Authors: George W. M. Reynolds,James Malcolm Rymer
tete-à-tete.
We shall not record any portion of their discourse
-animated, interesting, and tender though it were: suffice it to say, that for
a short time they seemed to forget their high rank, and to throw aside the
trammels of court etiquette, in order to give vent to those natural feelings
which the sovereign has in common with the peasant.
This
tete-a-tete
lasted for nearly an hour; music and dancing then ensued; and the
entertainment continued until two o'clock in the morning.
The company retired - the lights were extinguished in the
state apartments - and profound silence once more reigned throughout the
palace.
Holford paid another visit to the larder, and then retraced
his steps unobserved to the lumber-room, where he slept until a late hour in
the morning.
REVELATIONS
FROM the very first moment that Victoria was called to the throne,
she manifested a strict determination to exact a scrupulous observance of all
the rules, regulations, sad precedents which related to court-etiquette and
official dignity. The Presence Chamber is never entered by any one who is not
fully conversant with the laws of the court, and the mode
of conduct and demeanour which
they enforce. The rigid maintenance of these rules is nevertheless calculated
to render the queen an isolated being, as it were, amidst her court; for no one
is permitted to commence a conversation nor make a remark until first addressed
by her Majesty. Then every word must be so measured - every syllable so
weighed, that the mere fact of conversing with royalty would be deemed a
complete labour, and even a perilous undertaking by those not conversant with
the routine of a court.
Holford had seen much to surprise and astonish him. The
image of the queen ever haunted his imagination : her voice ever rang in his
ears. He disliked Prince Albert: that low, vulgar, uneducated, despised,
obscure pot-boy, entertained a feeling of animosity, - he scarcely knew
wherefore - against the young German who was evidently destined to become
the husband of England's queen. Again and again did he ponder upon the
mysterious conversation between the two ladies of the court, which he had
overheard ;- and he felt an ardent and insuperable longing to fathom their
meaning to the bottom. But how was this to be done? He determined to obtain
access to the drawing-room once more, and trust to the chapter of accidents to
elucidate the mystery.
Accordingly, he contrived that same afternoon, to obtain
access to the royal apartments, without detection, once more; and once more,
also, did he conceal himself beneath the sofa. Fortune appeared to favour his
views and wishes. Not many minutes had elapsed after he had ensconced himself
in his hiding-place, when the two ladies, whose conversation had so much
interested him on the preceding day, slowly entered the Yellow Drawing-Room.
The following dialogue then took place:-
"How very awkward the viscount was last evening, my
dear duchess. He would insist upon turning the pages for me when I sate at the
grand pianoforte; and he was always too soon or too late. although he pretended
to read the
fantasia
which I played, bar by bar."
"That is very provoking!" said the duchess.
"I believe there is to be a Drawing-Room to-morrow, at St. James's?"
"Yes: your grace must have forgotten that her Majesty
decided last evening upon holding one."
"How many a young heart is fluttering now with anxiety
and eager anticipation of to-morrow!" observed the duchess. "A
Drawing-Room is most formidable to the novice in court affairs. But the most
entertaining portion of the embarrassment of the novice, is the fear that the
gentleman who bears the name of the Court Circular, and who is invariably
stationed in the Presence Chamber, may omit to mention her presence in the
report which he draws up for the newspapers."
"George the Third and his consort held Drawing- Rooms
weekly, for many years," said the countess. "George the Fourth held
Drawing-Rooms but very seldom. William and Adelaide usually held about five or
six in a season. And, after all, what can be more magnificent - what more
eminently calculated to sustain the honour and dignity of the crown,* [* The
author begs it to be fully understood that his own sentiments relative to
courts and court etiquette, &c., must not be identified with the opinions
of these ladies who are now conversing together.] than a British Court
Drawing-Room? The tasteful dresses of the ladies - the blaze of diamonds - the
waving ostrich plumes and lappets - the gold net - the costly tulle, constitute
rather the characteristics of an oriental fiction than the reality of the
present day."
