1/8 THE PRINCESS OF WALES [1813. 



attacked, she will be forced to bring forward her case 

 at last, which, as against the Prince, she has hitherto 

 (with great difficulty) been persuaded to keep to 

 herself." 



TO EAEL GEEY. 



"TEMPLE, December 21, 1813. 



" MY DEAR LORD GREY, The young Princess dined 

 last Wednesday with her mother. She is on per- 

 fectly good terms at present with her father. The 

 quarrels of late had been very frequent, and a few 

 weeks ago were even worse than they had been while 

 she was at Windsor. But this is the hot fit, and he 

 is coaxing her ; it always succeeds to a certain degree, 

 and his refusing an establishment and some other in- 

 dulgence generally brings the cold fit. The Princess 

 Charlotte has completely altered her language as to 

 the Prince of Orange, and I am quite clear she will 

 take him if they offer him to her. The Dutch busi- 

 ness has done this ; and now that it is all over, I may 

 inform you of a great alarm I had from finding, by 

 the clearest proofs, that she really had a great pen- 

 chant for the Duke of Devonshire* This you may 

 rely on; and it is equally certain that now she would 

 be furious at the insinuation, as is exceedingly 

 natural in such cases, the idea having quite passed 

 away. I always thought that the best (I mean the 

 most useful) part of her character was the spice of 

 the mother's spirit and temper; but I fear she has 

 a considerable mixture of the father's weakness and 

 fickleness. Indeed, what can you expect ? Her be- 

 haviour to Lady de Clifford has been such as I almost 



* William, sixth Duke, born in 1790. For the Court gossip in this 

 matter, see Miss Knight's ' Autobiography,' vol. i. p. 242. 



