 
 the message from the King, he dismissed the officers of his 
 Court, and reduced the establishment of his household to that 
 of a private gentleman ; he ordered his horses to be sold, the 
 works at Carlton House to be stopped, and such parts as were 
 not necessary for his personal use, to be shut up. 
 
 "From these savings an annual sum of 1 10,000 was set 
 apart, and vested in the hands of trustees for the payment of 
 his debts. 
 
 "This conduct, however laudable it may appear, did not 
 escape censure. It was represented, especially by the followers 
 of the Court, as precipitate, and disrespectful to the King; ami 
 was said to have been a principal cause of that distance which, 
 unhappily, has too long and too manifestly subsisted between 
 them. An event, which happened soon after, afforded a public 
 proof of the displeasure he had incurred — we mean the danger 
 to which His Majesty's life was exposed in the month of 
 
 N 2
 
 180 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 August, 1786. Upon that occasion no notice whatever of the 
 accident was conveyed to the Prince of Wales by the Court — 
 .he learned it at Brighthelmstone from the information of a 
 private correspondent. He immediately flew to Windsor. 
 He was received there by the Queen, but the King did not 
 see him. 
 
 "It was impossible that the situation, to which the Heir 
 Apparent to the Throne was reduced, should be regarded with 
 indifference either at home or abroad ; and what made the 
 indignity of his condition the more generally felt and lamented 
 was, that no man was ever more highly qualified by distin- 
 guished affability, amiable manners, and a noble and liberal 
 disposition, to adorn the splendour to which his exalted birth 
 entitled him. It is reported, that the Duke of Orleans, the 
 richest individual in Europe, who was at this time upon a visit 
 to this country, pressed him in the strongest manner to make 
 use of his fortune, till some favourable change should take 
 place in his circumstances, to whatever extent he might find 
 necessary. This offer, though doubtless generously intended, 
 yet full of danger in its possible tendency to the public 
 welfare, the Prince of Wales, from a nice sense of duty to the 
 public, declined. The same public principle withheld him also 
 from availing himself of those resources which the usurious 
 speculations of monied men are well known to keep con- 
 stantly open in this nation for the temporary wants of the 
 necessitous. 
 
 " It was in these circumstances of private distress and public 
 spirit, that the expedient was suggested to His Royal Highness, 
 by several respectable members of the House of Commons, of 
 appealing to the justice and generosity of the nation in Parlia- 
 ment. To this measure the Prince appears to have assented, 
 not more from a natural wish to free himself from his pecuniary
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 181 
 
 embarrassments, than from a desire to do away any bad im- 
 pression, that the misfortune of having incurred the Royal 
 displeasure, and the consequent refusal of affording him any 
 relief, might have left upon the minds of the public. 
 
 " Accordingly, on the day already mentioned Mr. Alderman 
 Newnham demanded, in his place, of the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, whether it was the intention of His Majesty's Mi- 
 nisters to bring forward any proposition for rescuing the Prince 
 of Wales from his present embarrassed and distressed situation ? 
 For though his conduct, under the difficulties with which he 
 laboured, reflected the highest honour upon his character, yet 
 he thought it would bring indelible disgrace upon the nation, 
 if he were suffered to remain any longer in his present reduced 
 circumstances. 
 
 " To this question Mr. Pitt replied, that it was not his duty 
 to bring forward a subject of the nature which had been men- 
 tioned, except by the command of His Majesty. It was not 
 necessaiy, therefore, that he should say more, in answer to the 
 question put to him, than that he had not been honoured with 
 such a command. Upon this Mr. Newnham gave notice of his 
 intentions to bring the subject regularly by a motion before the 
 House on the fourth day of May. 
 
 " In the meantime the friends of the Prince of Wales were 
 indefatigable in their endeavours to procure the support of the 
 independent members of Parliament to the proposed motion j 
 and at several meetings, which were held for that purpose, their 
 numbers were so considerable, as to give cause of serious alarm 
 to the Minister. On the 24th of April, Mr. Pitt, after re- 
 questing that Mr. Newnham would inform the Mouse more 
 particularly of the nature of the motion he intended to make, 
 adverted to the extreme delicacy of the subject; and declared 
 that the knowledge he possessed of many circumstances relating
 
 J 82 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 to it made him extremely anxious to persuade the House, if 
 possible, to prevent the discussion of it. Should, however, the 
 honourable Member persist in his determination to bring it 
 forward, it would be absolutely necessary to lay those circum- 
 stances before the public ; and however distressing it might 
 prove to him as an individual, from the pi'ofound respect he 
 had for every part of the Royal Family, he should discharge 
 his duty to the public, and enter fully into the subject. At 
 the same time Mr. Ilolle, an adherent of the Minister, who 
 distinguished himself greatly by his zeal upon this occasion, 
 declared, that the question involved matter by which the 
 Constitution, both in Church and State, might be essentially 
 affected ; and that if the friends of the Prince of Wales per- 
 sisted in their attempt, it would be necessary to inquire into 
 those circumstances also. 
 
