pute, attached to the birth and parentage of the child, William Austin; of removing entirely, and it should be, for ever, from Her Royal Highness, the imputation so wickedly endeavoured to be attached to her; and while they amply vindicate her injured reputation, as regards the most delicate, but most important feature of a female's character-her chastity ;--they discover incidentally, as it were, and without design, the most pleasing traits of her innate, amiable, and unostentatious benevolence. It were well for the interests of society, that the virtuous huma nity which could thus prompt an amiable Princess, to perform one of the noblest and kindest offices of life, in relieving afflicted poverty, and in becoming to its unfriended offspring, "a guardian angel, with a mother's care," were recompensed by the applauses of the grateful and the good, rather than persecuted by vindictive malice, slandered by female falsehood, and punished by undeserved, and apparently unforgiving censure. As to the infamous Lady Douglas, that horrible tissue of perfidy, invention, and perjury, which is so artfully interwoven into her depositions, and statement, has long since withered and fallen to pieces; its texture indeed, was of ingenious fabrication; but the materials were worse than rotten! It might be enough to observe that Lady Douglas has been already denounced in a high quarter, as a fit object for criminal prosecution, by reason of her detected perjury. But there are those, who might have been startled by her bold, undaunted,

But what says Lady

unqualified assertions. Triumphantly as these have been refuted, no individual reading them without much previous consideration, or without any previous knowledge of the character, and disposition of the accuser; no individual, we say, for the first time perusing the allegation of this person, could reasonably imagine that any one would have ventured to conjure up, or rather to devise, a story at once so improbable, so particular, and so important, as that relative to the occurrence which took place at breakfast at Lady Willoughby's. without at least some foundation! Willoughby to a statement tending to establish the fact, that an accident had happened to the Princess under her roof, which, if true, must have covered Her Royal Highness with shame, confusion, and disgrace,-have testified at once her infidelity, and her infamy, and have made that impression upon the mind of Lady Willoughby, had it really occurred, which it was equally calculated to do, upon every virtuous female. Her Ladyship, (Willoughby) in answer to the query of the Lords Commissioners upon this head, replies ;-that she has no recollection whatever of a fact, thus singular, indelicate, and momentous. We must, however, finally decline entering into any further comments upon the nature of the evidence, and the credibility of the witnesses produced, seeing that the preceding letter of the Princess, although it certainly has some deficiencies in point of composition and expression, is yet a most masterly exposition of

their motives, refutation of their assertions, and signal defeat, (so far at least as argument goes) of their malevolence.

Now, as to the main, and most flagitious of the many false charges, we say false, because we speak of convicted falsehoods, which were brought against Her Royal Highness, the public can never forget the clear and satisfactory manner, in which the imputation amounting to no less than a direct charge of High Treason, has been disproved by the deposition of Sophia Austin. The child, upon whom so much mischievous and wicked ingenuity was lavished, in order to make it out to have been the illegitimate offspring of the Princess, is evinced by a testimony upon which the most fastidious incredulity, cannot for a moment attach a single suspicion even; that of its own mother;-to have been the lowly descendant of very poor but honest parents; and so far as we have ever heard, the meritorious and fortunate object of illustrious, but most calumniated benevolence. Before we close the chapter, we shall submit to the reader, as we are now drawing to the close of our labours, the arrangement we proposed to follow, in transcribing the remainder of the correspondence, arising out of the Delicate Investigation, which it appears necessary to lay before him. Together with these letters, we shall introduce a variety of documents, particularly the note, addressed by His Royal Highness, then Prince of Wales, to Her Royal Highness then Princess, dated from Windsor Castle in

1796;-together with the answer of the illustrious Lady herself. It seems proper then, that after endeavouring to display, in our next chapter, the numerous, and very serious inconveniences; which must arise from such a state of things as that, where domestic dissensions near the Throne, cause agitation and alarm around it: where the unhappy differences of two parties only, may cause divisions and calamities, both public and private, among thousands of loyal, attached, and generous subjects:-that we should subjoin successively;

1st. The two notes already noticed

2nd. The letter addressed by Her Royal Highness to the late King, dated 8th. December, 1806: nine weeks subse

quently to her former letter of the 2nd of October; (which has been already given at full length.)

3rd. The minute of the Cabinet, dated 25th. January, 1807, occasioned by the preceding communication.

4th. A note from Lord Erskine, enclosing.

5th. The message of his late Majesty.

.

6th.

7th.

8th.

9th.

10th.

11th.

12th.

Subsequent correspondence between Her Royal Highness, and his late Majesty.

13th. Minutes of Council.

14th. Appendix, containing various documents, which will conclude these memoirs. In this last division of our arrangement, will be found a sketch of the travels, conduct, and adventures of her late Royal Highness, down to the last moment of our publication.

This also may be the best place for observing, that we have to acknowledge with great pleasure, the many friendly communications and important papers, with which we have been favored; principally indeed, through unknown channels. At the same time we must express our regret, that while the unforeseen accumulation of matter, joined to the extraordinary public interest which these sheets have excited, makes it necessary for us, reluctantly, but most unavoidably, to exceed our purposed limits by more than one hundred pages;-yet we cannot consistently with our own feelings of propriety, or with that sense of gratitude, which the spontaneous and liberal patronage extended to us, has most deeply impressed us with, so far encroach upon the patience, and the favor of our readers, as to insert more than a very small portion of the valuable communications, of our declared, and unrecognized friends.

CHAPTER II.

We propose in this chapter, briefly to consider the many circumstances, which make the existing state of the relations between two illustrious personages, a matter of deep and reasonable regret to the people of these king