The Express.
London, England, 1856-03-25 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Ntmoirs Qf Mrs. Fit:her'pert : with au account of her
Marring( with /I. it.M. the Prince of Wnks,qfter-
w Ards King Gio,p. the Fourth. By the Hoe.
CHARLES LANA,DALE. London : Richard Bentley,

The object of this publication, we are told by the
anther, is twofold : " to rescue both a Catholic lady
and the Catholic Church from the opprobrium
which would attach to them it the aspersions con-
tained in the ' Memoirs of the Whig Party,' by the
late Lord Holland, and edited by his son,
were founded in fact." First, as to what
concerns the Catholic Church. We must awful
that, with all our Pio...stint prepossessions, we
are not prepared to maintain that any stigma
would attach to it, even though it could be proved
that the lady was the Prince's m:stress and nut his
wife. Indeed, it appears to us that the Hon. Mr.
Langdale has done his C.urch but indifferent service
by admitting that "opprobrium would attach " to it
it it could be proved that one "light of love has
belonged to l's flock. It it be so he most, in order to'
whitewash it, set himself to prove that Agnes Sorel,
Gabrielle d'Estree, and Louise de Querouaille, CUM
multi, mils, have all been belied by historians. This,
however, is his business, not ours.
With regard to the lady the case is different.
Whether she is to go down to posterity as having
been the wife or the mistress of the Prince of Wales,
is a matter that affects her reputation. Let as see
what light is thrown upon thisquestion by Mr.Lang-
dale's book.
In the " Memoirs of the Whig Party," by the late
Lord Holland, it is stated " I believe that she [Mrs.
Fitsberbtr] spoke with truth when she frankly
owned ' that she had given herself op to him, ex-
acted no conditions, trusted to his honour, and set
no value on a ceremony which he insisted on having
solemnised.' " '1 his averment Lord Holland made
on the authority of en anonymous "mend of mine,
a man of strict veracity." The facts proved in Mr.
Langdale's book, however, leave no doubt that the
man of strict veracity told Lied Holland a bouncing
falsehood. It is clear that Mrs. F.tzherbert set
great vales on the ceremony that was solemnised
between her and the Prince.
The letters of the Duke of Wellington, the late
Lord Albemarle. the late Lord Stourton, and the
Hon and Rev. R. S. Koppel, prove beyond a doubt
that five papers are preserved, of which the three
following an the most important:—The certificated
the marriage, dated December 21, 1786; a letter
from the late King, relating to the marriage, sigud
[[George IV.]; and a memorandum written by Mrs.
Fitsbetbert, appended to a letter written by the
clergyman who performed the marriage ceremony.
It is 'Leo satisfactorily proved that Mrs. Fitsherbert
attached the utmost importance to the preservation
of these document', as vouchers for the propriety of
her conduct. So far the Hon. Mr. Langdale has suc-
cessfully established his ease.
Bat the question remains, Was thelady bonafide con-
vinced in her own mind that she we. the wife of the
Prince ? It is not easy to say low Wham= beings
may not deceive themselves when their passions or their
vanity ere concerned I but we poems it is extremely
difficult to imagine that Mrs. Fiertserbert believed her-
self to be the wife of the Prince of Wales. The mar-
riage .....unistsv was performed in Deosin>ar, 1786.
The Royal Marriage Act,which rendered null and void
any marriage contracted by a descendant of George 11.
without the previous consent of the King, or a twelve-
* on' Ws notice given to the Privy Council, was paused
it 1772, only thirteen years earlier. The whole
mactry had rang wile the acrimonious and pro-
em ed debates whkb ireceded the puling of that
act. Its most stress,' opposents were the politi-
cians who in 1785 formed the Court of the Prince of
Wales. It requires a large amount of charity to
admit that Mrs. Fiteheslocrt believed she was legally
made a wife by the eer irony which appears to have
quieted the qualms of her 6asscienoe.
But admitting that in 1785 she imagined the form
she insisted upon going through had virtue enough
to " make an honest woman of her," what are we
to think of her conduct at a subsequent period? We
allow Mr. Langdale to tell the part of her story to
which we now allude in his own wards :
When she had thought her collection with the Price.
was broke. tiff for ever by his second voice, she was some
placed by him in difficulties limn the sews tersest end
almost desperate pursuit as she tad been tiptoed to daviag
the first interval of his ettichaeat. Numbers of the royal
featly, both male sad female, urged a remaciliaties, even
upon a ;thine pie of duty.