 " What the circumstances so solemnly adverted to by Mr. 
 Pitt in this conversation were, the House was left, for the 
 present, to conjecture. The menace thrown out by Mr. Rolle 
 was well known to allude to some supposed connection between 
 the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert, a lady of a very respectable 
 Roman Catholic family, to whom he had for some time mani- 
 fested a strong attachment. For, notwithstanding the possi- 
 bility of a Marriage between those two parties was effectually 
 guarded against by the Royal Marriage Act, great pains had 
 been taken, and not entirely without success, to mislead the 
 ignorant, and to inflame the minds of the vulgar upon that 
 subject; with what view, it would have been more easy to 
 conceive in former times than at present, when all the enemies 
 of the House of Brunswick are supposed to have ceased from 
 amongst the nation. 
 
 " On the 27th of the same month Mr. Newnham, in com- 
 pliance with the request that had been made, s : gnified to the
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 183 
 
 House that the motion he intended to make would be to the 
 following effect, ' That an humble Address be presented to 
 His Majesty, praying him to take into his Royal consideration 
 the present embarrassed state of the affairs of the Prince of 
 Wales, and to grant him such relief as his Royal wisdom 
 should think fit, and that the House would make good the 
 same/ 
 
 " Several members on both sides of the House having risen 
 to deprecate the further discussion of this business, and to ex- 
 press their earnest wishes that it might be accommodated in 
 some other manner, Mr. Sheridan got up to declare, that the 
 insinuations and menaces, which had been thrown out upon a 
 former occasion, made it impossible for the Prince to recede 
 with honour. He said he had the highest authority to declare, 
 that His Royal Highness had no other wish, than that every 
 circumstance in the whole series of his conduct should be most 
 minutely and accurately inquired into; that no part of his 
 conduct, circumstances, or situation, should be treated with 
 ambiguity, concealment, or affected tenderness, but that what- 
 ever related to him should be discussed openly, and with fair, 
 manly, and direct examination ; and that he was ready, as 
 a Peer of Great Britain, to give in another place the mosl 
 direct answers to any questions that might be put to him. 
 
 " Mr. Rolle observed, in reply, that he had acted and should 
 act as it became an independent country gentleman to do, when 
 the dearest interests of the nation were at stake, from the con- 
 viction of his own mind; and that if the motion proposed was 
 persisted in, he should state without reserve his sentiments 
 upon the subject he had alluded to, according as the matter 
 struck him. 
 
 " Mr. Pitt declared, that he had been greatly misunderstood, 
 if it was conceived that he meant to throw out any insinuations
 
 184 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 injurious to the character of the Prince of Wales. The par- 
 ticulars to which he alluded, and which he might find it neces- 
 sary to state fully to the House, related only to his pecuniary 
 affairs, and to a correspondence which had taken place on 
 that subject, and which he thought would satisfy the House 
 of the impropriety of complying with the proposed motion. 
 
 " On the 30th Mr. Newnham rose again, to make a few ob- 
 servations upon what had passed on Friday preceding. He 
 remarked, that much had been said of the tenderness of the 
 ground upon which he trod, and of the dangerous consequences 
 that might arise from his perseverance. He declared himself 
 totally ignorant of the grounds of those apprehensions, with 
 which others were so unaccountably filled. If there was danger 
 in the measure, let those who gave occasion to it tremble at the 
 consequences. He saw none : the Prince saw none : and it was 
 by his express desire that he now gave notice that he should 
 pursue his design. Highly honoured, as he conceived himself 
 to be, by the Prince's confidence upon this occasion, he was 
 not to be intimidated; and he could assure the House, that 
 neither was His Royal Highness to be deterred from his pur- 
 pose by the base and false rumours which were spread abroad 
 concerning him. 
 
 " Mr. Fox, who had been absent on the former debate, 
 came down this day with immediate authority from the Prince 
 of Wales, to assure the House there was no part of his conduct 
 that he was either afraid or unwilling to have investigated in 
 the fullest manner. With regard to the private correspondence 
 alluded to, he wished it to be laid before the House, because he 
 could take upon himself to assert, that it would prove the con- 
 duct of His Royal Highness to have been in the highest degree 
 amiable, and would present as uniform and perfect a picture of 
 duty and obedience, as ever, in any instance, had been shown
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 185 
 
 from a son to his father, or from a subject to his Sovereign. 
 With respect to the debt, which was the cause of his present 
 difficulties, the Prince was willing, if the House should deem it 
 necessary, to give a fair and general account in writing of every 
 part of it; and if any suspicion should exist, that this or that 
 general article might comprehend sums of money impro- 
 perly applied, he would give a clear explanation of the particu- 
 lars to His Majesty, or to his Ministers. Lastly, with respect 
 to allusions made by one member, to something full of danger 
 to the Church and State, he wished he had spoken more expli- 
 citly. If he alluded to a certain low and malicious rumour, 
 which had been industriously propagated without doors, he was 
 authorised to declare it to be a falsehood. He had thought 
 that a tale fit only to impose upon the lowest of the vulgar, 
 could not have gained credit for a moment in that House, or 
 with any one who possessed the most ordinary portion of com- 
 mon sense and reflection ; but when it appeared that an inven- 
 tion so gross and malicious, a report of a fact which was actually 
 impossible to have happened, had been circulated with so much 
 industry and success, as to have made an impression upon the 
 minds of the members of that House, it both proved the 
 uncommon pains taken by the enemies of the Prince of Wales 
 to depreciate his character and injure him in the opinion of his 
 country, and ought to be a caution to the House, and to the 
 nation at large, how they gave credit to any other scandalous 
 and malignant reports that were circulated to his prejudice. 
 
