The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1903-01-15
Am UNTIDY PRINCESS.
Caroline. Afterwa&A the Queen Of
George ~. Of England, Was Slow
enly in the. Extre1e.

enly In the Extreme.
To be delicately clean in clothes
and person is as much matter OF
course to-day as is the habit of wear
ing garments or shaking hands. That
It was not always SO. says London
Modern Society, we were reminded .
day or two since when perusing 4
letter of the first earl of Malmes-
bury, written when that astute dip
lomatist was sent to escort the Prfn-
cess Caroline of Brunswick to Eng
land to be the bride of the prince
of Wales, afterward George ". The
way was long in those days, and
hostile armies lay between Bruins
wick and England. The princess,
with her mother, the duchess (sister
to King George III.), and escorted by
Lord Malmesbury and large retinue.
set out on December 80. 1t was
April before she was safely landed
bury did his best with his eccentric
charge, and used the time in trying
to fit the ill-educated, unregu1ated
girl, who even then took rank as the
princess of Wales, for the perilous
position into which she was to be
thrust.
He was distressed to find that
Princess Caroline boosted that she
could jump out of bed and appear en-
grande toilette in the course of ia
minutes. Remembering what toilet
meant in the days of hoops and pow
der, this seemed to him only about
time enough to get dairymaid ready
for filing the milking pail. He writes
to his confidential friend, the then
duke of Portland, in pathetic dis
may:
81 have had two conversations with
Princess Caroline on cleanliness and
ON delicacy of speaking. On these
points I endeavored, as far as was
possible for a man, to inculcate the
necessity of great and nice attention
to every part of dress-as well as to
what was hid as to what was to be
seen. I know she wears coarse petit
coats and coarse linen and thick
stockings-and these never well
washed nor changed often enough!
1 gave her credit for her boast of q
short toilet. What I could not say
further on this point I got SAID
through women, through Nine
Busche and afterwards through Mrs
Harcourt. It is remarkable how
amazingly her education has beer
neglected on this point, and how
much her mother, although an Eng
lish woman, was inattentive to it"
The earl was little bit mistaken
in that last remark. The duchess o.
Brunswick, although the sister o.
King George III, was as utterly Ger
man in training and in ideas as she
| could possibly be. She inherited al
the regrettable qualities of the first
two Hanover kings, and she early
married one of the most despicablt
of the petty potentates that swarmei
in Germany under the somber shadow
| of Frederick the Great.
It appears as if no woman eve1
born could have been fitted to be thu
wife of the prohigate prince-it
would have needed the nature of al
angel and the patience of Thousand
Jobs to have put up with him as :
husband. But in all Europe ther'
could not have been a creature les.
suited to reform Carlton house thar
that her father wished certaii
Mime. Rosenzweit to accompany he
to England as her reader" ant
when the request was refused tn,
duke took Lord Ma1mesbury asid,
and explained that the lady was quit,
insignificant and unimportant, bu
that he much wished her to accom-
pany the princess, for "Carolin'
writes i'll, and spells i'll, so is accus
toned to trust to Nine. Rosenzwei
on all occasions" And this at tim,
when letter writing was a fine art
and the most hippant person pridet
himself on the turning of nea
phrases and the graceful expression
of pretty conceits.
The earl sums up the character O.
the unfortunate Caroline in thes,
words:
'She has quick parts, without dis
tinguishing understanding; read.
conception, but no judgment; caugh
by the first impression, led by tn
first impulse. laxative, prone t.
confide in missish friendships tina
last "a hours. Some natural moral
ity, but no strong notions of i:
value nor of it's necessity. Withou
a grain of dignity or an idea of de
| corum."
Was it much wonder that poo
Caroline wrecked herself, and tina
she and her precious husband betwix
monarchy?