The San Francisco call., 1896-02-23

AaollioIdUle society Wnen the FIRST Gentle
man OF Europe was Regent and those who
like to read about these things will find in
work just published under the title OF
'Ihe Court OF England Under George ".
rounded on Diary Interspersed with
Letters Written by Queen Caroline and
Various Other Distinguished Persons"
much to interest them.
1t consists to q large extent OF extracts
1rom the diary OF one-a woman, clearly
VINO was on intimate terms with the
fnncess OF Wales, and OF number of
letters written by that unhappy person.
age, and by other lords and ladies who
were her contemporaries. Some we'll
Hnown literary men-Sir Walter Scott and
byron among them-come in for occa-
slonal notice by the writer's of the diary
ana the letters, and what is said about
them affords a pleasant relief from the
society chatter of which the text mainly
consists. The work covers the period
from 1S10-when the Prince became Re-
gent-to 1920, when he became King.
and when Princess Caroline died. and an
air OF mystery is given to the contents by
the absence OF an Introduction or any
edltorlal comment whatever.
Everybody knows the sad story of
Princess Caroline. The writer of the diary,
while not blind to the Princess faults,
thought her an exceedingly ill-used
woman. She was often with the Princess.
and much OF the first volume is a chroni-
Gle OF her Royal Highness' sayings and
dolngs. The Princess, of course often
spoke about her troubles to her intimate
friends. II, you know, was the victim of
Mammon; the Prince of Wales debts
must be paid. and poor little Is person
was the pretense." She blamed the fact
that the Prince had been compelled to
marry her for all her subsequent trouble.
Had come over here as Princess with
my father on visit, as Mr.. Pitt once
wanted my father TO have done, things
| might have been different" But from the
very hrst she was treated abominably. The
story of the Prince Regents conduct on
the occasion of his marriage has often been
told. Here it in the Princess own words:
"Judge," said she, "what it was to have
drunken husband on ones wedding day, and
one who passed the greatest part of his bridal
night under the CRATE, where he fell, and
where left him. If anybody say TO me at dis
moment7will you pass your life over again or
be killed? l would choose death; for you
know. a little sooner or later we must all die;
but to live life of wretchedness twice over
oh! mine God no!'
No doubt after the separation the
Princess did not always act wisely, and
as early as 1911 we learn that 1.-The poor
Princess was losing ground every day in
the opinion OF the public" But the writer
subsequently adds, "To those who knew
the Princess in the first days of her arrival
IN Britain, and the set by which she was
surrounded, 1T must ever be apparent that
all her subsequent faults and follies ad-
mltted OF great extenuation "a conclusion
with which most people viii agree.
Lord Brougham, who cham pioned the
cause OF the Queen, appears several times
IN these pages. He is described as "a man
OF lnordInate am Dltlon and of little heart"
but IL is admitted that the Queen was in a
great measure indebted to him for the
brilliant termination of her trial Here is
q hi inh Id 81 a.,
last joke:
to retire and take some refreshments she per-
emptorfly refused to do so, and on some persons
oHerlng the Queen refreshments which they
had brought for their own use she declined ae-
ceplng them, saying Il can take chop al the
Kings Head If am hungry alluding to the
tavern bearing that sign near the House of
Lords. There was much ready wit in that re-
ply, but 1t was, perhaps, ul-timed, and she was
never afterward heard TO make joke or seen
to smile.
1t is more pleasant to turn from those
unhappy incidents and note what the diary
and letters have to say concerning some OF
the literary men, of the period. Here is an
interesting extract from an Oxford letter,
dated March, 1911:
Talking of books, we have lately had liter
ary Sun shine forth upon US here, before whom
our former luminaries must hide their di-
College, who lives upon arsenic, aouafortis,
half an hours sleep i'll the night, and despe-
ratelV IN love with the memory of Margaret
Nicholson. He hath published what he terms
the Posthumous Poems, printed for the benefit
OF Peter Finnerty, which, 1 am grieyed TO saw
though stuffed full of treason, are extremely
he be not cisnnad u is Is gEeat genus ana & i
certainly prove one of the sweetes. swans on
the tuneful margin OF the Charwen.
Later in the same year we are told by
the same CORRESPONDENT that 'the atheist
ical Mr.. Shelley hath been expelled from
the. university on account of his atheisti-
cal pamphlet" But the writer, it should
be noted, asks, ''Was ever such bad taste
and barbarity shown2" There is a refer
ence to Campbell whose conversation, it
is said, always awakens thought and
feeling; everything that is his own is ele-
CANT and enthusiastic'-a sentence which
hits off the author OF the pleasures of
Hope" very neatly.
OF Byron we get in the letters some in
teresting glimpses. Here is one. The
Princess OF Wales, writing in 1910, says:
Lord Byron did inquire for you also, Unjust
not forget to mention. He all couleur de
rose last evening and very pleasant; he sat be-
side me at supper. and we were very merry; he
is quite anoder man when he is aoid people he
like and who like him. than he is when he is
tcid oders who do not please him so well. 1 al
when invite him l say I ask the agreeable
lord not the disagreea BILE one. He take my
plalsanterle all IN good part, and l fiatter my
self l am rather favorite with this great
bard.
II. r. III. did not hesitate at times to
criticize the bard. 81 am sorry to men,
tion," she writes on another occasion,
that his last poem upon The Decadence
of Bonaparte' is worthy neither his pen
nor his muse" But the Princess's compe.
tence as a critic on such subject is at
least open to question.
Among other literary men of the time
that come in for mention are Southey,
1.-The Man of Feeling" Pro-
fessor Wilson and Sir Walter Scott. Little
is ever said anywhere concerning the lady
OF Abbotsford, but here is kindly refer
ence to her:
dined the other day at the "Man of Feel
ing's," Mr.. Mackenzie's, and had the honor
and pleasure of sitting next Walter Scott. He
talked a great deal of you. =. Mrs. Scott |
was also present at that party, of which made |
mention, and seems merry, good-humored |
body He (that is her husband) is very kind to
her, and calls her Charlotte when he speaks to
DR. of her.
. By 1872 "Rokeby" had been published,
and this is how the poem struck an early |