 " Mr. Fox concluded with adding, that he was further au- 
 thorised by His Royal Highness to declare, that he was ready, 
 as a Peer of Parliament, to answer in the other House any 
 the most pointed questions that could be put to him re- 
 specting this report, or to afford His Majesty or bis Minis- 
 ters any other assurances or satisfaction they might require.
 
 186 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 " Mr. Rolle replied, that lie was not singular in his fears for 
 the Church ; other gentlemen had been equally alarmed ; and 
 he should be happy to find that their apprehensions were 
 groundless. The right honourable Member had said, that the 
 fact alluded to was impossible to have happened. They all 
 knew, indeed, that there were certain laws and Acts of Par- 
 liament which forbade it, and made it null and void; but 
 still it might have taken place, though not under the formal 
 sanction of law ; and upon that point he wished . to be 
 satisfied. 
 
 " Mr. Fox observed, that though what he had said before 
 was, he thought, sufficient to satisfy every candid and liberal 
 mind, he was willing, if possible, to satisfy the most perverse. 
 When he denied the calumny in question, he meant to deny it, 
 not merely with regard to the effect of certain existing laws, 
 but to deny it in toto, in point of fact as well as law. The fact 
 not only never could have happened legally, but never did hap- 
 pen in any way whatsoever, and had from the beginning been 
 a base and malicious falsehood. 
 
 " Mr. Rolle rose again, and desired to know, whether what 
 Mr. Fox had last said, was to be understood as spoken from 
 direct authority ? 
 
 " Mr. Fox replied, that he had direct authority. 
 
 "It appears to have been expected, that upon this declara- 
 tion Mr. Rolle would have expressed his full satisfaction ; and 
 being called upon by a member so to do, he said that nothing 
 should induce him to act otherwise than to his own judg- 
 ment should seem proper. An answer had certainly been 
 given to his question, and the House would judge for them- 
 selves of that answer. 
 
 " This conduct occasioned some warm reflections from Mr. 
 Sheridan and Mr. Grey, who said, that the Member, after
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 187 
 
 having put a pointed question for the solution of doubts exist- 
 ing in his own mind, and having received an immediate answer, 
 was bound in honour and fairness either to declare that he was 
 satisfied, or to take some means of putting the matter into 
 such a state of inquiry as should satisfy him. To remain 
 silent, or to declare that the House might judge for itself, was 
 neither manly nor candid : it tended to aggravate in a high 
 degree the malicious falsehood which had been propagated, 
 by admitting a supposition, that the Prince might authorise a 
 false denial of the fact. 
 
 " Mr. Pitt defended Mr. Eolle with great w r armth, and de- 
 clared, that what had been said by the members who preceded 
 him was the most direct attack upon the freedom of debate, 
 and liberty of speech m that House, that he had ever heard 
 since he sat in Parliament. 
 
 " Mr. Rolle stated shortly the part he had taken ; declared 
 that he had been induced so to do by his affection for the 
 Prince ; that he had not said he was unsatisfied ; and that he 
 left the whole to the judgment of the House. 
 
 " The favourable impression which this debate, the open and 
 manly conduct of the Prince, and the harshness with which he 
 had been treated in his most private and personal concerns, 
 left upon the minds of men both within and without the doors 
 of Parliament, appears to have given the Minister a serious 
 apprehension, that upon the question itself he might be left in 
 a minority." — Annual Register, 1787.
 
 188 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 ME, MOOEE'S ACCOUNT OF THE DISCUSSION IN 
 PAELIAMENT WITH RELATION TO THE CON- 
 NECTION OE HIS EOTAL HIGHNESS THE 
 PEINCE OE WALES AND MES. FITZHEEBEET * 
 
 " Mr. Sheridan, who was now high in the confidence of the 
 Prince, had twice, in the course of the year 1786, taken occa- 
 sion to allude publicly to the embarrassments of His Royal 
 Highness. Indeed, the decisive measure which this illustrious 
 person himself had adopted, in reducing his establishment and 
 devoting a part of his income to the discharge of his debts, 
 sufficiently proclaimed the true state of affairs to the public. 
 Still, however, the strange policy was persevered in, of adding 
 the discontent of the Heir Apparent to the other weapons in 
 the hands of the Opposition; — and, as might be expected, 
 they were not tardy in turning it to account. In the spring of 
 1787, the embarrassed state of His Royal Highness' s affairs 
 was brought formally under the notice of Parliament by 
 Alderman Newnham. 
 