Uoweier, au she wal by h's marriage with Clown Vs-
reline, piece I in a Mastitis of much diffieulty, iavolvinet
bar owe cow c'erice, and making it doshi fel whether pubic
sandal might mot hastier* with lei r own entegetesete, she
determined to tenet to the highest seethe rtes of her own
• shank up a a ease of such extraordinary in, ricecy. The
Bev. U,. /fume, ova of the tinplates of Warwick-street
'impel, was, there're*, sleeted to go to Rome and lay the
use befrie that tr.hunal, op= the eateries *ode steadies
that, if the answer 'old be favourable, she would soma
joie the Prises; if otterwiee, she was determined to stan-
dee the eosetry. In the mealtime, whilst the nertotietioa
was platelike, she obtained • promise from his Royal Mohnen
that he would not folio* her into her t in Wale%
where she went cc a small bathing place. The reply from
Rome, in • brie) which is a momeac of panie she destroyed,
(tufa' of tee consequeetes ilariag Mr. Peneesre adminis-
tration, wm favourable to the wishes et the Prince ; sad,
faithful to her oat detenninstion to set u mach as passible
to the fate of the public, she resiste I all importunities to
mut him clandestinsly. The day on which she joined him
sgsia at her own home was the same on which she gave a
pahlie brealifest to the whole tows of Loudon, and to
while he wee invited.
ISM told IN she hardly knew how she could messes
neolutea to per that Mlse enteel, but she thanked God
she bed the esseege is do ea The seat eight yaws were,
she nil, the hepplest of her etiammioa with the Prises.
She used tr say teat they were extremely poor, bat es merry
se erickete ; and as • preef of their poverty, she told me
that ones, en their Manias from Brighten to Leedom, they
mattered their commie. mesa., sad weld not raise Al. bee
twees teem. Upon this, or some each cc: mion, she related to
=east so ell and faithful enema sad taioared to form these
to aetep• 60l , which he said he had accumulated Ia the
service of the best of mestere gad miatresses. She added,
however, that eves this period, the happiest of their lives,
was much embitter. d by the samerous political difficulties
which frequently theronaded the Niece, and she parties-
hely alluded to whet has:hoes termed " the delmato item.
tigatioa" la which Qeseallarolise and h s itoyal bligkame
bad bees a maimed.

By remaining silent elan the Prince of Wake was
married to the Preens Caroline of Brunswick, Mrs.
Fitsherbert allowed that unfortunate Princess (sad
all the world) to believe that she was his wife. Vibe .
ever may hive been the sobsequestcondoct of Qesen
Garolias,at the time when Mrs. Fitzlierbert retard
, to live with the Prince of Wales the Priming was
the innocent and injured party. Was it compatible
with female delioacy—with a womanly regard teethe
rights and feelings of another woman—to live " se
merry as a cricket " with the Prises of Wales eider
each eirencestanose P It is an essentially low and
corrupt tons of morals that can vindicate or palliate
sock conduct. And what are we to think of the
morality of a Church which could connive at, nay
recommend, such a violation of principle and right
feeling? The court of Rome, in sanctioeing the
zebra of Ws. Fi,stierbert to the Prince of Wales
nadir each cirenfeatanose, sanctioned, the peerage-
. tioa of a revolting and isdekesible connexion. Wee
this with as eye to niesequesess which might some
day have been deduced from the recognition of
Mrs. Fitsherbert's marriage an valid, in the event
of the Princess Charlotte's (or her descendants')
succeeding to the mown of Ragland P
Even the piss of "over-metering passion " cannot
be pleaded in extenaatioe of the conduct of Mrs.
Fireberbert. There is no reason to believe that
she pamiceately loved the Prime. She remained
abroad for upwards of a yesr, until she had
him to her terms, before eke yielded to his =
tine. At two different interests she broke off all
eosineziee with him, sad was with difficulty pre-
veiled epos to resew it. His twisty was not Deem-
airy to her happiness. Attain, sbe never forgave
Fox toe bevies; denied that she was the wile
of the-Prises of Wake. She assisted that her linens
with the Prince should be era and avowed. Only
one inference can bedews tree. these tans : that it
wester vanity that was tickled with the ruin rank
of a Prince's Morganatic spew. And to gratify
this vaalty, whit, with her eyes open, rippled Groat
Britain to the peril, of • disputed succarsioo.
The prudery and vanity of a frivolous woman were
gratified at the risk of involving a whole nation in
civil broils and bloodshed. Granted that she was
beautiful; granted that she was fascinating ; granted
that she was decorous ; still it reunion iocontestable
that her hear-gees "salty might have *objected this
country to the most terrible calamitiee. And it is
enionly expected that we are to admire as a model
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