"The most magnificent Drawing-Rooms, in my opinion,"
observed the duchess, "are those which we call
Collar Days
. The appearance of the Knights
of the Garter, St. Patrick, the Thistle, the Cross and Bath, and all English
orders, in their respective collars and jewels, in the presence of the
sovereign, is splendid in the extreme."
"And how crowded upon Drawing-Room days are all the
passages and corridors of St. James's Palace," continued the countess.
" On the last occasion many of the peers and peeresses of the highest rank
were compelled thus to wait for nearly three hours before their carriages could
reach the palace-gates."
"The most beautiful view of splendid equipage. is found
in a glance upon the Ambassador's Court at Saint James's, the carriages of the
foreign ministers being decidedly the finest and most tasteful that are seen in
the vicinity of the palace on those occasions."
"Of a truth, this must be the most splendid court in
the world," said the countess.- since France became half republican (how I
hate the odious word
Republic
!), and since Spain was compelled
to copy France."
"Yes - our court is the most splendid in the
world," echoed the duchess, in a tone of triumph. as if her grace were
well aware that of that court she herself formed a brilliant ornament; "
and more splendid still will it be when the queen shall have conferred her hand
upon the interesting young prince who arrived yesterday."
"Have you heard when the royal intentions to contract
an union .with his Serene Highness Prince Albert, will be communicated to the
country?"
"Not until the close of the year; and the marriage will
therefore take place at the commencement of 1840. The prince will pay but a
short visit upon this occasion, and then return to Germany until within a short
period of the happy day."
"God send that the union may be a happy one!" ejaculated
the countess. "But —"
"Oh! my dear friend, do not relapse again into those
gloomy forebodings which rendered me melancholy all yesterday evening,"
interrupted the duchess.
"Alas! your grace is well aware of my devoted
attachment to our royal mistress; and if there be times when I tremble for the
consequences of —"
"Breathe it not - give not utterance to the bare
idea!" cried the duchess, in a tone of the most unfeigned horror.
"Providence will never permit an entire empire to experience so great a
misfortune as this!"
"Maladies of that kind are hereditary," said the
countess, solemnly ;-"maladies of that species descend through generations
- unsparing - pitiless - regardless of rank, power, or position;- oh! it is
horrible to contemplate!"
"Horrible - most horrible!" echoed the duchess.
"The mind that thus labours under constant terror of the approach of that
fearful malady, requires incessant excitement - perpetual change of scene; and
this restlessness which we have observed on the part of our beloved Sovereign -
and those intervals of deep gloom and depression of spirits, when that craving
after variety and bustle is not indulged —"
"Are all —"
"Oh! I comprehend you too well."
"And marriage in such a case —"
"Perpetuates the disease! Yes - yes - we must
surround our sovereign with all
our love, all our affection, all our devotion - for bitter, bitter are the
moments of solitary meditation experienced at intervals by our adored
mistress."
"Such is our duty - such our desire," said the
countess. "The entire family of George the Third has inherited the seeds
of disease - physical and mental —"
"Scrofula and insanity," said the duchess, with a
cold shudder.
"Which were inherent in that monarch," added the
countess. "Did your grace ever hear the real cause and spring of that
development of mental alienation in George the Third?"
"I know not precisely to what incident your ladyship
alludes," said the duchess.
"That unhappy sovereign," resumed the countess,
"when Prince of Wales, fell in love with a beautiful young Quakeress,
whose name was Hannah Lightfoot, and whom he first beheld at the window of a
house in Saint James's Street. For some time his Royal Highness and the young
lady met in secret, and enjoyed each other's society. At length the passion of
the prince arrived at that point when he discovered that his happiness entirely
depended upon his union with Hannah Lightfoot. His Royal Highness confided his
secret to his next brother Edward, to Dr. Wilmot (who was really the author of
the letters of Junius), and to my mother. Those personages were the only
witnesses of the legal marriage of the Prince of Wales with Hannah Lightfoot,
which was solemnized by Dr. Wilmot, in Curzon Street Chapel, May Fair, in the
year 1759."
"I have heard that such a connection existed,"
said the duchess; "but I never thought until now that it was of so serious
and solemn a nature."