 " During one of the discussions to which the subject gave 
 rise, Mr. Rolle, the member for Devonshire, a strong adherent 
 of the Ministry, in deprecating the question about to be agi- 
 tated, affirmed that 'it went immediately to affect our Consti- 
 tution in Church and State.' In these solemn words it was 
 well understood that he alluded to a report at that time gene- 
 rally believed, and acted upon by many in the etiquette of 
 private life, that a Marriage had been solemnized between the 
 Prince of Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert, a lady of the Roman 
 
 * " Memoirs of the Life of the Right Hon. Richard Brinsley She- 
 ridan."
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 189 
 
 Catholic persuasion, who, with more danger to her own peace 
 than to that of either Church or State, had for some time 
 been the distinguished object of His Royal Highnesses affec- 
 tion. 
 
 " Even had an alliance of this description taken place, the 
 provisions of the Royal Marriage Act would have nullified it 
 into a mere ceremony, inefficient, as it was supposed, for any 
 other purpose than that of satisfying the scruples of one of the 
 parties. But that dread of Popery, which in England starts at 
 its own shadow, took alarm at the consequences of an inter- 
 course so heterodox : and it became necessary, in the opinion 
 of the Prince and his friends, to put an end to the apprehen- 
 sions which were abroad on the subject. 
 
 " Nor can it be denied that, in the minds of those who 
 believed that the Marriage had been actually solemnized,* there 
 were, in one point of view, very sufficient grounds of alarm. 
 By the Statute of William and Mary, commonly called the 
 Bill of Rights, it is enacted, among other causes of exclusion 
 from the throne, that ' every person who shall marry a Papist 
 shall be excluded, and for ever be incapable to inherit the 
 Crown of this realm.' — In such cases (adds this truly revo- 
 lutionary Act) 'the people of these realms shall be, and are 
 hereby, absolved of their allegiance/ Under this Act, which 
 was confirmed by the Act of Settlement, it is evident that the 
 Heir Apparent would, by such a Marriage as was now attri- 
 buted to him, have forfeited his right of succession to the 
 throne. From so serious a penalty, however, it was generally 
 supposed he would have been exempted by the operation of 
 the Royal Marriage Act (12 George III.), which rendered 
 null and void any Marriage contracted by any descendant of 
 
 "* Home Tooke, in his insidious pamphlet on the subject, presumed so 
 far on this belief as to call Mrs. Fitzherbert 'Her Royal Highness.'"
 
 190 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 George II. without the previous consent of the King, or a 
 twelvemonth's notice given to the Privy Council. 
 
 " That this Act would have nullified the alleged Marriage 
 of the Prince of Wales there is, of course, no doubt ; — but 
 that it would have also exempted him from the forfeiture in- 
 curred by marriage with a Papist, is a point which, in the 
 minds of many, still remains a question. There are, it is well 
 known, analogous cases in law, where the nullity of an illegal 
 transaction does not do away the penalty attached to it.* To 
 persons, therefore, who believed that the actual solemnization 
 of the marriage could be proved by witnesses present at the 
 ceremony, this view of the case, which seemed to promise 
 an interruption of the succession, could not fail to suggest 
 some disquieting apprehensions and speculations, which no- 
 thing short, it was thought, of a public and authentic dis- 
 avowal of the Marriage altogether would be able effectually 
 to allay. 
 
 " If in politics princes are unsafe allies, in connections of a 
 tenderer nature they are still more perilous partners ; and a 
 triumph over a Royal lover is dearly bought by the various 
 risks and humiliations which accompany it. Not only is 
 a lower standard of constancy applied to persons of that 
 rank, but when once love affairs are converted into matters 
 of state, there is an end to all the delicacy and mystery 
 
 " * Thus, a man by contracting a second marriage, pending the first 
 marriage, commits a felony ; and the crime, according to its legal descrip- 
 tion, consists in marrying, or contracting a marriage— though what he 
 does is no more a marriage than that of the Heir Apparent would be 
 under the circumstances in question. 
 
 "The same principle runs through the whole law of entails both in 
 England and Scotland, and a variety of cases might be cited, in which, 
 though the act done is void, yet the doing of it creates a forfeiture."
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 1 9 1 
 
 which ought to encircle them. The disavowal of a Royal 
 Marriage in the Gazette would have been no novelty in 
 English history;* and the disclaimer, on the present occa- 
 sion, though entrusted to a less official medium, was equally 
 public, strong, and unceremonious. 
 
 " Mr. Fox, who had not been present in the House of Com- 
 mons when the member for Devonshire alluded to the circum- 
 stance, took occasion, on the next discussion of the question, 
 and, as he declared, with the immediate authority of the Prince, 
 to contradict the report of the Marriage in the fullest and most 
 unqualified terms: — it was, he said, 'a miserable calumny, a 
 low malicious falsehood, which had been propagated without 
 doors, and made the wanton sport of the vulgar; — a tale, fit 
 only to impose upon the lowest orders, a monstrous invention, 
 a report of a fact which had not the smallest degree of founda- 
 tion, actually impossible to have happened/ To an observa- 
 tion from Mr. Rolle, that ' they all knew there was an Act of 
 Parliament which forbade such a Marriage; but, that, though 
 it could not be done under the formal sanction of the law, 
 there were ways in which it might have taken place, and in 
 which that law r , in the minds of some persons, might have been 
 satisfactorily evaded,' — Mr. Fox replied, that ' he did not deny 
 the calumny in question merely with regard to certain exist- 
 ing laws, but that he denied it in toto, in point of fact as well 
 as of law : — it not only never could have happened legally, but 
 it never did happen in any way whatsoever, and had from the 
 beginning been a base and malicious falsehood/ 
 
 "Though Mr. Rolle, from either obstinacy or real distrust, 
 refused, in spite of the repeated calls of Mr. Sheridan and 
 
 " * See in Ellis's ' Historical Letters,' vol. iii., the declarations of Charles 
 II. with respect to his marriage with 'one Mrs. Walters,' signed hy him- 
 self, a.nd published in the London Guze/tc."
 
 192 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Mr. Grey, to declare himself satisfied with this declaration, it 
 was felt by the Minister to be at least sufficiently explicit and 
 decisive, to leave him no further pretext, in the eyes of the 
 public, for refusing the relief which the situation of the Prince 
 required. Accordingly, a message from the Crown on the 
 subject of His Royal Highuess's debts was followed by an 
 addition to his income of £10,000 yearly out of the Civil List ; 
 an issue of £161,000 from the same source, for the discharge of 
 his debts ; and £20,000 on account of the works at Carlton 
 House. 
 
 " In the same proportion that this authorised declaration 
 was successful in satisfying the public mind, it must naturally 
 have been painful and humiliating to the person whose honour 
 was involved in it. The immediate consequence of this feeling 
 was a breach between that person and Mr. Fox, which, not- 
 withstanding the continuance, for so many years after, of the 
 attachment of both to the same illustrious object, remained, it 
 is understood, unreconciled to the last. 
 
 " If, in the first movement of sympathy with the pain ex- 
 cited in that quarter, a retractation of this public disavowal 
 was thought of, the impossibility of finding any creditable 
 medium through which to convey it, must soon have suggested 
 itself to check the intention. Some middle course, however, it 
 was thought, might be adopted, which, without going the full 
 length of retracting, might tend at least to unsettle the im- 
 pression left upon the public, and in some degree retrieve 
 that loss of station which a disclaimer, coming in such an 
 authentic shape, had entailed. To ask Mr. Fox to discredit 
 his own statement was impossible. An application was, there- 
 fore, made to a young member of the party, who was then fast 
 rising into the eminence which he has since so nobly sustained, 
 and whose answer to the proposal is said to have betrayed some
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 193 
 
 of that unaccommodating highmindedness, which, in more than 
 one collision with Royalty, has proved him but an unfit ad- 
 junct to a Court. The reply to his refusal was, ' Then, I must 
 get Sheridan to say something ; ' and hence, it seems, was the 
 origin of those few dexterously unmeaning compliments with 
 which the latter, when the motion of Alderman Newnham was 
 withdrawn, endeavoured, without in the least degree weakening 
 the declaration of Mr. Fox, to restore that equilibrium of tem- 
 per and self-esteem, which such a sacrifice of gallantry to ex- 
 pediency had naturally disturbed. In alluding to the offer of 
 the Prince, through Mr. Fox, to answer any questions upon 
 the subject of his reported marriage, which it might be thought 
 proper to put to him in the House, Mr. Sheridan said — ' That 
 no such idea had been pursued, and no such inquiry had been 
 adopted, was a point which did credit to the decorum, the 
 feelings, and the dignity of Parliament. But whilst His Royal 
 Highness's feelings had no doubt been considered on this occa- 
 sion, he must take the liberty of saying, however some might 
 think it a subordinate consideration, that there was another 
 person entitled, in every delicate and honourable mind, to the 
 same attention ; one, whom he would not otherwise venture to 
 describe or allude to, but by saying it was a name which 
 malice or ignorance alone could attempt to injure, and whose 
 character and conduct claimed and were entitled to the truest 
 respect."
 
 194 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 SIR W. WRAXALL'S ACCOUNT OF THESE TRANSAC- 
 TIONS IN HIS " POSTHUMOUS MEMOIRS OF 
 HIS OWN TIME." 
 