"Your grace may rely upon the truth of what I now tell
you. Not long after the prince came to the throne, the Ministers discovered his
connection with the Quakeress. The Royal Marriage Act was ultimately framed to
prevent such occurrences with regard to future princes; but it did not annul
the union between George the Third and Hannah Lightfoot."
"Was there any issue from this marriage? "
inquired the duchess.
"There
was
issue," answered the
countess solemnly, a deep gloom suddenly passing over her countenance. "At
my mother's death I discovered certain papers which revealed to me many, many
strange events connected with the court of George the Third; and in which she
was a confidant. But the history of Hannah Lightfoot is a sad one - a very
melancholy one; and positively can I assert that it led to the subsequent
mental aberration of the king."
"And there was issue resulting from that union, your
ladyship says?" exclaimed the duchess, deeply interested in these
disclosures.
"Yes - there was, there was! " returned the
countess. "But do not question me any more at present -on a future
occasion I will place in the hands of your grace the papers which my deceased
mother left behind her, and which I have carefully treasured up in secret -
unknown even to my husband!"
"And are the revelations so very interesting?"
demanded the duchess.
"The events which have taken place in the family of
George the Third would make your hair stand on end," replied the countess,
sinking her voice almost to a whisper. " But, pray - question me no more
at present. Another time - another time," she added hastily, "you
shall know all that I know!"
There was something so exceedingly mysterious and exciting
in the tone and manner of the countess, that the duchess evidently burned with
curiosity to make further inquiries. But her fair companion avoided the subject
with terror and disgust; and the conversation accordingly reverted to the
engagement existing between Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. Nothing more was,
however, said which we deem it necessary to record ;- but when the two ladies
had retired from the apartment, Holford had plenty of food for mental
digestion. He had discovered the fatal drawback to the perfect happiness of his
sovereign; and he now perceived that those who dwell in palaces, and wear
diadems upon their brows, are not beyond the reach of the sharpest arrows of
misfortune.
During the remainder of that evening Holford was the
uninterrupted possessor of the Yellow Drawing. Room. There was a grand ball in
another suite of apartments; but it was not until between three and four
o'clock in the morning that the pot-boy considered it safe to quit his
hiding-place.
He was now undecided whether to beat a retreat from the
royal dwelling,, or to favour it with his presence a little longer. The last
conversation which he had overheard between the duchess and the countess, had
excited within him the most lively interest; and he was anxious to hear more of
those strange revelations connected with the family of George the Third, a
continuation of which the countess had appeared to promise her noble friend. He
was moreover emboldened by the success which had hitherto attended his
adventures in the palace; and he consequently resolved upon prolonging his stay
in a place where a morbid taste for the romantic encountered such welcome food.
Upon leaving the Yellow Drawing-Room, at about half-past
three in the morning, as before stated, Holford proceeded to the pantry to lay
in a supply of provender, as usual. He was so pressed with hunger upon this
occasion, that he commenced an immediate attack upon the provisions; and was
thus pleasantly engaged when, to his horror and dismay, he beheld the shadow of
a human form suddenly pass along the wall - for he was standing with his back
to the lamp that was burning in the passage.
He turned round - and his eyes encountered the cadaverous
and sinister countenance of the Resurrection Man.
" Well this is fortunate," said the latter.
"What! you here!" ejaculated Holford, trembling
from head to foot.
"Yes - certainly why not?" said the Resurrection
Man. "It struck me that as you never came near me and the Cracksman, you
must be still in the royal crib; and I considered that to be a sign that all
was right. So I mustered up my courage, and came to look after you. The
Cracksman a waiting on the hill."
"Then let us leave this place immediately," cried
Holford. " We can do nothing at present - I was going to take my departure
within an hour. Come - let us go; and I will tell you every thing when we are
in a place of security."
"What's the meaning of this?" demanded the
Resurrection Man. "You can't have been here all this time without having
found out where the plate is kept."
"Listen fee one moment," said Holford, a sudden
idea striking him "the queen leaves for Windsor the day after tomorrow -
then will be the time