 "May. — London presented during the spring of 1786 a 
 scene of general dissipation at the West End of the town. All 
 the gloom which the disasters of the American War had diffused 
 during successive years over the capital, seemed to have dis- 
 persed like a dream. The Prince of Wales, then in the prime 
 of youth, led the way in every species of pleasure, and in many 
 species of excess. His father, aware of the injury which such 
 an example might produce among the younger branches of his 
 family, had early removed his second and third sons from Eng- 
 land : Prince Frederic being sent, in December, 1781, to Han- 
 over; while William Henry, bred to the navy, pursued his 
 professional career at a distance from his native country. Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, commonly regarded, if not as the Heir Apparcnt's 
 wife, yet as united to him by a ceremony substituted in place of 
 a legal Marriage, received in all companies the consideration and 
 respect which the sanctity of such a supposed connection was 
 calculated to inspire. 
 
 " I have already mentioned that she was in her second 
 widowhood when she became known to him. It is a curious 
 fact, that Edward the Black Prince espoused a lady who, 
 like Mrs. Fitzherbert, had previously given her hand to two 
 husbands. ' The Fair Maid of Kent/ as she was denomi- 
 nated, mother of Richard the Second, stood in that predica- 
 ment. There appears, indeed, to have been among the Kings, 
 and in the Royal Family of England, an extraordinary predi- 
 lection for widows. Not to mention the unfortunate consort
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 105 
 
 of Edward the Fourth, and Henry the Eighth's last Queen ; 
 the three uncles of the Prince of Wales all, either avowedly or 
 secretly, acted the same part. I know that Lady Mary Coke 
 considered herself united to Edward, Duke of York (who died 
 in 1767 at Monaco), by as legitimate a union as the Duchesses 
 of Gloucester or of Cumberland were united to their respective 
 husbands. She w r as, indeed, much higher born than Miss 
 Walpole or Miss Luttrcll, being daughter of John, the cele- 
 brated Duke of Argyle, and she possessed extraordinary per- 
 sonal beauty. At more than seventy years of age, when I have 
 been in company with her, she preserved the cheerfulness and 
 vivacity of youth. 
 
 " 20th April. — The attention of Parliament, and of all Eng- 
 land, was suddenly diverted at this time into a new channel, 
 by the debts of the Prince of Wales ; which, within the space 
 of less than four years, were become intolerably oppressive to 
 himself. All application to the Sovereign for assistance being 
 found ineffectual, it was determined by his secret advisers, at 
 whose head presided Lord Loughborough, Pox, and Sheridan, 
 to throw him at once on the generosity of the House of Com- 
 mons. Alderman Newnham, who, in the course of the pre- 
 ceding session, when the subject of His Ptoyal Ilighness's 
 pecuniary embarrassments was agitated, had expressed his con- 
 viction that the income of the Heir Apparent could not be found 
 adequate to the support of his dignity, was again selected on 
 the present occasion. He possessed neither the eloquence nor 
 public consideration which seemed to qualify him for so delicate 
 an office; but, as one of the representatives for the City of 
 London, he might be supposed to speak the sentiments of his 
 constituents. Newnham, addressing himself across the table 
 to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, requested to be informed, 
 whether it was the intention of Ministers to bring forward any
 
 196 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 proposition for rescuing the Prince of "Wales from his very 
 distressed situation. He added, that the question thus asked 
 did not originate in personal curiosity ; as, according to the 
 nature of the answer returned, he might find it expedient to 
 ground a Parliamentary proceeding. Pitt, thus interrogated, 
 replied very laconically, that it not being his duty to open such 
 a subject, except by command of His Majesty, it was only 
 necessary for him to say that he had received no such direc- 
 tions. The Alderman then gave notice, that on the 4th of the 
 ensuing month he would propose to the consideration of the 
 House a motion relative to the Prince of Wales. Here termi- 
 nated the conversation. 
 
 " 24:th April. — Public curiosity being universally excited by 
 the expected agitation of a question in which the King and his 
 eldest son must form the two opposite parties, and which 
 might in its progress give rise to the most painful disclosures, 
 Pitt endeavoured, about four days later, either wholly to avert 
 it, or, if that should be found impracticable, at least to ascer- 
 tain the nature of the intended motion. Rising for the pur- 
 pose, after alluding to the delicacy of the subject itself, he 
 expressed a wish to know whether the honourable magistrate 
 still persisted in forcing it forward on the attention of the 
 House. ' If he retained his determination/ the Minister added, 
 'at least its scope and tendency ought to be stated/ Newn- 
 ham replied that he did not force forward a discussion, which 
 was propelled by its own weight ; that he had not yet decided 
 on the precise form in which he should vest his proposition ; 
 but that its object would be to rescue the Prince of Wales 
 from his actual pecuniary difficulties. The Minister sarcasti- 
 cally observing, that it was singular to have given notice of a 
 motion, without previously determining what it should be, 
 especially as it regarded a matter of such gravity and novelty,
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 197 
 
 Fox came forward to Newnham's assistance. Having concurred 
 in the latter part of Pitt's observation, Fox subjoined his hopes 
 that, on account of the necessity which would arise for investi- 
 gating the causes of His Royal Highness' s distress, the business 
 itself might be anticipated, and some act performed which must 
 supersede the proposed motion. ' I admit/ answered the Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer, f the necessity of investigation ; and 
 precisely for that reason, combined with my profound respect 
 for the illustrious family concerned in it, I would, if possible, 
 prevent discussion. The information which I possess on the 
 point, renders me peculiarly desirous of avoiding it; but, if a 
 determination should be manifested to bring it before this 
 assembly, I shall, however distressing it may be to myself as 
 an individual, discharge my public duty by entering fully into 
 the subject.' 
 
 " 27th April. — These reciprocal menaces soon led to more 
 determined indications of hostility. Newnham having an- 
 nounced that his intention was 'to move an Address to the 
 Throne, entreating His Majesty to inquire into the Prince's 
 embarrassed situation, and to rescue him from it ;' llolle, who, 
 though he furnished in his own person matter for political and 
 poetic ridicule, yet represented a great county; and who, how- 
 ever coarse in his language he might be, wanted not intelli- 
 gence or firmness in the discharge of his Parliamentary duties, 
 instantly expressed his disapprobation of the proposed motion. 
 1 It is,' continued he, f a proposition which tends immediately 
 to affect our Constitution, both in Chart// and Slate. If, there- 
 fore, it should ever be brought forward, I will, as soon as the 
 honourable magistrate sits down, move the /irerious question ; 
 — for I am decidedly of opinion that it ought not to be dis- 
 cussed within these walls.' Fox being absent on that evening 
 (not, as he afterwards declared, premeditatedly, with a view of
 
 198 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 avoiding the mention of such a topic, but because he was 
 unacquainted with the intention to agitate it),— Sheridan took 
 on himself to justify the appeal to Parliament. 'A county 
 member,' exclaimed he, < stands forward, and calls on the 
 country gentlemen to aid him in opposing a discussion which 
 may affect our Constitution in Church and State. The subject 
 is doubtless in itself momentous : but dark insinuations have 
 been thrown out, in order to magnify its importance. They 
 have even been used as arguments to deter His Royal Highness's 
 friends from introducing any measure likely to produce an 
 inquiry into his conduct, under the penalty of disclosing 
 alarming facts. I am, however, confident, and I speak from 
 authority, when I assert that he wishes every part of his con- 
 duct to be laid open, without ambiguity or concealment. Such 
 is the unequivocal reply which the illustrious personage would 
 himself give, as a Peer of Parliament, if this subject should 
 ever be agitated in another assembly.' 
 
 " Not in the least degree intimidated by Sheridan's speech, 
 Rollc replied that no man present felt more loyalty towards his 
 Sovereign, or towards the Heir Apparent, than himself. ' Ne- 
 vertheless/ added he, ' if a motion is proposed, which I hold 
 to be improper, I shall act as becomes an independent country 
 gentleman. / expect nothing from His Majesty nor from his 
 successor. I will therefore fulfil my duty, by opposing a pro- 
 position which may produce serious differences between the 
 father and the son.' The sincerity of this concise ami lofty 
 declaration of disinterestedness, worthy of Andrew Marvel, or 
 of Shippen, must yet be liable to some sort of doubt; since, 
 only nine years afterwards, the member for Devon kissed hands 
 at St. James's, on being raised by Pitt to the British Pierage. 
 And it is difficult to suppose, that even at the time when he 
 professed so much indifference to the honours which emanate
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 199 
 
 from the Throne, he had not in view to obtain a scat in the 
 Upper House. 
 
 " Various persons now interposed, to deprecate the further 
 discussion of so momentous a question. Among them Powis 
 rose, who, however elevated might be his motives, nourished 
 in his bosom a systematic ambition, not incompatible with an 
 ardent desire of promoting the public welfare. In urgent terms 
 he implored of Newnham not to prosecute his threatened 
 intention ; adding, that he ought to entreat permission to 
 withdraw his notice. But Sheridan instantly appealed to the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether, by adopting such a 
 course, the Prince would not seem to concede to terror, what 
 he had refused to argument. Under these circumstances, the 
 Minister, after again expostulating both with Newnham and 
 with Sheridan, on the impropriety of persisting to bring for- 
 ward a proposition big with public mischief, finding all his 
 efforts for preventing it fruitless, contented himself with de- 
 claring, that the particulars to which he had alluded during a 
 former debate, as necessary to be stated by him to the House, 
 related solely to a correspondence which had taken place re- 
 specting the pecuniary embarrassments of the Prince, and had 
 no reference to any extraneous facts. 
 
 " 30th Ajn-il. — Pox, who, as I have already observed, had 
 not been present at this debate, attended in his place when the 
 subject was resumed, and performed the principal part; Bpeak- 
 ing in the name, and by the immediate authority, of the Heir 
 Apparent. Mrs. Fitzhcrbert formed, in fact, the prominent 
 object of inquiry, though she was not brought to the bar, and 
 personally interrogated, as we have beheld another female 
 treated in 1809. 
 
 "Fox having expatiated on the hardship of the Prince of 
 Wales's situation, and declared His Royal Highness's readi-
 
 200 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 ness to state every particular of the debts which lie had in- 
 curred, next adverted to Rolle's allusion. Without naming 
 any individual, he stigmatised the report itself as f a low 
 malicious calumny, destitute of all foundation, impossible ever 
 to have happened, and propagated with the sole view of depre- 
 ciating the Prince's character in the estimation of the country.' 
 Rolle readily admitted its legal impossibility, but he maintained 
 that there were modes in which it might have taken place. He 
 added, that the matter had been discussed in newspapers all 
 over the kingdom, impressing with deep concern every indivi- 
 dual who venerated the British constitution. Fox replying, 
 that he denied it in point of fact, as well as of law, the thing 
 never having been done in any way, Rolle demanded ' whether 
 he spoke from direct authority ? ' To this question Fox an- 
 swered decidedly in the affirmative; and here the dialogue 
 terminated. 
 
 " Neither the Chancellor of the Exchequer, nor any other 
 member present, took part in it; silence pervading the House, 
 which, as well as the gallery, was crowded to the utmost 
 degree. Mrs. Fitzherbert being now disclaimed as the wife of 
 the Prince of Wales, in the most formal terms, by a person 
 who came expressly commissioned for the purpose, on behalf of 
 the personage principally interested, and llolle making no 
 reply, a sort of pause ensued ; the debate, as far as it regarded 
 the supposed matrimonial union or contract in question, seem- 
 ing to be at an end. 
 
 " Such would probably have been the fact : — for Fox, satis- 
 fied with exposing the falsity of the imputation, never once 
 opened his lips during the remainder of the discussion. But 
 Sheridan, who always manifested an aversion towards Rolle, 
 observed that, after the explicit answer given on the present 
 occasion, it would be most unhandsome in the member for
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 201 
 
 Devon not to express his satisfaction. Finding, nevertheless, 
 that no disposition was manifested to comply with his demand, 
 Rolle simply remarking, that he had certainly received an 
 answer, and that the House must form their own opinion of its 
 propriety, Sheridan returned with more personality to the 
 charge. ' Such a line of conduct/ he said, ' was neither 
 candid nor manly ; and the House ought therefore to resolve 
 it seditious, as well as disloyal, to propagate reports injurious 
 to the character of the Prince of Wales/ Rolle, however, re- 
 fused to concede, or to declare any conviction on the subject. 
 ' I did not invent these reports/ he answered, ' but I heard 
 them, and they made an impression on my mind. In order to 
 ascertain how far they had any foundation, I put the question; 
 and in so doing, I am convinced that I have not acted in an 
 unparliamentary manner.' 
 
 " The Chancellor of the Exchequer, who, during the course 
 of Rolle's interrogatory to Fox, had not interposed, now 
 rose, and with great animation arraigned Sheridan's proceed- 
 ing, as the most unqualified attack which he had ever wit- 
 nessed on the freedom of debate. ' Those/ added Pitt, ' who 
 exhibit such warmth on the present occasion, ought rather 
 to acknowledge their obligation to the individual who has 
 suggested a question which produced so explicit a declaration 
 on this interesting subject : — a declaration which must give 
 complete satisfaction, not only to him, but to the whole 
 House. 5 
 
 " Rolle's tenacity in withholding his assent to the satisfactory 
 nature of Fox's answer, was equally displayed by Sheridan, on 
 Pitt's attempt to force from him the avowal. With uncommon 
 ingenuity he endeavoured to demonstrate, that Rollc, having 
 received an explicit denial of his insinuation, was bound either 
 to admit his error, or to adopt measures for discovering the 
 
 P
 
 202 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 truth. ' It would/ continued he, ' be aggravating the mali- 
 cious falsehood circulated, to assert that the Prince of Wales 
 had authorised a false denial of the fact. Even the Minister 
 himself is obliged to assume that the honourable Member must 
 be satisfied, as he has not had sufficient candour to make the 
 acknowledgment.' Thus pressed, Rolle once more rose, and 
 after observing that his affection for the Heir Apparent dictated 
 the question put by him, added, ' The honourable gentleman 
 has not heard me say I am unsatisfied? Grey vainly endea- 
 voured by a repetition of Sheridan's arguments, couched in still 
 more intemperate language, to elicit from Rolle a less equivocal 
 recognition. But Pitt, indignant at the expressions used by 
 Grey, repelled his attempt with great warmth. "While the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer disclaimed every idea of menace, 
 he persisted to declare that all those to whom the harmony and 
 the happiness of the Royal Family were dear, ought to join with 
 him in deprecating the threatened discussion ; or, if it could 
 not be prevented, at least to give it the most decided opposi- 
 tion. ' No possible necessity/ concluded he, ' can be pleaded 
 for recurring to this assembly on a subject which in propriety, 
 as well as in decency, ought to originate with the Crown ; 
 since I know that there exists no want of becoming readiness in 
 another quarter, to do everything which ought to be done in the 
 business.' With this declaration, which seemed, if it was im- 
 proved, to open a door for mutual concession, the debate closed ; 
 each party professing a determined intention of trying the issue, 
 and both sides anticipating a favourable result." 
 
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